Amazon wants to expand its healthcare footprint

Amazon wants to expand its healthcare footprint

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The technology giant is expanding Amazon Care – which currently provides its Washington-based employees with access to virtual and personalized health services – to its workers nationwide. And they plan to offer the service to other businesses as a workplace benefit for their own employees.

Amazon (AMZN) the program follows a ‘successful launch’ for tens of thousands of employees in Washington 18 months ago.
“By offering Amazon Care as a workplace benefit, employers are investing in the health and well-being of probably their most important asset: their employees,” Amazon said in a release Wednesday.

Amazon Care provides on-demand workers with access to virtual chats or video visits with medical providers who can provide disease or injury treatment, Covid testing and flu shots, nutritional consultation, pre-pregnancy planning and a range of other services. The doctors can order prescription drugs delivered by Amazon to patients’ homes. The program also offers personalized visits by suppliers to workers’ homes for additional services such as blood draws.

“The program’s secure, HIPAA compliant service also enables employees and their dependents to see the same dedicated medical staff, creating long-term relationships that benefit overall health,” Amazon said, adding that an app for the service is available for gives employees easy access.

As of Wednesday, the full range of Amazon Care services is available to employees at other businesses in Washington. This summer, the virtual services are available to Amazon employees and other businesses nationwide. Amazon also plans to offer the following visits to Washington DC, Baltimore, Maryland and other cities.

The expanded benefit to its own employees comes as a result of Amazon’s investigation into working conditions at its warehouses amid a union election currently taking place in Bessemer, Alabama.
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According to a spokesperson, Amazon is in talks with a number of companies about using Amazon Care, which did not disclose the names of potential customers. The spokesperson also did not want to give details about how much it would cost other companies to provide their employees with the service.

This is the latest attempt by the technology giant to increase its presence in the healthcare industry by more than a billion dollars. In 2018, Amazon bought the digital pharmacist Pill Pack for $ 700 million and last year it officially launched Amazon Pharmacy, which delivers prescriptions to customers’ homes and offers additional benefits to Prime members.

More virtual care

The move to expand Amazon Care follows a boom in telemedicine during the pandemic – research firm Gartner estimates that by 2023, virtual interactions will exceed health care visits.

Amazon’s access to the space is likely to worry other digital healthcare providers. The day after Amazon’s announcement, Amwell (AMWL) stock fell by almost 8% and Teladoc (TDOC) The shares fell by 2%. The broader market fell on Thursday, especially technological stocks sold
Amazon’s ambitions for healthcare have not always been fulfilled. In 2018, it will partner with JPMorgan Chase and Berkshire Hathaway to form Haven, a company that aims to provide better health care and insurance coverage at a lower cost to workers at the three companies – and possibly other US companies. The business folded earlier this year after struggling to start companies outside the founding businesses.

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