Dive Brief:
- Telehealth powerhouse Teladoc is projecting full-year 2020 revenue will reach up to $1.1 billion due to surging demand for virtual care services during the coronavirus pandemic, CEO Jason Gorevic said Monday at the J.P. Morgan healthcare conference.
- The Purchase, New York-based company lifted its 2020 revenue guidance to between $1.091 billion and $1.093 billion. That's compared to previous guidance of $1.005 billion to $1.015 billion, and about double reported revenue of $553 million in 2019.
- Teladoc also updated its full-year visit volume to 10.6 million, at the high end of previous guidance. That's up from just 4.1 million visits in 2019. However, its membership expectations for 2020 remained unchanged at between 50 million and 51 million users, up about 36% from 37 million users the year prior.
Dive Insight:
Telemedicine surged into the mainstream in 2020 as the coronavirus pandemic forced patients to look for ways to use health services safely and Washington rolled back regulatory barriers. But the biggest question mark hanging over the industry is how much of that consumer demand and those friendly policies will remain in the long term, especially after COVID-19 comes more under control.
Despite the uncertainty, telehealth vendors and proponents of the tech have remained bullish on growth. Teladoc has been especially nimble in capitalizing on COVID-19 tailwinds last year, analysts say.
Market consensus is that Teladoc will see about $1.09 billion in revenue in 2020, leaps and bounds over 2019's topline. That implies the company will have revenue between $380 million and $382 million in the fourth quarter closed Dec. 31.
Gorevic, who's led Teladoc since 2009, said he expects sustainable long-term growth, with 30% to 40% average annual revenue growth expected through 2023.
Teladoc expects its multiproduct offerings to be a major driver of that growth, with its hundreds of payer and provider clients looking for a greater variety of virtual services, including specialty, through a single vendor. The company has stickier clients with multiproduct bookings, with 60% higher utilization and 10% compound annual growth rate on its per-member, per-month growth, according to its presentation at JPM.
About two-thirds of new deals in 2020 were multiproduct, compared to just half in 2019.
Teladoc also highlighted its 2020 selling season, which SVB Leerink analyst Stephanie Davis called "impressive" in a Monday note. Standalone legacy bookings grew 35%, accelerating from the 30% bookings growth in the year prior. Teladoc's average deal size also increased.
Teladoc spent much of 2020 ramping up physician network, back-end infrastructure and services to meet skyrocketing consumer demand. Last year saw a flurry of deals from the 19-year-old vendor, including the biggest digital health deal to date: its purchase of chronic care management player Livongo for $18.5 billion.
Cross-sell opportunities with Livongo now number more than 40, Teladoc said, with new wins including insurance company GuideWell and food processor and marketer Tyson Foods.