Teladoc Health announced the sudden and immediate departure of CEO Jason Gorevic on Friday.
The telehealth company’s board of directors appointed chief financial officer Mala Murthy as his temporary replacement, while the search is underway for a permanent successor.
“We thank Jason for his many achievements and contributions during the 15 years he led Teladoc Health. We wish him success in his future endeavors,” said the board’s chairman, David Snow Jr., in a press release.
The Purchase, New York-based firm was founded in 2002 as one of the nation’s first telemedicine companies.
Gorevic served as its CEO since 2009. Under his leadership, Teladoc stock reached record highs during the Covid-19 pandemic when many health providers turned to them amid social distancing protocols.
Although virtual doctor visits have declined nationally since the peak of the pandemic, Teladoc told Quartz that it has hosted 18.4 million visits in 2023, up 65% from 2020.
But its most recent quarterly earnings failed to meet investor expectations. In the three months ending Dec. 31, Teladoc’s revenue grew 4% year-over-year to $660.5 million. But that fell short of Wall Street estimates of $670.8 million, according to FactSet. The company’s stock has dropped 95% since its high of $294 in February 2021.
Teladoc shares rose almost 3% to about $15 on Friday, following the news of Gorevic’s departure. Its stock is down about 33% year-to-date.
The decline of telehealth visits
Telehealth visits plummeted 45.8% in the fourth quarter of 2022, to 41.5 million visits from 76.6 million in the second quarter of 2020, according to a data from the market research firm Trilliant Health.
More recent data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services shows that downward trend continued in 2023. Medicare beneficiaries who used at least one telehealth service fell 73% to 2.8 million in the second quarter of 2023, from a peak of 10.2 million during the same period in 2020.