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Henry Schein Medical to Expand in Telemedicine With VisualDx

Henry Schein, Inc. HSIC recently announced that its U.S. medical business, Henry Schein Medical, is on track to integrate a web-based clinical decision support system VisualDx with Medpod’s telemedicine solutions. For investors’ note, Henry Schein Medical is the exclusive distributor of Medpod’s telemedicine solutions.

Notably, VisualDx has been designed to improve diagnostic accuracy, aid therapeutic decisions and enhance remote patient care during the pandemic outbreak.

VisualDx is available as one of Henry Schein Medical’s SolutionHub clinical support solutions, which can support common as well as complicated diagnostic cases across medicine. The software is relevant for a variety of health care specialties as well.

With the recent milestone, Henry Schein aims to boost its telemedicine portfolio through its medical business across the globe.

Rationale Behind the Integration

Amid the pandemic-led healthcare crisis, the integration, expansion and enhancement of the Medpod platform will strengthen Henry Schein’s foothold in the hugely expanding telemedicine.

With the integration of Medpod platform, physicians will be able to remotely interact with patients and monitor at-risk and symptomatic patients. This will minimize the exposure risk, and enable more physicians to shift to the virtual care model. Although virtual, the care model will be equipped with decision support technology to aid in diagnostic and therapeutic decisions.

Further, Medpod’s infrastructure provides customized care to patients unable to visit traditional office settings. Post the integration with VisualDx, Medpod users will be able to access an information database for improved decision-making.

The platform also allows users to make custom diagnoses as they can access patient-specific information and review and compare a curated medical image library. This enhances understanding of medication reactions as well as share patient handouts via email.

Industry Prospects

Per a report by Grand View Research, the global telemedicine market size was estimated at $41.4 billion in 2019 and is expected to witness a CAGR of 15.1% between 2020 and 2027. The sudden global outbreak of the coronavirus is expected to boost the usage of telemedicine as it addresses the health concerns even while sitting at home as well as minimizing exposure risk, thus tackling the spread of the virus. Other factors like technological innovation and growing remote patient monitoring are expected to drive the market further.

Given the market potential, the expansion announcement seems to be timed well.

Recent Developments

Of late, Henry Schein has been witnessing a few developments across its business arms.

Henry Schein’s subsidiary ACE Surgical Supply Co. entered into a partnership with EnvisionTec in June with the aim of packaging and sterilizing 3D-printed nasal swabs used for COVID-19 testing. This partnership is part of repurposing of the Henry Schein’s manufacturing capabilities.

During the company’s first quarter 2020 earnings call in May, the company confirmed working with suppliers to expand the availability and prioritize the delivery of critical personal protective equipment (PPE). Henry Schein also confirmed launching two rapid point-of-care test kits, which can detect antibodies associated with COVID-19 without the need for machine equipment in a lesser time. The company is working to bring additional tests as well as more PPE to the market.

Price Performance

Shares of the company have lost 19.9% in the past year compared with the industry’s 13.7% decline and the S&P 500's 6.5% rise.



Zacks Rank & Stocks to Consider

Currently, Henry Schein carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Some better-ranked stocks from the broader medical space include Quest Diagnostics Incorporated DGX, Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings LH or LabCorp and QIAGEN N.V. QGEN.

Quest Diagnostics’ long-term earnings growth rate is projected at 7.6%. It currently flaunts a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

LabCorp’s long-term earnings growth rate is estimated at 6.1%. The company presently sports a Zacks Rank #1.

QIAGEN’s long-term earnings growth rate is estimated at 12.2%. It currently flaunts a Zacks Rank #1.

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