We all had to be impressed by the merger of Teladoc with Livongo in an $18.5 billion telehealth deal recently, but the road to “overnight” COVID-19 success has a lot more to the story. In partnership with Dallas Startup Week, I was able to sit down with Michael Gorton, Founder and Former CEO and Chairman of Teladoc, to talk through some of the early telehealth experiences he had at Teladoc.
Along with talking about some of the early days at Teladoc and doctors’ reaction to telemedicine, we also wanted to hear what Gorton thought about the explosive growth of telemedicine in general and where it is headed in the future. Is telehealth finally here to stay and to what extent will it stay.
Gorton also shares his perspective on the combining of Teladoc with Livongo and where else we may see consolidation in the telehealth industry. Plus, Gorton gives a look into what he’s working on based on where he thinks telehealth is going next and how things are going to play out between health systems and direct to consumer telehealth. Gorton also addresses the question of how they dealt with the boards of medicine that wondered if a doctor could provide quality care to a patient they’d never seen.
One thing we don’t talk about with Gorton is the early founding of Teladoc with G. Byron Brooks, MD including their trip to Mount Kilimanjaro which sparked the creation of Teladoc. If you want to hear the details of that story, you’ll want to register for Dallas Startup Week (it’s free) and join Gorton’s session where he’ll share the Teladoc story. Plus, there are a bunch of other healthcare sessions during Dallas Startup Week that you may enjoy as well.
If you want a look into the evolution of telehealth and Teladoc to what it is today, you’ll enjoy this interview with Michael Gorton, Founder and Former CEO and Chairman of Teladoc:
This article is part of the #HealthIT100in100.
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