Will TeleHealth Continue To Grow After COVID-19: Jeff Kagan

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The Fortune Brainstorm Health conference showed how the current pandemic is creating a sudden and enormous growth opportunity for so many new technologies and companies in TeleHealth, TeleMedicine and TeleSurgery, using wireless and wire line networks. Because of the coronavirus, this is now on the fast-track for growth. Will this growth continue?

At the conference, conversations among industry leaders centered on two important things. One, TeleHealth growth is exploding during the COVID-19 pandemic. Two, this growth wave will be long-term. If true, that is great news for investors, patients, companies and their workers and executives.

Which TeleMedicine firms and technologies will grow long-term

We need to accurately know which companies to focus on. Dr. Vivian Lee, President of Verily Life Sciences, Dr. Steven Corwin, President and CEO of New York-Presbyterian Hospital and Dr. Arif Nathoo, CEO and co-founder of Komodo Health, were all in agreement… TeleHealth is here to stay, and we are just in the very early stages of this next healthcare revolution.

This opinion is very encouraging, but comes from doctors, not investors. If intuitive investors agree, there is an enormous growth opportunity presenting itself in the TeleMedicine arena.

That does not mean every company in every sector will grow, but the opportunity is there. We can learn some very important lessons looking at another industry that took on a similar growth wave.

TeleHealth investors can learn lessons from the wireless industry

Like in the early days of the wireless and smartphone explosion over the last couple decades, growth seems to be everywhere. Even though growth may be explosive, however, we have learned it can be fleeting. Let me explain.

Remember Motorola? What about Blackberry, Palm and Nokia? These were the top names of the companies which led in the handset and smartphone segments, but each of them saw their growth rise and fall at different points.

It started with Motorola. A company which was a leader in the wireless space for decades. It also led in the early cellular marketplace. Who can forget the StarTac or the Razr? Then they suddenly faded away when new competitors took the spotlight.

Next, Blackberry and Nokia popped up. They too had the same problem. As the business user marketplace began to appreciate the security and ability to surf the web and share important information to executives and workers, it exploded with growth. That’s when the name Crackberry was created to describe its addictive nature.

Then, those amazing success stories gave way to the next chapter in wireless, the iPhone and Android. Super smartphones with countless apps. Many other companies have tried and failed to break into this space with their own versions.

Wireless grew, changed and today is much larger with fewer competitors

Over years, even as the wireless world grew and changed, it consolidated, leaving fewer and larger competitors in both the network and handset side of the business.

That means wireless has seen enormous growth, and that continues. In the early years, however, while many companies benefited from this trend, over time the successful companies became harder to find.

As we look back over time, we can see many waves of transition. That meant there were also many waves of different winners and losers.

Today, choosing the right company to invest in can be just as rewarding, but is more difficult.

TeleMedicine’s rapid growth wave will have winners and losers

TeleHealth is in the early stages of a growth and transformation wave. That means investors will jump on almost any name in that new segment and expect growth. Quite a few of these bets will pay off in these early days. Others will not.

As we move forward over the next decade, this industry will mature and while the TeleHealth segment will continue to grow, choosing the winning companies will get more difficult.

Some companies and technologies will stay in the growth side of the curve, while many others will crest then fall. Choosing the right companies who will stay on the growth side is the challenge.

That’s the way I see this next opportunity unfolding over the next several years. We must get good at choosing the right growth companies in order to win. We must understand where the industry is in its growth trajectory.

TeleHealth companies on growth side of the curve

As we move forward, TeleHealth will transform our lives, and that’s the good part for the patients, doctors and nurses. This is also great news for investors who are smart and focus on the growth side of the growth wave.

We should also expect, however, that growth and advancement will come in waves in the TeleHealth industry, just like it did in the wireless industry.

Expect to see many TeleHealth companies and ideas ride the growth wave up and down again, just like we saw Motorola, Blackberry, Nokia and Palm. Some companies will be able to transform and remain winners like AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile have done over all this time.

Knowing which company is on a long-term growth wave vs. a short-term growth wave is key. Knowing when to enter and exit with each is another key.

That’s why you need to learn about TeleHealth and determine which are the long-term winners compared to the short-term winners. There will be plenty of both and you need to understand where each company lies on its growth curve which is just beginning.

That’s why TeleHealth, TeleMedicine and TeleSurgery will continue to grow and become even more important as we move forward. The urgent need is now, but the demand should continue.

Jeff Kagan is an Equities.com columnist. Kagan is an Industry Analyst, Thought Leader, Key Opinion Leader and Influencer focused on Wireless, Telecom, Pay TV, Cloud, AI, IoT, Tele Health, Healthcare, Automotive and Self-Driving cars. Email him at jeff[email protected] His web site is www.jeffKAGAN.com. Follow him on Twitter @jeffkagan and LinkedIn www.linkedin.com/in/jeff-kagan/

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Equities Columnist: Jeff Kagan

Source: Equities News