What happened
Investors usually react positively to news of a company's expansion of a major product or service. That, however, was not the case with telehealth leader Teladoc Health (TDOC 3.31%) on Wednesday. The company's announcement of a widening of a recently introduced service was met with a collective shrug by the market, and the stock ended up trading flat across the day.
So what
Teladoc announced that it is widening the "capabilities" of that service, Primary360. Among other offerings, patients can take advantage of health plan in-network referrals and what the company calls "care coordination support." Through online pharmacy service Capsule, they will be eligible for same-day medication delivery free of extra charge, and they can book in-home, on-demand blood draw appointments.
Primary360 was launched last October. It's a primary care solution aimed at insurers, businesses, and other entities that sponsor healthcare schemes for their people. In rolling it out, Teladoc said its research revealed that most of its members did not utilize primary care to help monitor their health and tackle any issues as soon as possible.
Although Teladoc isn't breaking out Primary360 client numbers, it did quote its president of U.S. Group Health, Kelly Bliss, as saying, "We are seeing exciting momentum with Primary360."
Now what
So Teladoc obviously has big hopes for the service; given that, we can expect more services and perks to be added to it over its lifetime.
That's certainly encouraging, but it isn't sufficient -- yet, anyway -- to move the needle on the stock. For weeks now, investors have been shunning what they consider to be riskier assets in favor of safer ones. Although Teladoc has had quite a bit of success, it's still a relative newcomer on the healthcare scene, as is the telehealth segment more broadly.
