Amazon Takes Its Next Step Toward Disrupting Healthcare
The online retail powerhouse is making bold moves (albeit slowly).
Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) wants to change how Americans (and maybe people the world over) access healthcare. That's a massive undertaking, though, and the online giant has thus far moved into space slowly, first by spending $1 billion buying Pillpack, a drug delivery start-up, and now by offering on-demand virtual healthcare for its Seattle-area employees.
What is Amazon doing?
The company just launched Amazon Care, an app that connects employees with doctors and nurse practitioners via video or chat, CNBC reported. In-person followups are also available when needed, either in doctors' offices or through house calls. News that Amazon was developing the service first came in September, but the program has now launched for all employees at its Seattle headquarters who live within its coverage zone. As Amazon explained in a statement:
"We're currently piloting a healthcare 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."
Amazon has a history of testing products and services in-house before making them available to the broader public. For example, it used its cloud platform to host internal projects before developing it into Amazon Web Services, now the largest cloud computing business in the world.
Written by: Daniel B. Kline (TMFDankline)
Published on: Feb 20, 2020, at 10:01 AM
https://www.fool.com/investing/2020/02/20/amazon-takes-its-next-step-toward-disrupting-healt.aspx