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Coronavirus Puts Digital Health in Focus: 3 Stocks to Watch

The coronavirus pandemic, which has been ravaging the world over the past three months, has literally brought the global economy to a standstill. Recently WHO reported that the virus is 10 times more deadly than 2009’s swine flu pandemic, which justifies the growing unease around the world.

Governments worldwide are grappling to deal with this biological catastrophe, which has resulted in a financial meltdown owing to sector-wide shutdowns, production stoppages, job loss and reduction in purchasing capacity. This crisis has hit the U.S. economy hard, leaving investors with the tough job of assessing the impact and aftermath of this financial fallout.

With the number of COVID-19 cases rising with each passing day, the medical community and the first responders across the United States are still struggling to treat the huge number of infected patients while staying safe themselves. Overcrowding at the hospitals, shortage of critical medical gear and more importantly, fear and panic, have intensified the crisis all the more.

In order to tackle such level of a crisis, digital health has come into play as it is crucial in the process of flattening the curve, limiting the spread of the virus and assisting in the treatment of infected individuals. In the last couple of months, as the crisis intensified, the medical community has turned to digital health for help. Let’s delve deeper.

Digital Health to the Rescue

Let us first discuss about telemedicine (also referred to as telehealth or e-health) has been playing a crucial part in the battle against the pandemic. To put it simply, telemedicine enables health care professionals to evaluate, diagnose and treat patients in remote locations through the use of telecommunications technology. In fact, the telemedicine stocks got an impressive response, when in February, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention asked healthcare service communities to increase the use of telemedicine in broader ways. In this regard, UnitedHealth Group UNH, which already has several telehealth services, including free apps through which virtual consultations can be booked, is a name worth mentioning.



Now let’s turn our attention to artificial intelligence (AI), which has been helping in the detection of the spread of the virus. Notably, AI has been implemented in hospitals in the United States to help medical professionals screen visitors and treat infected patients. Hospitals having access to digital health technology can monitor and deal with the pandemic more efficiently.

In fact, PRA Health Sciences PRAH recently launched the COVID-19 Monitoring Program, which will allow individuals to connect with a healthcare professional without leaving home and thus, maintaining social distancing. Notably, the COVID-19 Monitoring Program is a mobile-app driven, tiered initiative that will enable employers, payers, providers and health systems to track health and wellbeing of individuals who might have been exposed, asymptomatic or diagnosed with COVID-19.

Remote patient monitoring, which is another form of AI technology, has been helping in carefully monitoring patients while assuring protection for the healthcare workers. Remote patient is a method of healthcare delivery that utilizes the latest advances in information technology to collect patient data outside of traditional healthcare settings. In view of COVID-19 crisis, FDA has already green-lit the expanded use of remote patient monitoring technologies to reduce hospital visits, thereby minimizing the risk of exposure to the virus and lowering the burden on providers.

Medical robots, a game changer in a viral outbreak of this level, have been helping physicians to communicate with a patient through a screen and are also equipped with a stethoscope that enables doctors take the patients’ vitals. This, in turn, minimizes the risk of infection among the medical staff.

Genome sequencing can prove to be extremely valuable in such an uncertain and trying time. With evolving technology, scientists will be able to sequence pathogens’ genome quicker and the rate of discovering adequate therapies will also accelerate, thereby saving more lives in the process.

Stocks Focusing on Digital Health

Going by the aforementioned discussion, the investors might want to look into the following three stocks that have stepped up to provide support to the medical community during this crisis.

Teladoc Health, Inc. TDOC: Teladoc has setup an interactive arrangement that allows patients to talk to a U.S. board-certified physician by phone or video, in a bid to counter this crisis. Further, it is currently enabling health systems to provide virtual care on a greater scale through the technology and capabilities of both Teladoc Health, and its newly-acquired InTouch Health platform. The company carries a Zacks Rank of 3 (Hold).

In the past two months, the company has gained 52.4%, against the industry’s decline of 22.2%. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.



Allscripts Healthcare Solutions, Inc. MDRX offers information technology (IT) solutions and services to healthcare organizations. The company’s clients across the nation have recently signed up to rapidly facilitate telehealth visit capabilities to their patients.

Notably, the company provides simplified telehealth implementation to health systems through its electronic health record (EHR)-agnostic patient engagement platform known as FollowMyHealth. This service can prove crucial to efforts in curbing the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. For investors’ notice, FollowMyHealth is a mobile-first, enterprise patient engagement solution for providers, hospitals and health systems.

In the past two months, the Zacks Rank #3 stock has lost 18% compared with the industry’s decline of 19.9%.



Masimo Corporation MASI develops, manufactures and markets a family of non-invasive monitoring systems. The company recently announced the full market release of Masimo SafetyNet, which is an economically scalable cloud-based patient management solution, created to enable clinicians to provide care for patients in hospital settings and non-traditional settings remotely. This innovative solution is now available globally and is likely to aid clinicians and health workers in fighting the global COVID-19 pandemic. The company sports a Zacks Rank of 1.

In the past two months, the company has gained 3.8%, against the industry’s decline of 14%.

5 Stocks Set to Double

Each was hand-picked by a Zacks expert as the #1 favorite stock to gain +100% or more in 2020. Each comes from a different sector and has unique qualities and catalysts that could fuel exceptional growth.

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Most of the stocks in this report are flying under Wall Street radar, which provides a great opportunity to get in on the ground floor.

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Click to get this free report

UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (UNH) : Free Stock Analysis Report

Allscripts Healthcare Solutions, Inc. (MDRX) : Free Stock Analysis Report

Masimo Corporation (MASI) : Free Stock Analysis Report

PRA Health Sciences, Inc. (PRAH) : Free Stock Analysis Report

Teladoc Health, Inc. (TDOC) : Free Stock Analysis Report

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