During the coronavirus pandemic, you can still visit your doctor for essential healthcare. But if you want to avoid crowded waiting rooms, the easiest way is to chat with a doctor online.
It has become almost cliché by now to note how Covid-19 has accelerated digital transformation in healthcare, with the number of Americans trying virtual care roughly doubling since the start of the pandemic. Although the pendulum has swung back in recent months – with in-person outpatient visits returning to pre-pandemic levels and some insurers pulling back on reimbursement – all indications are, as Seema Verma, the administrator of The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), stated, that “the genie is out of the bottle on this one” and there’s no going back on telehealth.
The financial world was buzzing in August when Teladoc purchased Livongo Health for an eye-popping $18.5 billion. While both companies were thriving -- Livongo was more than doubling sales every year, and Teladoc was also growing fast and increasing its network of members and providers -- some investors worried that this was far too high a price for an acquisition at the height of a once-in-a-century pandemic.
Teladoc Health, Inc. shareholders will have a reason to smile today, with the analysts making substantial upgrades to next year's forecasts. The analysts have sharply increased their revenue numbers, with a view that Teladoc Health will make substantially more sales than they'd previously expected. Investor sentiment seems to be improving too, with the share price up 8.3% to US$206 over the past 7 days. It will be interesting to see if this latest upgrade is enough to kickstart further buying interest in the stock.
Digital health was a struggling industry prior to the coronavirus pandemic, but COVID-19 changed the game, pushing consumers and providers alike toward digital health solutions. Unsurprisingly, leading player Teladoc Health emerged as a key beneficiary of this explosive industrywide expansion, recording a record number of virtual care visits during the pandemic, and its shares are up 133% year-to-date (YTD).