Teladoc taps Providence exec for COO role

Teladoc Health has hired Mike Waters, a senior executive at one of the US’s top ten healthcare providers, as chief operating officer. 

Waters has been with Providence for 15 years and was most recently chief executive of the group’s Ambulatory Care Network. In that role, he was responsible for leading the overall strategy and execution of the ACN, “improving the health and well-being of patients by creating personalised, convenient, affordable health solutions outside of the system’s hospital walls.”

Teladoc CEO Jason Gorevic remarked that Waters’ experience will help the virtual care company “ effectively build and reliably deliver a distinctly seamless, integrated whole-person care experience.”

Fills empty Sides seat 

The COO role at Teladoc has been empty since September last year, after David Sides left to lead NextGen Healthcare. Sides was brought in two years before that to replace Mark Hirschhorn, who had left his dual role of CFO and COO at Teladoc at the end of 2018 under a cloud. 

The virtual care company has been under increasing pressure to hold on to its dominant position in the US telehealth market. Like many digital health firms, Teladoc’s revenue was significantly bolstered during the COVID-19 pandemic, and it made a pivotal acquisition with Livongo Health. However, the past year has seen Teldoc’s star falling in tandem with its sinking share price as the evolving COVID situation and intensifying competition tempered the company’s growth rate.

This latest hire follows another key senior appointment made this year - Amazon Web Services’ Vidya Raman-Tangella joined in April as chief medical officer.