As demand for remote healthcare intensifies due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Epic Systems selected Twilio (TWLO) to help power its new telehealth service. The embedded solution will allow providers to launch a video visit with a patient, review relevant patient history and update clinical documentation directly within Epic. Commenting on the news, Bank of America analyst Allen Lutz highlighted that Epic's industry leading position in the academic medical center market creates an opportunity to cross-sell, which could limit Teladoc's (TDOC) reach in this vertical.
NEW TELEHEALTH VIDEO OFFERING: Twilio announced that Twilio Programmable Video will power the new native telehealth offering from Epic, one of the nation's largest electronic health record companies. The embedded solution allows providers to launch a video visit with a patient, review relevant patient history and update clinical documentation directly within Epic. As demand for telehealth solutions has surged in response to the COVID-19 crisis, virtual care has become a must-have for doctors, nurses, clinicians and millions of patients around the world. Epic mobilized to quickly build its own telehealth platform powered by Twilio's scalable and secure Programmable Video API. As healthcare organizations race to contain and treat the COVID-19 virus's symptoms, Twilio has seen a massive increase in use cases for how cloud communications can help on the front lines. As part of Twilio's continued commitment to healthcare, Twilio supports HIPAA eligible workflows on Twilio SMS, Voice, SIP and Video.
COMPETITION 'RAMPING SWIFTLY': Commenting on the news, Bank of America analyst Allen Lutz noted that Twilio's press release highlights the level of urgency that many healthcare stakeholders are feeling to provide clients with access to telemedicine. In his view, Epic's industry leading position in the academic medical center market creates an opportunity to cross-sell, which could limit Teladoc's reach in this vertical. Lutz does not believe that Teladoc has a significant exposure to the hospital/health system market at this time, but does think that investors view this as an attractive growth market for the company.
Furthermore, he expects other healthcare stakeholders such as payers are similarly focused on accelerating longer term strategies related to telemedicine which are likely to create incremental opportunities and threats for Teladoc. The analyst has a Neutral rating and a $194 price/ target on Teladoc's shares.
PRICE ACTION: In morning trading, shares of Twilio have gained over 4% to $115.87, while Teledoc’s stock has dropped about 5% to $167.05.
Twilio
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