By most accounts, 2015 was a good year for telemedicine company Teladoc. The Purchase, New York-based company had a highly successful initial public offering in July, and despite a market slump later in the year, Teladoc continues to trade above the IPO price.
In this video interview, CEO Jason Gorevic discussed the “three core assests” that Teladoc brings to its customers:
- “[A] Scaleable and flexible technology platform that really matches supply and demand of physicians and patients in real time, 24/7/365, all across the country.”
- “An incredibly robust clinical platform that ensures extraordinarily high quality.” Teladoc has almost 3,000 healthcare providers in every state but Arkansas.
- “A consumer engagement strategy that ensures that people not only have access to the technology and the physicians, but actually use the system.”
Gorevic expounded on consumer engagement here:
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
That’s not to say there aren’t challenges. Teladoc still isn’t profitable, though Gorevic said he expect to reach profitability by the second half of 2017. The company is being sued by competitor American Well over intellectual property and also is fighting the Texas Medical Board over restrictive rules governing the practice of telemedicine in that state.
Gorevic could not discuss the American Well suit, but he did give an update on the situation in Texas; Teladoc’s clinical operations are based in Dallas, and Texas is the company’s largest market.
