Teladoc Health stock plummets as telemedicine, virtual doctor visits decline

Teladoc Health stock fell more than 25% the following day on Wednesday. The company’s latest quarterly profit did not meet investors’ expectations..

A decline in virtual doctor appointments across the U.S. in recent quarters has also contributed to slower growth at New York-based telemedicine company Purchase.

Teladoc CEO Jason Gorevic said on a conference call with investors Tuesday that the telemedicine market is “pretty well penetrated,” and revenue growth from the company’s virtual care products in the U.S. He said he expected it to be in the “low single digits going forward.”

For the three months ended Dec. 31, Teladoc’s revenue rose 4% from a year earlier to $660.5 million. But that fell short of Wall Street’s $670.8 million estimate, according to FactSet.

In the fourth quarter, telehealth platform Integrated Care’s revenue increased 8% year-over-year to $384 million. Revenue from the company’s BetterHelp virtual therapy service was flat at $276 million.

Teladoc expects revenue to reach between $630 million and $645 million in the first quarter of 2024, again falling short of analysts’ expectations of $647 million.

Teladoc isn’t the only telemedicine company starting to see a decline in users as the COVID-19 pandemic moves further into the rearview mirror. Rival Amwell reported: Ten% Revenue for the quarter ended Dec. 31 was $70 million, down from $79 million a year earlier.

Decrease in telemedicine visits

Online virtual doctor visits have declined precipitously since peaking during the pandemic, when many health care providers turned to online consultations amid social distancing protocols. It appears that more and more patients now prefer to have their medical needs met directly.

Telemedicine consultations have plummeted The number of visitors increased by 45.8% to 41.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2022 from 76.6 million in the second quarter of 2020, according to data from market research firm Trilliant Health.

Recent data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services shows the downward trend will continue in 2023. 73% fewer Medicare beneficiaries used at least one telehealth service; 2.8 million This will increase in the second quarter of 2023 from a peak of 10.2 million in the same period in 2020.