Telemedicine to Evolve Into Healthcare ‘Destination,’ Says Teladoc CEO

Teladoc, claimed to be the oldest U.S. telemedicine platform, with roots dating to 2002, was “thrown a million curve balls” after the COVID-19 pandemic hit in March, CEO Jason Gorevic told a prerecorded CES 2021 workshop. “Overnight, literally our volume doubled,” and the availability of telehealth services became ubiquitous, he said. “We always thought this was inevitable. This wasn’t a surprise to us. We just didn’t think it was going to happen overnight and that it was going to take a global pandemic to be the catalyst for that.” Gorevic estimated Teladoc did more than 10 million “virtual visits” in 2020. Consumers went from the “awareness-building phase” of telemedicine “straight through to the adoption phase, into the expectation phase" in just "a matter of months,” he said. “That almost never happens.” Gorevic predicts that a year from now, consumers will look to virtual-care visits as “the destination for all of their healthcare needs, not just for a slice of their healthcare needs, and we’re already seeing that.” He estimates 60% of Teladoc visits are for “noninfectious diseases.”