Through the program, workers can get their medications within a few hours via Amazon Care, or can pick them up at a pharmacy.
It's been a few months since we've seen Amazon in the health care headlines, or its collaborative health care disruptor Haven. But Amazon has been busy, quietly lining up its next move, which it announced this week: Amazon Care.
Amazon Care is a virtual medical clinic for employees in the Seattle area that uses telehealth but may also send a nurse to an employee's home for follow-ups.
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CNBC reports that the virtual clinic, which was not formally announced to the general public, offers a combination of telemedicine and in-person care to employees enrolled in an Amazon health insurance plan. Its website says employees can access an "in-app video visit with a doctor, nurse practitioner, or registered nurse … for advice, answers, diagnosis, treatment or referrals." In addition, follow-up care may include a home visit from a nurse.
According to a company spokesperson, "We're currently piloting a health care benefit designed to help Amazon employees get fast access to healthcare without an appointment, at the convenience of their schedules, at their preferred location (home, office, or virtual). Amazon Care eliminates travel and wait time, connecting employees and their family members to a physician or nurse practitioner through live chat or video, with the option for in-person follow up services from a registered nurse ranging from immunizations to instant strep throat detection."
Workers can also get their medications within a few hours via Amazon Care, or can pick them up at a pharmacy.
Of course, Amazon doesn't do anything by halves, and the medical venture is no exception. According to CNBC, the health care sector could be huge for Amazon, at $3.5 trillion, and its plans include the incorporation of all sorts of technology, from cloud computing to medical record technology.
The company already entered a joint venture with J.P. Morgan and Berkshire Hathaway in a push to cut the cost of health care while still preserving quality for the combined employee pool of 1.2 million. It's also the acquirer of pharmacy PillPack, as well as a research and development group, and has been incorporating health and wellness features into some of its wearable tech.
"Amazon Care is emblematic of a major shift for benefits managers at self-insured employers," says Vik Panda, North America managing director for sleep tech company Dreem. "If providers and payers, including the government, cannot figure out a way to compensate for digital health in a way that providers can abide by, and that lowers the cost of healthcare, then self-insured employers may simply secede from the healthcare system as it exists today, and go their own way."
To preserve employee privacy, Amazon has contracted with Oasis Medical, a separate legal subsidiary of parent Amazon.
Modern Healthcare reports that while thus far Amazon Care is only available to employees living in the Seattle area, that amounts to some 53,500 people.
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Marlene Satter
Marlene Y. Satter has worked in and written about the financial industry for decades.
