Telehealth giant Teladoc has tapped digital technology executive Claus Jensen, Ph.D., to lead innovation efforts.
As chief innovation officer, Jensen will lead the research and development team. With more than 20 years of experience leading digital transformation at enterprise healthcare and technology organizations, Jensen has successfully built and scaled teams across product innovation, information systems, health informatics and data products, according to Teladoc in a press release.
Jensen joins Teladoc Health from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK), where he served as chief digital officer and head of technology. At MSK, he oversaw the integration of data and technology resources, enabling the organization to better meet critical care and research objectives.
Prior to that, Jensen served as chief technology officer of CVS Health-Aetna and held technology leadership roles at Danske Bank and IBM. During his time at IBM, he was a trusted advisor on business and IT transformation journeys for many of the Fortune 100 companies.
RELATED: Teladoc's virtual visits reach 3M during Q4 as revenue grows to $383M
“We are excited to welcome Claus to the Teladoc Health team to lead our innovation efforts,” said Jason Gorevic, Teladoc Health chief executive officer in a statement. “With deep experience transforming hospital systems and health plans, Claus is the right leader at the right time to accelerate Teladoc Health’s vision of connecting the healthcare experience from hospital to home.”
Teladoc completed its massive $18.5 billion acquisition of Livongo, a chronic condition management company, in October 2020. The deal shook up the healthcare technology market as the combination of two of the largest publicly traded virtual care companies created a health technology giant just as the demand for virtual care began to soar.
Teladoc's 2020 revenue reached $1.1 billion and the company delivered 10.6 million virtual visits last year, up 156% from 2019. The company's U.S. paid membership hit 51.8 million, up about 41% from 36.7 million users in 2019.
The company is making significant investments to integrate its products and services following the Livongo deal, executives said during Teladoc's fourth-quarter and full-year 2020 earnings call in February.
“Having grown up with a family full of healthcare professionals, I have always recognized the importance of personalized and accessible healthcare experiences,” said Jensen in a statement. “Teladoc Health continues to leverage technology and data insights and deliver on the promise of whole-person virtual care by providing access to high-quality and personalized care anywhere.”