Amazon employees and their families living in Seattle will get access to tech-enabled Amazon Care. The tech giant will also offer face-to-face and virtual care options.
Patients can now access care through multiple channels including texting, video, chat and mobile care clinic, where a nurse will visit patient’s home or office. Patients will be able to get their medicines delivered through a “Care Courier” at their home or office.
The service will address everyday health, urgent care, sexual health, travel consultations and general health questions. The care team comprises of doctors, nurse practitioners and registered nurses.
Amazon specified that this service won’t affect patient’s relationship with the current health care provider, nor will it impact their health insurance eligibility or enrollment. The service is subsidized by Amazon for employees and their dependents. While the texting service is free for members the video care and mobile care has a fee.
Amazon has been closely watched after it shared in 2018 a major collaboration with Berkshire Hathaway and J.P. Morgan Chase that it is planning to build an independent, nonprofit health care company. Its goal would be increasing user satisfaction and reducing costs.
But many things are still unknown about what this joint venture, named Haven will look like and how it will impact health care?
Over the past few years, there are rumors that Amazon was contemplating about its own clinic for employees. The industry has already witnessed plenty of speculation about what the move might mean.
Amazon has also been looking in the pharmacy space. In 2018, it declared that it was acquiring virtual pharmacy PillPack for $753 million. The service has gone live and is now called PillPack by Amazon Pharmacy.
Even Apple quietly launched its own employee clinic network called AC Wellness in early 2018. Walmart announced that associates in Colorado, Minnesota and Wisconsin could choose to participate in a telemedicine program providing virtual care.