This Company Says it Wants to Be Telehealthcare's Next Big Player

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The following post was written and/or published as a collaboration between Benzinga’s in-house sponsored content team and a financial partner of Benzinga.

After a 20-fold increase in the rate of telemedicine use, the COVID-19 pandemic has forced both physicians and patients to reconsider how they perceive healthcare services.

For years, getting sick meant visiting your local pharmacy or hospital, waiting to get checked by your doctor, and heading back home with a stack of prescriptions. The pandemic introduced a streamlined version of this process, allowing for virtual treatment and diagnosis.

And now the world is speculating: Are telehealthcare services set to disrupt the healthcare industry, or will they be a fad soon forgotten?

American International Holdings Corp. AMIH has stated that it has set a definitive stance on this matter; it is among those betting on the disruptive potential of telehealthcare, and it’s not alone in doing so. Teledoc Health Inc. TDOC, 1Life HealthCare Inc. ONEM, Wellness Lifestyles Inc. WLYYF and Amwell AMWL have all taken on initiatives to change the future of healthcare.
What, then, does the future of healthcare look like?

One of the Contenders

While AIH’s plan was to acquire and build healthcare-based retail stores, the pandemic complicated that avenue of growth. As a result, the company turned to virtual and telehealthcare avenues, spaces in which AIH’s CEO and President Jacob Cohen was an early believer.

“Telemedicine was there,” he told Benzinga in an exclusive interview. “It was starting to develop. I just think the pandemic accelerated it by 2 to 3 years. And I think it taught the world that practitioners can treat people in the comfort of their homes.”

AIH says that it quickly understood that there was as much a need, if not even more, for mental health services during the pandemic than physical health services. To address this need, the company created LifeGuru, a hub that connected life coaches from all over the world to those whose lives had been seriously affected by the pandemic. 

But AIH states that LifeGuru’s journey does not stop there; while the pandemic certainly accelerated the need for such services, they are still a need for millions. To overcome language and financial barriers, AIH continues to develop a multilingual coaching cohort and to build a system that accepts different kinds of currencies with ease.

Additionally, AIH says that the pandemic has accelerated the divide between the upper and middle classes’ accessibility to telehealthcare services, a notion supported by studies. To address this disparity, AIH acquired EpiqMd, a telemedicine platform that aims to “improve the lives of 76 million Americans who do not have access to insurance or are underinsured.”

Expansion Plans

The team at AIH has spent the last 12 to 18 months optimizing both of their platforms. With licenses already available in 6 states for EpiqMd and LifeGuru taking on the global stage, AIH’s CEO is adamant that the company has set the blueprint for accelerated financial and physical growth. 

And apparently it isn’t stopping there. AIH is on the constant lookout for strategic acquisitions that would complement its businesses and has keen eyes on diagnostics, pharmaceuticals, and medical devices as potential avenues for growth.

What Does the Data Say? 

Academics have suggested the benefits of telehealthcare, highlighting how it has expanded access to healthcare, reduced potential infections, preserved hospital supplies, and reduced demand on hospital facilities.

One bold conclusion from a PubMed study states that “We can safely assume that developments in mobile communications, sensor devices, and nanotechnology will alter the way that healthcare is delivered in the future.”

The medical and financial communities seem to agree that telehealth may be a rapidly changing and innovative industry.
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The preceding post was written and/or published as a collaboration between Benzinga’s in-house sponsored content team and a financial partner of Benzinga. Although the piece is not and should not be construed as editorial content, the sponsored content team works to ensure that any and all information contained within is true and accurate to the best of their knowledge and research. This content is for informational purposes only and not intended to be investing advice.