Report: Amazon Care to expand in-person services to 20 cities by 2022
About 40,000 people already are enrolled, according to BusinessInsider.com.
Amazon’s push into health care continues at an aggressive pace.
On Sept. 7, BusinessInsider.com reported that Amazon Care — launched in 2019 to provide virtual and in-home health care services for Amazon employees in the Seattle area and then expanded in March with in-person services rolling out in the company’s home state of Washington, as well as Washington, D.C., and Baltimore — aims to offer multiple services in 20 additional cities over the next several months.
Cigna, Aetna and others in the health care space would be well-served to look at what happened to Toys “R” Us or Borders not so long ago.
BusinessInsider.com’s exclusive reporting on this development is based on details provided by three people familiar with Amazon’s plans who spoke with reporter Blake Dodge on the condition of anonymity.
“The company is looking to bring the full package, both telehealth and in-person care, to Philadelphia, Chicago, Dallas, and Boston in 2021, the people said,” Dodge reports. “In 2022, it’s proposing to bring in-person Amazon Care to 16 more cities, bringing the total number of new additions to 20: Atlanta; Denver; Detroit; Houston; Indianapolis; Kansas City, Missouri; Los Angeles; Miami; Minneapolis; Nashville, Tennessee; New York; Phoenix; Pittsburgh; San Francisco; San Jose, California; and St. Louis, they said.”
Dodge noted those cities could change, adding that “an Amazon spokesperson said the company doesn’t comment on ‘rumors or speculation.’” About 40,000 individuals were enrolled in Amazon Care as of earlier this summer — most of them Amazon employees, according to the reporter’s sources.
“Health care is in the very early stages of a transformation to an entirely new model of care,” wrote health care digital strategist Paddy Padmanabhan in a March column for Healthcare IT News. “If Amazon is the one to deliver the big breakthrough we have been waiting for, so be it. Someone has to do something.”
Other industry insiders have expressed grave concern about Amazon’s extensive reach. “Health care is already being disrupted at the edges as digital-first companies expand their footprint in primary and urgent care, and consumers become more comfortable with virtual care delivery,” Mick Rodgers, managing partner of Axial Benefits Group and founder of the Alliance Healthcare Coalition, noted in an April webinar ABG hosted that focused on the “serious threat” Amazon poses to both benefits brokers and employers.
He added that Amazon Care likely will position itself as an alternative to Aetna, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Cigna, and other large insurance providers.
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