As health plans and employers contend with a growing array of virtual care and AI-enabled tools, Amwell is positioning its digital health platform as the infrastructure layer for AI-enabled care.
Executives at Amwell, formerly known as American Well, touted the company's platform strategy, government contracts and higher-value clinical services as the main drivers of future growth during the company's third-quarter earnings call Tuesday.
Rising healthcare costs are pushing health plans and employers to adopt tech-enabled care solutions, but they are looking for measurable engagement and outcomes from digital health vendors, not just access, according to Ido Schoenberg, M.D., Amwell chairman and CEO.
The proliferation of point solutions, accelerated by AI, is creating more vendor sprawl and member confusion, Schoenberg told investors and analysts during the call.
There's also a lack of proof with many digital health tools, he noted. "It is hard to see which programs work and harder still to replace one without disrupting members. That sprawl is accelerating. AI has made it faster and cheaper to build a clinical program. Investors have backed hundreds of new digital health companies this year, many of them built on AI. Our customers feel pressure to offer these programs, but each one brings its own cost, its own integration, and its own front door. The opportunity is real. So is the complexity," he said.
More patients are turning to AI for health guidance but those interactions don’t necessarily lead them to appropriate, covered care, creating the risk of poor clinical decisions and unnecessary costs for health plans, Schoenberg said.
"This is the problem Amwell is determined to solve for our customers. We help them improve clinical and financial outcomes. We do it through activation, getting more of their members into technology-enabled care in place of conventional care that often costs more. We give our customers one platform under their brand with one integration. It provides reliable, scalable rails to bring in a program, exchange data with it, and tests whether it works. The member's experience stays consistent, simple, and engaging. A common data structure proves the outcomes and improves performance over time," he said.
As AI adoption grows, a unified care platform becomes more valuable, Schoenberg asserted.
"We are not selling an AI feature. We are the trusted platform where AI-powered care runs with clinicians in the loop," he said during the Q3 call.
Amwell's customers represent more than 90 million covered lives, and the company also serves 9.6 million beneficiaries of the Military Health System.
Amwell's platform can help drive member engagement and utilization of digital health tools, executives said.
"Most of the health plans we talk to still see engagement in the single digits. We address that with always-on engagement, outreach to members through our customers' own channels within the rules they set. When a customer switches it fully on, members use the platform at more than three times the rate we see when it's off," Schoenberg said.
The platform runs on a common data structure, he noted. "It sends a member into a program with the right information. It collects outcomes back, and it reports value in the customer's own terms, whether that customer is a health plan or an employer that the plan serves. That is how a program proves its return on investment and how it gets better over time," he said.
In response to a question from an analyst, Schoenberg suggested pricing for the solution could evolve from fixed Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) fees toward outcomes-based arrangements in which Amwell shares in the savings it produces for health plans.
Amwell executives view that platform strategy as key to the company's growth.
In Q3, Amwell reported revenue that was slightly above Wall Street's consensus and a narrower adjusted loss than analysts expected. Amwell executives also reiterated confidence in reaching positive operating cash flow and breakeven to positive adjusted EBITDA in the fourth quarter.
Amwell brought in $49 million in Q3 revenue, according to financial results published Tuesday afternoon. Revenue was down approximately 12.9% year-over-year, but $1 million above the high end of management's guidance range, according to Chief Financial Officer Mark Hirschhorn.
Subscription revenue was $23.9 million, down approximately 22.5% year-over-year and 6.8% sequentially, Hirschhorn said. “The year-over-year decline continues to reflect the previously disclosed churn we've discussed on prior earnings calls,” he added.
Amwell Medical Group (AMG) visit revenue was $23.7 million, up approximately 11.7% year over year, while AMG paid visits totaled approximately 301,000 visits, essentially flat year over year, Hirschhorn said.
Virtual primary care visits were up 41% year over year, continuing that segment's strong growth trajectory. Total platform visits were approximately 760,000 visits, down approximately 30.5% year over year—though Hirschhorn noted the decline is consistent with previously discussed portfolio changes.
The telehealth platform reported a net loss of $11.7 million during the quarter, compared to a loss of $29.3 million the same period a year ago, Hirschhorn said. Adjusted EBITDA loss narrowed to $3.6 million from a loss of $12.7 million a year earlier.
Amwell executives are bullish on revenue growth from its own clinical services, including virtual primary care and behavioral health.
Executives also highlighted the company's government business as it delivered solid third-quarter financial performance. Amwell announced in September that the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) issued a letter of intent to deploy its platform enterprise-wide.
"I want to be precise about what this is," Schoenberg said. "The letter is not a binding contract. A definitive agreement still has to be negotiated and executed under federal procurement rules, and that work is underway."
Schoenberg noted the letter followed a "comprehensive evaluation."
"It cited scalable video consultations, interoperability, cybersecurity compliance, and support for integrated care delivery," he said. "In plain terms, the capabilities the department evaluated are the ones we already run at scale for the military health system, and the department's own scale is considerable."
Amwell executives are optimistic the company will sign a contract with the VA "over the next couple of months," Hirschhorn said, with implementation beginning in 2027, but no definitive agreement exists yet.
Moreover, Schoenberg said the platform is continuing to negotiate a "direct, longer-term contract" with the Defense Health Agency (DHA).
The DHA, which oversees services for the Military Health System, renewed its contract with the telehealth platform in August 2025. In June, it called for sole contracts with Amwell and four other vendors.
DHA discontinued its payment for behavioral health and automated care services with Amwell last year. Schoenberg said the cessation was due to the Department of Defense’s cost-cutting measures—not the department’s satisfaction with the services.
Hirschhorn said Amwell is raising its full-year revenue guidance to between $204 million to $206 million, up from $195 million to $205 million. The company now expects full-year adjusted EBITDA to be a loss in the range of $6.9 million to $7.9 million, a meaningful improvement from its prior range of a loss of $12 million to $16 million.
Amwell forecasts full-year AMG visits in the range of 1.32 million to 1.37 million visits.
“In summary, during the third quarter, we exceeded our revenue guidance with stronger visit volumes, a stable subscription base, and a leaner cost structure that positions us to finish the year on a strong note,” Hirschhorn said.