Telehealth company Reliq Health Technologies Inc. (RHT:TSX.V; RQHTF:OTCQB; A2AJTB:WKN) has signed a contract with a U.S. health plan that operates in five states with over 3,000 doctors and more than 1 million patients.
The move is expected to add more than 10,000 new patients to the company's iUGO platform by next March at an average revenue of CA$65 per patient per month.
"We are very pleased to have signed our first contract with a U.S. health plan," said Reliq Chief Executive Officer Lisa Crossley. "The remote patient monitoring, chronic care management, and behavioral health integration solutions Reliq will be providing using our iUGO Care platform will support critical preventative programs to assist the ACOs in achieving their cost and quality of care objectives."
The client operates large accountable care organizations or ACOs, "which are groups of health care providers who work together under a value-based care model to reduce health care costs and improve quality of care," Crossley said.
Crossley has said the company services more than 100,000 on iUGO and expects to have as many as 200,000 patients on the platform by the middle of 2023.
According to Grand View Research, the global telehealth market was valued at US$83.5 billion in 2022 and is projected to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 24% from 2023 to 2030.
According to Grand View Research, the global telehealth market was valued at US$83.5 billion in 2022 and is projected to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 24% from 2023 to 2030.
"The demand for telehealth services witnessed tremendous growth over the past year due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the restrictions imposed to curb the infection," its analysis said. "COVID-19 hindered the delivery of healthcare services, which enabled most healthcare facilities to shift from traditional to virtual care methods. Furthermore, the growing need to monitor health and wellness to manage chronic diseases virtually is driving the industry's growth."
Technical analyst Clive Maund of CliveMaund.com recommended the stock shortly after news broke last year that the company's revenue jumped 485% from fiscal year 2021 to fiscal year 2022. Writing for Streetwise Reports, he said he would "stay long" on the stock.
In an April 3 note, Sadif Analytics upgraded RHT to Above Average from Average.
The company "has fair financials and good earnings quality," the note said, adding the stock was "safe."
The Catalyst: Multiple New Clients
Earlier this month, Reliq announced it had signed five new contracts in four states for iUGO, including its first contract in Arkansas, where chronic diseases could cost residents US$19.4 billion annually in medical costs and US$7.9 billion in lost employee productivity, according to the Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease.
The group said in 2015, 1.9 million in the state had at least one chronic disease, and 787,000 had two or more chronic diseases.
"Reliq's iUGO Care platform has been proven to reduce hospitalizations, improve health outcomes and generate significant cost-savings to the health care system when used with chronic disease patients, which makes it a perfect fit for clinicians in Arkansas and other states with high rates of chronic disease," Crossley said.
Technical analyst Clive Maund of CliveMaund.com recommended the stock shortly after news broke last year that the company's revenue jumped 485% from fiscal year 2021 to fiscal year 2022. Writing for Streetwise Reports, he said he would "stay long" on the stock.
Those contracts also covered physician practices and home health agencies in California, Nevada, and Texas, the company said.
In March, Reliq announced it started onboarding patients for another large client, a healthcare system with more than 1,200 care centers in seven states that are expected to add over 2,000 new patients per month to iUGO.
Diseases the platform aims to manage include chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), congestive heart failure, diabetes, hypertension, and others. Patients get audible reminders to step on a scale, take their blood pressure, or prick their fingers for glucose monitoring. The information is automatically uploaded to the cloud.
iUGO draws on data from fall detection devices, medication tracking, and vitals data to flag patients at home or in facilities who need additional monitoring.
Help With Adherence Issue
The company had revenues of CA$4.12 million for the second quarter of fiscal year 2023, compared to CA$2.14 million during the quarter that ended Dec. 31, 2021. For the 12 months ending Dec. 31, 2022, it had revenues of CA$12.68 million.
Reliq has said it expects to accelerate its growth "significantly" this year and collect more than US$5 million in payments for the fiscal year 2023 ending in June, compared to US$2.5 million in fiscal years 2021 and 2022 combined.
One issue the company has faced has been collecting outstanding balances from clients. Crossley said the new larger clients could help with this issue.
"They have not only significant revenue potential but also because they're more mature organizations," Crossley said. "They tend to make collections a little bit easier, and they also help out a lot with the adherence piece. So that's a very positive change for us. And we expect our traction with the larger clients to continue to accelerate in 2023 and beyond."
With the newest contract, Reliq will initially begin deploying iUGO with one of the plan's ACOs in Texas.
Streetwise Ownership Overview*
Reliq Health Technologies Inc. (RHT:TSX.V; RQHTF:OTCQB; A2AJTB:WKN)
"The client is a subsidiary of one of the nation's largest providers of hospital and health care services and a Fortune 500 company, and is focused on community-based primary care, post-acute, and specialty care," Crossley said.
Ownership and Share Structure
About 8% of Reliq's shares are owned by insiders, including Crossley, with 1.6% or 3.22 million shares. About 0.3% of the company is owned by institutional investors, including FNB Wealth Management, with 0.01% or 0.03 million shares, according to Reuters.
Other top investors include Eugene Beukman, who owns 0.11% or 0.23 million shares, and Brian Storseth, who owns 0.07% or 0.14 million shares, Reuters said.
Crossley said 91.7% of the company is retail.
The company has 201 million shares outstanding, with about 197 million free-floating. It has a market cap of CA$125.93 million and trades in a 52-week range of CA$0.76 and CA$0.36.
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