www.lifegiftcards.com [email protected] About Joey Truscelli Joey Truscelli, a seasoned entrepreneur, is the founder and CEO of Mediphe and Life Gift Cards. Life Gift Cards (LGC) is a prepaid, procedure-specific, gift card company focused on affordable, proactive wellness. In 1989, Truscelli founded EDSS, which became ENS, a medical data processing company that employed over 500 people, and serviced over 200,000 medical providers nationwide. ENS Health developed software and connectivity to over 1,200 insurance companies throughout the country.  ENS Health was acquired by United Healthcare in 2006. In addition, Truscelli founded International Provider Services, Inc. staffing military installations with over 100 physicians at Ft. Carson Colorado, the Air Force Academy, Fitzsimmons Army Medical Center and Luke Air Force Base. Inspired by the Indianapolis 500, he partnered up with Warner Brothers — the Warner Brothers’ Bugs Bunny Indy Car — which qualified for the 1999 Indy 500 with driver Roberto Moreno. Truscelli Team Racing went on to qualify for the 2000 Indy 500, finishing 13th with driver Jaques Lazier. Joey also produced “Sons of the Fallen,” a docu-reality film giving tribute to children of the country’s fallen soldiers. The film was shown in 500 movie theaters throughout the U.S. in 2010.  He continues to provide mentorship camps for children with life-limiting diseases, as well as for children who lost a parent in the military.   Medical Travel Today (MTT): Can you tell our readers about your experience in the industry, and what prompted you to start Life Gift Cards ™ (LGC)? Joey Truscelli (JT): In 1989, I started ENS Health, a healthcare electronic exchange company. We provided electronic billing services for doctors, hospitals, clinics, dentists and insurance companies. We would take claims from their practice management software systems and send them electronically to one of 1,400 insurance companies. In 2006 – after 16 years – we sold the company to United Healthcare. From there we went into the non-profit sector helping children in need, ranging from special needs kids to children who had lost a parent in Iraq and Afghanistan. From a financial standpoint, we discovered that there was a real need for help – specifically on the healthcare side. We then came up with the idea of creating healthcare gift cards, which is how LGC was formed. Initially, the idea was to create a way for individuals to help others in need of a medical procedure, and eventually it grew into employers helping employees who needed healthcare services. We offer a flat-rate procedure-specific gift card that enables people to donate to someone else or purchase a card for their own use. For example, an individual can give the gift of a mammogram or dental checkup, or they can decide to personally access the service. MTT: What is the primary focus of the company? JT: The idea behind LGC was to provide a technology-driven service that wasn’t available anywhere else. Unlike other such projects, we started with a closed loop system that we created within the healthcare arena, so that we don’t need to depend on outside sources such as Visa, MasterCard or American Express to make the card work. Also, our cards can only be used for a specific procedure, and not for anything else, as would be the case with a regular credit card. We now have 300,000+ providers, 80,000 dentists and over 5,000 hospitals connected to our system. This means that you can take your card to any one of these providers, and they can actually go through the payment settlement process that we’ve created, which is unlike anything in the industry. MTT: So what kind of healthcare cards are currently available? JT: The procedures include mammogram, wellness, dental (X-ray and cleaning) and chiropractic. There are over 8,000 procedure codes, so we can design a card specific to any procedure that is out there, which is great because we plan on expanding the options. Our selection will be quite extensive. LGC comes at a significant time, especially with the transparent healthcare push that is out there now. People want to know what they are going to pay before they go to the doctor. These cards give them a definite price for each procedure. MTT: Where can the cards be purchased? JT: You can purchase them directly on Life Gift Cards.com, but we’ve recently teamed up with InComm Incentive Solutions, which you can visit if you are looking at buying in bulk as an employer, non-profit organization, religious organization or any type of entity that wants to buy cards in bulk. This fall, the cards will be available in select retail stores. MTT: Do the cards expire? JT: No, there is no expiration, and the cards are transferable. For instance, if you give a wellness card to someone who ends up not using it, you can give the card to someone else. MTT: Are the cards available in different denominations? JT: Each card has its own flat-rate pricing, which is valid nationwide. For instance, the mammogram card price is the same whether you are in New York, Dallas, San Francisco or Chicago. We negotiated the rates with providers, so that gives us flexibility and allows us to offer a standard price throughout the country. The chiropractor card is $50 for a spinal adjustment, which is a very competitive price and available across the country. MTT: Walk me through the process from receiving a card to activating it, and scheduling an appointment with a provider. JT: You will get an email saying that you’ve received a gift card from someone. It will then direct you to our site to activate the card. Once you activate the card, you can choose a provider. We will determine if that provider participates in our program, and you can choose from a list of all participating providers in your zip code area. Once you choose the provider, you’ll be able to print out your e-certificate and take it in for your appointment. MTT: Please explain the benefits for our readers — employers, consumers and third party administrators (TPA). JT: From a consumer standpoint, it’s a really emotional gift because, instead of buying your loved one the typical gift card for dinner or music or whatever it may be, this is really a much more caring kind of gift. We’ve actually seen women cry when they received a mammogram card. LGC not only improves access to quality care, but we also save money for consumers based upon our purchasing power. The card is a transparent healthcare tool that allows an individual consumer to purchase a healthcare procedure and know exactly what the cost is before they go to the doctor’s office. Traditionally what happens when you go to the doctors is that you have no idea what the costs are until after the procedure. Most people don’t ask. You usually get the bill later, or when they ask at the counter how you are going to pay for it. Furthermore, providers like this card because it is pre-paid. This means they know they are going to get paid. This is important when you consider the growing risk of bad debt for healthcare services. Employers have an excellent opportunity with LGC, especially self-insured employers that have many part-time employees. Now they have the ability to purchase one type of procedure for employees, like a wellness card. For employers of every size that can’t pay for healthcare, these cards can be used to incent employees, and attract and retain talent. This is important, especially for fast food chains and retailers. What’s more, the employee gains more of an appreciation and loyalty for an employer who demonstrates that they care about their health and welfare. MTT: How do you plan to raise awareness? JT: We will be spreading the word throughout social media networks and press, as well as through our channel partners, like InComm, and others that are significant to our distribution. This will help spread the word and, of course, people will see the gift card racks in retail stores. As for reaching employers, we plan on attending conventions and seminars – any event involving employers making healthcare decisions and looking for products and solutions for their employees. We will also work through their TPA’s to offer these types of products as an alternative solution. MTT: What sets LGC apart from the competition? JT: We are first to market, and don’t have any competition. Regionally, you see providers offering one-time gift cards for a massage or teeth cleaning, but to our knowledge, no one else offers a health-specific procedure card. MTT: In the future, what cards do you plan to offer? JT: We definitely want to offer cholesterol screening, prostate-specific antigen screening, and early detection for diabetes, high blood pressure and heart issues. We plan on scaling up to medical tourism cards where you can buy a card to have a major procedure done, like a hernia operation or whatever it may be. MTT: What’s next for LGC? JT: We are developing a new shopping tool, the Mediphe Healthcare shopping tool, which will allow people to search for procedure pricing and quality of care, and print out their own e-Certificates. They will also be able to customize their e-Certificate, allowing them to design and print their own e-Certificate for, say, a knee scope or triple by-pass in Mexico. We also plan to broaden our distribution to eventually be in all the retail stores and digital e-stores. As we expand, we are starting off with the flat-rate procedure cards but moving into transparent healthcare pricing. MTT: Do you have anything else to add? JT: I think people now are becoming more cost-aware, and this creates a demand for tools designed to help them make smarter choices. In particular, employers will be able to use LGC to provide greater access to care for their employees. LGC empowers people to understand healthcare in the simplest possible terms. It shouldn’t be so confusing. You should be able to look at a procedure and know what you are going to pay. Very simple. But we are just getting started. There is much more to come.