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Teladoc, CVS, Utilization Rates, & Apple in ‘THE YEAR of Telehealth’

By JESSICA DA MASSA, WTF Health

According to Toby Cosgrove, 2019 is “THE YEAR of telehealth.” The former CEO of Cleveland Clinic, who is currently an executive advisor to Google Cloud’s healthcare and life sciences team, proclaimed it as such to CNBC, saying that this year is “THE YEAR” telehealth becomes ubiquitous.

That’s a pretty bold statement – particularly as utilization rates for virtual visits continue to fall short of expectations – so we double-checked this prognostication with Teladoc’s CEO, Jason Gorevic.

Does he think 2019 is going to be telehealth’s turning point?

Well, although he’d rather call the space ‘virtual care’ instead of ‘telehealth’ (maybe this will be the difference maker?), he confesses he’s pretty much on board with Cosgrove’s assertion that more consumers than ever will visit virtual exam rooms this year.

But, why?

How does 2019 become “THE YEAR” of virtual care? Is this going to be an industry-wide boon, or is Teladoc just banking on its partnership with CVS and their new family member, Aetna?

Tune in to hear Jason get real about what’s impacting utilization rates, how things are going to change this year, AND whether or not he’s worried about competing with Apple, Google, and Amazon for screen time. (Hint: He’s not.)

Health in 2 Point 00, Episode 74 | European Money, Postpartum Care, & Social Determinants of Health

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Today on Health in 2 Point 00, Jess and I are standing on a roof answering health tech questions from the Digital Health Commercialization Panel event in San Francisco. In this episode, Jess asks me about all the money that is being raised or spent in the health tech worlds of Europe and the US. DoctoLib, a company that is like ZocDoc in the US, raised 150 million Euro, which is probably the largest raise for a European company involved in health tech. Meanwhile, in the US, Teledoc also stretches its way into Europe, buying MédecinDirect, which is a telehealth company in France. We also see health tech companies in the employer health space taking home large piles of cash. Cleo, which is a platform entirely run by women serving women’s’ health postpartum, raises 27 million. UniteUs, which is a company focused on improving people’s social determinants of health, raises 30 million, but I still worry about this type of initiative and want to see if there is a market for this type of care and if hospitals are willing to pay for it– Matthew Holt