The usage of Telehealth solutions (also referred to as Telemedicine or Virtual Health) was already on the rise before the pandemic hit but since then this segment has absolutely skyrocketed. If the dramatic increase in usage rate of these solutions by patients and their providers wasn’t enough, in August Livongo agreed to be acquired by Teladoc for a whopping $18.5B and the deal was just finalized on October 30th, 2020.
Given the rapid increase in importance of virtual health and the potential impact of this merger we used our Research Cloud to do a very quick pulse check with healthcare professionals.
“This was always expected that Livongo was going to be purchased by another company. It is the pro le of their CEO to build a company and sell it to a company who needs the service. There are a lot of companies going into the Home Product space so no surprise.”
“As long as service and continued development continue that is what I am interested in.”
The overwhelming majority of healthcare professionals have not been following this deal for a few reasons – 1) they’re still dealing with the ramifications of the pandemic, and 2) most of them are using different telehealth solutions already.
“This type of service is being migrated to native EMRs and providers will be performing these services themselves. Most have discovered due to COVID-19 defensive strategies the cost of setting up a telemedicine program is not very high. the only factor that has been holding them back is reimbursement, which I anticipate to be maintained post COVID due to public popularity of this service.”
Even though most healthcare professionals have not been following this closely, more of them feel the impact of this acquisition will be positive. Most, however, are firmly in a wait and see posture.
“There are not many companies as good as Livongo at what it does, but quite a few like Teledoc. Livongo brought more innovation to the health care sector. Hopefully [this] won’t [hurt] Livongo's advancement.”
“I'm not sure exactly how the services from the two companies will interact, but since both are about improving health, I think it is a reasonable acquisition. Hopefully the services will complement one another.”
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