J.P. Morgan's 2023 health conference brings investors, innovators together

The 41st annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference opened Monday at the Westin St. Francis hotel in San Francisco, where a veritable who’s who of the healthcare industry is gathered to talk pricing, patients, public policy and much more. Modern Healthcare will be providing live updates throughout the four-day event.

Teladoc Health is better prepared than rival telehealth providers to weather economic headwinds, CEO Jason Gorevic said.

“Many of the small competitors out there, whether they’re public or private, lack the scale to deliver strong financial results consistently,” Gorevic said. “There are a lot of virtual care companies out there that are more narrowly focused, smaller in scale and are nipping at the edges of single [software] solutions.”

Teladoc’s strategy is to sell suites of telehealth offerings to enterprise customers, he said. Three-quarters of its deals with health insurers, health systems and employers include more than one product, he said. The company unveiled an app at the CES electronics trade show last week that combines primary care, mental health and chronic disease management.

The firm had a difficult 2022 and recorded a $9.8 billion net loss for the first three quarters, largely because of a $9.6 billion goodwill impairment charge related to its $18.5 billion acquisition of digital health company Livongo Health in 2020.

Gorevic said Teladoc has $900 million on its balance sheet and positive cash flow and that the goodwill impairment charge doesn’t impact cash or liquidity. Teladoc’s 2022 revenue was approximately $2.4 billion, $1 billion of which came from BetterHelp, its direct-to-consumer mental health service.

Despite inflation and advertising costs, growing the direct-to-consumer telehealth service line remains part of Teladoc’s strategy, Gorevic said.

—Gabriel Perna

All updates from the JPM conference can be read at Modern Healthcare