Amazon’s involvement in healthcare is growing on a daily basis. In October, they announced that they purchased a healthcare startup to power their primary care program. The startup is a medical technology company that fits in well with their primary care program they launched in September at their Seattle headquarters. The company, Health Navigator will help with Amazon Care, which offers employees virtual visits, in-home followups and prescription deliveries. The idea is to eliminate travel and wait times. It will connect employees with Physicians and Nurse Practitioners through live chat or video. They would then have the option for an in-person follow-up service.
Last year, Amazon purchased Pill Pack for $753 million, and have been working with JP Morgan and Berkshire Hathaway on creating its own employee healthcare plan. There’s talk about putting in healthcare services through Whole Foods as well as home health services using the voice system Alexa. I don’t know if Amazon is jumping into healthcare or taking it over! I guess we will have to stay tuned!
