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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.)