David: Hello there, I’m David Norcross, host of Bangkok Thought Leaders. Today we’ve got a very special guest with us, a true Bangkok thought leader, Dean Jones, CEO and founder of HealthDeliver.

Dean Jones: Hey David, nice to be here. Thank you.

David: An extremely dynamic individual and company who are doing amazing things in the healthcare space. Thanks for joining me, Dean.

Dean Jones: Thanks for the kind introduction.

David: So we’ve known each other for a little while, and I always love hearing about your career journey. It’s been a fascinating one to get to this point. How did you get here?

Dean Jones: Thanks. Well, it’s been one of those journeys where I’ve been very lucky to work for a lot of really great organisations. Whether that be in supply chain, which I spent nearly 18 years in, that brought me over to Thailand and through Southeast Asia, and through consulting firms as well, working for TMX as an advisor and a managing director in that space. I’ve been quite lucky working with a lot of different companies that are really pushing innovation and these types of things, and working with some really dynamic individuals, which have allowed me to really understand how to push the new generation of business and what we need to do to continue to improve what we’re doing.

David: I remember first hearing about yourself and the company years ago now. It was during the COVID years, and you guys were out there innovating in the space. Since then, you’ve seen an amazingly rapid growth, and I’m seeing you everywhere. What’s been the secret to success?

Dean Jones: Yeah, so I think launching during COVID was quite an interesting time for any business, let alone launching a new business. We launched then. We went through a lot of trials and tribulations to try and get our business right. We were providing home services primarily in that time, and we just continued to evolve. So I look at our business today and it’s much different to what it was then. This was nearly three years ago where we were providing just primarily nursing services, digitally connected to healthcare, to telehealth providers. And now we’ve evolved. We’ve got our own doctors, we’ve got telehealth, we’ve got our own clinic, we’ve got pharmacy and national distribution of pharmacy, we’ve got laboratory capabilities in 30 provinces. So we continue to evolve, we continue to look at what we can do to make things more convenient for people, and continue to drive that change within the healthcare industry.

David: That’s a great top-level overview, but there’s a lot of moving parts there. How does the platform actually work?

Dean Jones: So the platform is based on quality and information. We have all of our different orders coming in from our different platforms, and we’re able to work with customers to understand how we best serve them in the best way. An example of that, we’ve got a concierge arrangement where our patient concierge team are talking to our customers 12 hours a day. They’re picked specifically for their capabilities in being able to move people through the different stages of their care and really personalise the way that we go about things.

With our stages, the first stage can be just someone interested in preventative healthcare, and we do a lot of work in that space, down to someone who is sick and needs to talk to someone. We look at the entire chain. Whether it be someone that is calling in for the first time and wants some advice, our platform is built so people can really look at the different doctors that we have, understand their capabilities, understand their fit as well, and then we’re able to have that conversation where they can either have assistance at home, teleconsultation, our nurses go to the home, and if not then we’re able to help them through that process even to the point of booking them into most international hospitals. So we see ourselves as a total solution, and that’s really where we see a real point of difference in what we do. We’re not looking to be a telehealth provider, we’re not looking to be a clinic, we’re not looking to be a hospital. We’re really looking to make the customer the centre of everything we do.

David: Yeah, and obviously every customer is different. I know from my side I really like the fact that I don’t want to go to the hospital. I’m busy, I’ve not got the time for it. I like the fact that I can take a look at the website, see the doctors, read about their backgrounds, get some insight from them, and even have a chat to them, and it doesn’t cost that much for the consultation. Then from there it’s like, yeah mate, you need to go to the hospital, or come to the clinic, or we can have pharmacy delivered to your house. That’s really, for me and the lifestyle I lead, it’s a perfect solution.

Dean Jones: Yeah, it is. It’s putting the customer, or the patient, in the centre of the solution. And I think that’s core to why we’ve been able to grow. I think that’s core to why people continue to utilise this. We’ve got an amazing background with over 20,000 customers that have put their trust in our care. We have a five-star rating. We’ve got one of the highest ratings there is in the healthcare industry. And that really comes down to the principle of good communication, good discussions, and obviously really good doctors and really good nurses, and a lot of training and effort goes into that space.

Talking about the doctors, I think in business you attract people with the same values and people with the same mindset that you do. When we talk to doctors, they want to understand that we’ve got the best in care in mind, and also the best communication to our patients. So we’ve been really lucky in regards to the doctors that are on our platform. They’re really engaged. We do go through a large screening process, not so much from their technical capabilities, because that’s a given, but at the same time we really go through their ability to connect with customers. Then it’s the same with our nursing and our patient support team. It’s about a conversation that’s two-way. I think that’s what’s really important. With ourselves, we don’t see people that come to us as a transaction. If you’re going to talk to someone about your health, you want to connect with that person. You want to be able to have a good conversation with that person.

The majority of our doctors have spent a lot of time overseas. We have doctors with medical licences in the UK and in Thailand. We have doctors that have spent time in Australia, in America, across the board. But really importantly, we’re crafting this area of care that isn’t just telehealth for colds and coughs. We’ve got a lot of different experts on our platform.

David: Could you list off a few of those for us?

Dean Jones: Yeah, sure. We’re just about to launch ADHD and mental health screening. That’s quite a new product for us and will be coming out at the end of the month. We’ve got cancer, we’ve got diabetes, we’ve got paediatricians. At our clinic we’ve got dermatology. We’ve even got cosmetics, Botox and these types of things. So it’s very different and very vast. But we’re really looking at breaking down the barriers between the customer and the care.

If you were interested and needed some advice on any of these topics, you can have a look at our webpage, you can talk to our doctors. If you go into a hospital, you don’t get that same ability to see if there’s a connection between you and your caregiver. That’s really why people keep coming back to us, because they’re able to understand who they’re talking to.

David: I can say it, even aside from the inconvenience of going to the hospital, there are all those additional charges. The medicine seems to be triple the price. Someone touches your hand, there’s a thousand baht. I really like the fact that even blood tests are done at home. It’s convenient, it’s reasonably priced. It’s a serious, proper medical solution in the most convenient way possible.

Dean Jones: That’s quite correct. All our pricing is upfront, so there are no hidden fees as you just mentioned. You can go onto our webpage, you can book different tests or whatever it may be, and it’s all upfront. You pay as you go rather than getting to the end and seeing a larger bill. That being said, we partner with a lot of hospitals. They are definitely a key part of our complete supply chain, and they are necessary for some of the pieces that we do. But the communication part and the transparency on the costs is something that people really appreciate.

David: You mentioned partners there as hospitals, but it’s not just hospitals. You’ve got this really broad network of partners.

Dean Jones: We do. We almost look at ourselves as a personal health concierge. People can talk to us in different ways, through all messengers and different chat arrangements. From there, we’re able to look at whether we can take the first steps in care. If not, then we can refer and book you into our different facilities. Whether that be Bumrungrad Hospital, Vejthani, Aspire, or physio providers. But the really important part is you’re talking to one person, and they are your personal care contact.

David: Like a GP.

Dean Jones: Yeah, that’s right. They’re able to go through and do all those things for you. Navigating that sometimes can be quite difficult. Although the hospital network in Thailand is fantastic, there’s no doubt about it, trying to navigate where you should be and how you should do those things is quite difficult.

Now that we’ve got national coverage, one of the pieces of feedback that we’re getting is particularly around families. If you’re going on holiday, you’ve almost got your GP in your pocket. We can deliver pharmaceuticals anywhere in Thailand. We can do blood tests anywhere in Thailand. So it’s a real capability build for us. We’ve tried to keep the solution mobile, because people don’t stay in one spot.

David: Yeah, because eventually you find a hospital you like in Bangkok, but if you’re in Koh Samui or Phuket, who knows where to begin.

Dean Jones: Exactly.

David: So I think the B2C offering is pretty intuitive, but you also have a big B2B part of the business.

Dean Jones: We do, yes, and it’s growing. We have built this business on quality personal care. We are trusted with looking after oil rigs in the Gulf of Thailand. We have paramedics on those rigs. We have 24-hour support, paramedics and emergency doctors based in a room 24 hours. These types of contracts aren’t given out lightly.

We also have partnerships with Crisis24, which gives us not only Thailand capability but global medical and security capability. This is an important part of our business, and it is based on the quality that we’re building in our B2C offering. If I look at our five-star rating, it’s something people just don’t have, and it’s something we’re very proud of.

We’re looking at solutions for schools, mining, and other sectors. One thing our business really understands is that while we may have similar products in the background, they need to be customised for each industry. We look at individualising that, and our infrastructure is second to none.

David: You can probably tell me if I’m using the right words, but it sounds like economy of scale and scope. You’ve got the B2C offering, the doctors, the facility, the clinic, and from there those same resources can support rigs and companies across the region.

Dean Jones: Yeah, correct. We are also looking at options outside of Thailand. We were able to support from Thailand. We had an opening event at our clinic recently and had a lot of people there looking at the technology that we’re deploying. What’s important to us is keeping the customer at the centre.

A great example is our clinic. If you walk into a clinic in Thailand, you might see a GP. In our clinic, you can see a GP and also a range of specialists online. We have specialists from America, psychologists, and others available for assessment and testing. We’re really looking at how we make things convenient and centred around how the customer consumes the product, rather than what makes sense from our business outward.

David: And where is that clinic?

Dean Jones: It’s on Soi 5, in the MedAsia Healthcare Complex, on level 9.

David: It’s very nice. I can vote for that. So we’ve spoken a lot about HealthDeliver, but the sector itself is going through massive transformation. Technology is playing a big role. How do you see the future of healthcare?

Dean Jones: I think it’s splitting into two areas. AI is a huge talking point and has caught everyone by surprise in the last couple of years. I think it will play a large role in assisting doctors and medical professionals to make the right decisions. I don’t think it will enter the customer-facing side for a long time. People don’t want to consume healthcare from impersonal systems. So I see the front end becoming more personalised, and the back end being supported by AI to scale.

David: So the trend towards customer-first and convenience will continue.

Dean Jones: It has to. Thailand is one of the best in the region for medical care, so innovation needs to be very clear in its purpose. Personalisation is key.

David: If you can get a pizza delivered to your house, you should be able to get healthcare.

Dean Jones: Exactly.

David: That’s all the serious questions. Final one. I always ask this. Who are the storytellers that have influenced you?

Dean Jones: I think it’s more about how stories are told than the storyteller themselves. The best communicators are those who can simplify complex ideas. Whether it’s healthcare, supply chain, or anything else, it’s about making it accessible.

One example would be John Howard and gun reform in Australia. Regardless of political views, that was a powerful story that brought people together around a difficult issue.

David: That’s great leadership. If you can’t explain something simply, it’s useless.

Dean Jones: Exactly.

David: That was amazing. Thank you so much. How can people find out more about HealthDeliver?

Dean Jones: You can go to our webpage at www.healthdeliver.asia, or find us on Facebook, Instagram, and the major platforms.

David: Fantastic. Thank you very much.

Dean Jones: Thanks mate.