It is no surprise that Amazon wants to dominate all corners of business – including healthcare.
Earlier this year, Amazon bought a primary care boutique called One Medical for $3.9 billion.
One Medical provides programs for preventive care, chronic care management, care for common illnesses, pediatrics, and mental health concerns.
One Medical’s doctors accept most insurance plans and the company has 72 clinic locations, with an expanding virtual practice.
The clinics work on a subscription basis with patients paying $199 to be members of the network which provides access to same or next-day virtual or in-person appointments.
Now, Amazon is leveraging its massive subscriber base and offering Prime members a discount to become subscribers for only $99 annually.
Since One Medical’s clinics are only in 19 major cities, the company is expecting to ramp up its virtual appointments for patients nationally.
According to Amazon’s blog about the new service, it will offer “unlimited access to 24/7 on-demand virtual care, including video chats with licensed providers within minutes.”
Additionally, “Virtual care is available nationally, and members don’t incur any additional costs for on-demand virtual care services—it’s all covered by the membership.”
Amazon has been trying different models for healthcare for some time, including Amazon Clinic, a pay-as-you-go service for easy-to-diagnose issues from third-party doctors.
Amazon Pharmacy was launched in 2020 and offers two-day home delivery to Prime members.
However, One Medical takes the company’s healthcare plans to the next level with staff doctors and medical professionals accessible in-person or virtually nationwide.
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