Second opinion providers are emerging as viable, large-scale businesses.

Thanks to the internet, telehealth and teleradiology second opinion providers are coming of age. Your average Joe can get access to the right elite doctor to consult on almost any condition. This opens up a global market for medical expertise.

It could also clip the wings of elite hospital groups, private and public, who could previously claim a monopoly on this expertise.

Second opinion groups are surprisingly large. Barcelona-based Advance Medical expects sales to all but double from €60m in 2015 to €100m in 2018. Best Doctors are making health tech acquisitions and a US VC fund has valued another operator at $750m in a recent deal.  Who says that healthcare services can not innovate? Why, we’ve had to add a tab to our search engine for this fast-emerging category! We’ll be writing an overview of the sector in next month’s Healthcare Europa.