Teladoc CEO Jason Gorevic steps down immediately in shock announcement

April 5, 2024 | by

Teladoc Health announced this morning the immediate departure of CEO Jason Gorevic. The release from Teladoc hit the wires at 6:30am Eastern Daylight Time. Chief financial officer Mala Murthy has taken the CEO position on an interim basis while the board of directors conducts an executive search for a permanent replacement. She will retain CFO responsibilities during the search.

From LinkedIn: Ms. Murthy has been with Teladoc since June of 2019, joining as CFO from seven years at American Express as CFO of their Global Commercial Services segment. Previously she was with Pepsico. 

The industry for some time anticipated Mr. Gorevic’s departure after 15 years due to Teladoc’s lackluster 2023 and a dismal forecast for 2024. Teladoc never really recovered from a disastrous 2020 $18.5 billion acquisition of Livongo engineered by Mr. Gorevic with Glen Tullman, followed by its 2022 $6.6 billion writedown. The share price never really recovered, reaching a high over $293 in February 2021 but eroding quickly after that. It currently languishes at below $15, losing 34% YTD and 95% since 2021. The crash in Teladoc’s value as the pandemic closures of practices resolved was replicated by other telehealth companies such as Amwell, MDLIVE, Included, and most others. But the picture didn’t seem to be clearing. Telemental health provider BetterHelp, which last year was touted as the company’s salvation, wasn’t, falling flat in 2023 revenue. Teladoc’s 2024 forecast was downbeat as well [TTA 22 Feb], but management in the announcement reinforced that they are standing pat on their Q1 and full year 2024 financial guidance.

The usual anodyne statements followed. “We thank Jason for his many achievements and contributions during the 15 years he led Teladoc Health. We wish him success in his future endeavors,” said David B. Snow, Jr., Chairman of the Teladoc Health Board of Directors. To CNBC, Mr. Gorevic said, “I am proud of the impact we’ve made on the healthcare system, and our many accomplishments in advancing innovation and transforming virtual health care from an unrealized promise into a valued reality for our 90 million members.” 

The impression left by Teladoc from press and related news articles, as well as by analysts, was this move was sudden. The precipitating action to remove Mr. Gorevic is yet to be revealed. The release was timed for the usual pro forma Friday, but the morning timing was designed for the markets to lift the stock in week-end trading. Teladoc’s financials have been hammered for the past two years, but no differently than its now extensive competition, with health systems and practices now incorporating telehealth and virtual health software. Another confirmation that this was a sudden move: a quick view of the Teladoc website at 12.30 ET was that Mr. Gorevic was still listed as the CEO; this changed with a second view at 1pm. To be continued…  FierceHealthcare, Axios, HealthcareDive

Deal and news roundup: Cigna acquires MDLive, Oscar Health $1bn IPO preview, Teladoc’s smash revenue–and losses, Medisafe’s $30M Series C

February 27, 2021 | by

The big news this week in Telehealth World is Cigna’s agreement to acquire MDLive. MDLive will be part of Evernorth, Cigna’s health services portfolio. From the release and news reports,  Cigna has been a long-time partner of and investor (through Cigna Ventures) in MDLive, which has grown to 60 million members. No purchase price nor management changes have been disclosed. Headquartered in Florida, since 2009 MDLive raised close to $200 million in investment in five rounds, the last $50 million in private equity in September, and was rumored to be prepping an IPO. 

Evernorth was rebranded within Cigna last September for management services which can be sold outside of Cigna, a move that follows both CVS Aetna and UnitedHealthGroup. It contains pharmacy benefit management company Express Scripts, specialty pharmacy Accredo, and medical benefit manager eviCore along with several other smaller related businesses. Last year, it brought in $116.1 billion in revenues for Cigna last year, a 20 percent jump from 2019, according to Cigna’s annual report. MDLive release, Healthcare Dive, FierceHealthcare

‘Neoinsurer’ Oscar Health’s IPO raise, scheduled for next week, is now estimated to be in the eye-blinking $1 bn to $1.2 bn range, with over 30 million shares valued at $32-34 per share. At the beginning of the month, it was estimated to be a modest $100 million [TTA 9 Feb]. Daffodils in February? More in TechCrunch, Reuters

Meanwhile, the Big Kahuna of Telehealth, Teladoc, ended 2020 with a smashing $1.1 bn in revenue and equally smashing losses. Their Q4 revenue was $383 million, up 145 percent from $156 million in Q4 2019. Visits skyrocketed due to the pandemic of course–10.6 million, up 156% from 2019. Paid membership hit 51.8 million, up 41 percent from 2019’s 36.7 million. Both membership and visits are expected to increase in 2021. Livongo, acquired in October, added substantially to 2020’s losses of $485 million, up 389 percent from 2019’s $99 million. Q4 losses were $394 million in the fourth quarter, up from $19 million in 2019. FierceHealthcare, Teladoc release

And happily, but more modestly, Medisafe’s smartphone-based medication management app has raised a $30 million Series C, led by Sanofi Ventures and ALIVE Israel HealthTech Fund. From a basic app when this Editor first profiled the company and met Omri ‘Bob’ Shor over a coffee in 2013, the app now is more a digital drug companion and a platform for patient adherence programs. Kudos! Release

Rounding up July: Teladoc’s new name and earnings, Hitching a Lyft, GlobalMed with FCC, Proteus and HIV sensing, Parks Associates, Welbeing

August 1, 2018 | by
[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Lasso.jpg” thumb_width=”125″ /] [grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/teladochealth_logo_plumaqua_rgb.jpg” thumb_width=”150″ /]Telemedicine giant Teladoc today formally unveiled its name and logo change to Teladoc Health. Citing its worldwide reach and a broad portfolio of services, CEO Jason Gorevic stated “…we will further accelerate the adoption of virtual care and enhance our technology-enabled services to make high-quality healthcare a reality for more people and organizations around the world.” The name will officially change on 10 August but there is no change in their NYSE ticker symbol TDOC. Release on MarketWatch  Their earnings call on Wednesday reported a second quarter loss of $0.37 per share which was substantially less than the projected $0.43. Revenue was $94.56 million for the quarter ended June 2018, more than double that of CY 2017. Zacks.com

The burgeoning area of non-emergency medical transportation (NEMT) got a Lyft with the publishing of two studies indicating reductions in costs and no-shows. Lyft rideshare partner Hitch Health which integrates EHR data, to identify patients, worked over 12 months with the Hennepin Healthcare internal medicine clinic in Minneapolis. The no-show rate dropped from 31 percent to 22.5 percent, with an estimated increase in revenue of $270,000. In Camden, NJ, Rideshare worked with a branch of the MD Anderson Cancer Clinic to schedule on-demand transportation, reducing direct transportation costs by 30 percent with the service and no-show rate down to four percent. Mobihealthnews

GlobalMed, a previous Perspectives contributor, was represented by its CEO on a four-person panel discussing the FCC ‘s proposed Connected Care Pilot Program, a new $100 million program to support telehealth for low-income Americans, attended by  FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr. Here’s a video from the 24 July meeting. Hat tip to Marcia Rhodes of Amendola Communications

Proteus Digital Health’s sensor-equipped pills, transmitter patch, and app may have a new market with prophylaxis (PrEP) treatments for the prevention of HIV transmission. A study by University of California, San Diego researchers with Truvada (Gilead Sciences) found that the sensor-equipped drug was well-received by most users and pharmacokinetically equivalent to Truvada alone. Proteus is the first FDA-approved digital ingestion tracking system with Abilify MyCite [TTA 14 Nov 17]. Mobihealthnews

Parks Associates has two upcoming opportunities for speakers at their hosted events at two large conferences. Click on the links for more information:

CONNECTIONS Europe: Strategies for Smart Home & Consumer IoT – Deadline: 1 Sept
Amsterdam – 13-14 Nov 2018  Event website

CONNECTIONS Summit at CES – Deadline: 15 Sept 2018
Las Vegas – 8 Jan 2019  Call for papers and more information.  

Welbeing in the UK announced on Wednesday 1 Aug their Rehabilitation Project in Cumbria. The program is designed to help patients who have had a fall or similar trauma leading to a hospital stay. When they are discharged, patients can now receive Welbeing’s alarm service for up to 13 weeks, free of charge. The service is being funded by Eden District Council. Welbeing recently acquired Eden Housing Association’s alarm and response services in Eden and Carlisle. (Link to press release to come)