The story
2002–2015
Teladoc was founded in 2002 in Dallas, Texas by G. Byron Brooks and Michael Gorton. It is the oldest and largest telemedicine company in the United States. Teladoc's initial business model allowed patients to remotely consult with state-licensed doctors at any time. Companies paid a monthly fee for their employees to access the service, while patients paid a flat fee for each consultation, originally about $35 to $40. With Gorton as both chairman and CEO, Teladoc launched nationally in 2005 at the Consumer Directed Health Care Conference in Chicago, Illinois. Teladoc had around 1 million members by the end of 2007, with large employers such as AT&T providing the service to employees as a health benefit. Jason Gorevic was named Teladoc's chief executive in 2009. In 2011, Aetna began offering Teladoc for its fully insured members in Florida and Texas, later offering Teladoc in all 50 states.
Teladoc acquired Consult A Doctor for $16.6 million cash in 2013, allowing smaller companies to access Teladoc's services. The Affordable Care Act led to a large number of insurance companies signing with Teladoc, resulting in a growth surge around 2014. By that time, insurance companies such as Blue Shield of California and Oscar had signed with Teladoc, as well as other companies such as Home Depot, T-Mobile, CalPERS, and Rent-A-Center. Teladoc acquired AmeriDoc for $17.2 million in May 2014. The acquisitions of Consult A Doctor and AmeriDoc, both Teladoc's main competitors, resulted in Teladoc becoming the largest telemedicine provider in the United States. After initial fundraising rounds in 2009, 2011, and 2013, Teladoc raised $50 million in 2014, bringing total funding to $100 million. Teladoc's sales doubled in both 2013 and 2014.
2015–2016
Teladoc Health became a public company on July 1, 2015 as the only telemedicine company on the New York Stock Exchange. Teladoc's initial public offering listed at $19 per share, giving the company a market capitalization of $758 million and an enterprise value of $620 million. The initial response to the IPO was positive, as shares surged 50% on the opening day. Three months after the IPO, health insurer Highmark, which represented 1.5% of Teladoc's 2015 revenue, ceased to renew a contract. Teladoc shares fell significantly as a result, before rising to earlier levels. That October, it was the first telehealth company to reach one million visits.
In 2015, Teladoc acquired the behavioral health services provider Compile Inc., operating as BetterHelp for $3.5 million, and competitor Stat Health Services (StatDoc) for $30 million. The following year Teladoc began aggressively expanding, acquiring other companies and launching health segments for dermatology, behavioral health, and sexual health. That year the company won a patent infringement lawsuit filed against competitor American Well.
In July 2016, Teladoc acquired HealthiestYou for $125 million ($45 million in cash and $80 million in stock). Teladoc had 15 million members by November 2016 and a market share of 75% in the United States. The largest national network of virtual care providers in the nation, its full-service suite was operational in 48 states, excluding Arkansas and Texas. In December 2016, the American Hospital Association exclusively endorsed Teladoc's telehealth technology platform. Teladoc logged 952,000 patient visits that year.
2017–2020
In its largest acquisition at the time, in 2017 Teladoc spent $440 million purchasing Best Doctors, a consultation firm and provider of medical second opinions and medical award listings. In 2019, ProPublica criticized companies such as Best Doctors for selling physician awards as pay-to-play. Teladoc had 7,500 clients in 2017, of which 220 were Fortune 1000 companies. Sales that year were $233 million, 89% higher than the year prior. Teladoc Health brands by 2018 included Teladoc, Advance Medical, Best Doctors, BetterHelp and HealthiestYou.
On August 10, 2018, Teladoc, Inc. changed its name to Teladoc Health, Inc. while continuing to trade on the NYSE. Teladoc Health began partnering with CVS in August 2018 on remote consults at MinuteClinics. Teladoc Health acquired Advance Medical, a telemedicine company employing doctors in Latin America, Europe, and Asia, for $352 million in 2018. In December 2018, Teladoc Health's chief financial officer and chief operating officer Mark Hirschhorn resigned after a report that he engaged in a sexual relationship and insider trading with an employee. According to Yahoo Finance, stock value fell roughly 20% in the days following, while an investor class action lawsuit alleged that Teladoc Health had violated securities laws by failing to disclose Hirschhorn's behavior. Teladoc Health denied making false statements or any legal violations.
Active in 130 countries by 2019; that year, Teladoc acquired the French health company MédecinDirect and launched in Canada with the Teladoc Telemedicine Service. Joining from American Express, Mala Murthy was appointed CFO in June 2019.
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In March 2020, Teladoc was providing "near real-time" surveillance data on the spread of coronavirus to the CDC. In July 2020, Teladoc acquired InTouch Health. In October 2020, Teladoc acquired the chronic care company Livongo Health for $13.9 billion in a deal described by the press as the third-largest for a U.S. company that year. The combined companies had an estimated enterprise value of $37 billion. Teladoc then brought in Florida Blue as the first insurer to use Livongo's digital diabetes program. Teladoc sued Amwell in October 2020 for alleged copyright infringement on nine patents, settling the case in July 2022.
2021–2024
In early 2021, paid membership in the U.S. was 52 million. In January 2021, Teladoc began offering a diabetes management service through Dexcom. Later that year, Teladoc Health launched myStrength Complete, a "unified mental health care platform for its B2B customers." In June 2021, Teladoc sued the company Avail for allegedly infringing on three patents related to telemedicine consoles.
On July 14, 2021, Teladoc announced it was collaborating with Microsoft to combine its delivery platform for hospitals and health systems with Microsoft Teams. Teladoc introduced its primary care service Primary360 on a national scale in October 2021. The program gave members access to both a primary physician and care team, with a system in place for followup reminders about appointments and personal maintenance. In February 2022, Teladoc Health launched Chronic Care Complete, a program to help patients manage multiple chronic conditions.
Teladoc had a valuation of roughly $11.3 billion by February 2022, and warned investors there might be a goodwill write-down that year related to the Livongo acquisition. Teladoc announced that Amazon could newly access Teladoc through Alexa and related devices, in February 2022, sparking debate among antitrust experts about the potential impact on the health industry. Amazon Care was shut down later that year.
In April 2022, Northwell Health began using the Teladoc platform with its clinicians, starting with 20 hospitals in the system. After Teladoc's stock value fluctuated significantly during the coronavirus pandemic, the company, in June 2022, was sued by investors alleging it had misrepresented its financial prospects, particularly in regard to its BetterHelp mental health subsidiary and chronic care business. Characterizing the lawsuit, which was later dismissed, as "frivolous," in July 2022, Teladoc reported revenue growth above analysts' projections, with significant growth in BetterHelp. In August 2022, Teladoc became the telehealth portal for Mayo Clinic Health System patients in Onalaska, Wisconsin.
In 2023, the company relocated its headquarters to new York City. Charles "Chuck" Divita, III, was appointed CEO in June 2024, leading the company's further expansion. In July, the firm launched Wellbound employee assistance program (EAP), incorporating BetterHelp into its U.S. employer-sponsored health plans.
2025–present
In January 2025, the company added its virtual cardiometabolic programs to Amazon Health Services health benefits connector. That year, Teladoc Health made a series of acquisitions, including Catapult Health in February, mental healthcare company UpLift in April, and Australia's Telecare virtual care firm in August.
In March 2025, the FTC fined BetterHelp $7.8 million for sharing consumer data with third-party social media sites, banning the company from health data disclosures for advertising purposes. Subsequent to the dismissed June 2022 lawsuit, a new class-action was filed by investors in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on May 17, 2025.
The company reported over 100 million U.S. members in July 2025, and launched new AI capabilities for healthcare workplaces to monitor and mitigate violence that October. In November, Teladoc Health joined with Lumeris, Deloitte, Nuna and Unite Us as Collaborative for Healthy Rural America, pledging to build a shared, integrated care platform, following individual states' plan approvals from the new Rural Health Transformation (RHT) Program of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
From Wikipedia’s article on Teladoc Health, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5