It's unclear how widely telehealth services will be used once the pandemic subsides, but companies are remaining active in their efforts to grow their telehealth businesses. Below are updates on how nine companies are expanding their telehealth business, as covered by Becker's Hospital Review during the past three months.
- UnitedHealth Group subsidiary Optum on April 15 deployed a new telehealth product across all 50 states. The product, dubbed Optum Virtual Care, aims to integrate physical care, virtual care, home care and behavioral care.
- Amwell on April 28 unveiled its new Converge telehealth platform, which can host and operate digital offerings from Cleveland Clinic, Google Cloud and others.
- Ro, a direct-to-consumer telehealth app for pharmacy services, inked its first retail collaboration with Walmart April 28. Under the new partnership, Ro will launch its Roman health and wellness products and digital services in more than 4,600 Walmart stores across the country.
On May 19, Ro acquired reproductive health company Modern Fertility for more than $225 million. - Amazon on May 5 signed its first enterprise client for its telehealth service, Amazon Care. It has since secured multiple companies as clients for the telehealth service, and it is eyeing expansion into rural markets.
- Walmart Health on May 6 entered an agreement to acquire on-demand, multispecialty telehealth provider MeMD. By acquiring MeMD, Walmart will begin providing virtual care services for urgent, behavioral and primary care to complement its in-person Walmart Health Centers.
- Telehealth provider Doctor On Demand and clinical navigation platform Grand Rounds completed their merger May 11.
On May 26, the combined company signed a definitive agreement to acquire Included Health, a comprehensive healthcare platform for patients who are LGBTQ and BIPOC. - Teladoc Health on May 11 launched its new mental healthcare service MyStrength Complete, which offers personalized mental health services to consumers as an integration of Teladoc's virtual platform.
On July 14, Teladoc integrated its hospital telehealth platform with Microsoft Teams. - The Clinic, a joint digital health venture between Cleveland Clinic and Amwell, on May 18 launched new health offerings as part of its virtual second opinion service. The offering expansion is for patients with brain tumors and prostate cancers, since there are multiple treatment options for these conditions.
- Membership-based primary care network One Medical on June 7 entered an agreement to acquire Iora Health, a tech-powered primary care provider focusing on serving Medicare patients. The acquisition will allow One Medical to offer 24/7 digital and in-person care, as well as extend the provider into full-risk Medicare reimbursement models.