Amazon Expands Healthcare Platform Nationwide

Need to Know 

• Amazon is expanding its healthcare platform, Amazon Care, to employers across the US.
• The program serves as an alternative to traditional healthcare that offers fast, high-quality access to medical attention.
• The launch of Amazon Care is one of many initiatives by the retail giant to support its employees and users since the onset of the pandemic last year.

Analysis

Amazon is expanding its healthcare offering, Amazon Care, which will soon be available to more people across the US. The pilot offering, which launched last year in Seattle alone and for Amazon employees only, provides quicker and easier access to healthcare than traditional programs. 

Amazon Care offers in-person and virtual care and is designed to be “a solution from the search giant to address shortfalls in current offerings for employer-sponsored healthcare.” The program which will now be open to companies of all sizes, including Amazon’s own employees, eliminates lengthy wait and travel times to access medical attention. 

Care can be accessed on the Amazon Care app, which provides direct, live chats with a nurse or doctor. If a patient requires in-person care, a medical professional is sent to their home to provide blood tests, chest exams, or delivery of prescriptions. 

The program, which will first open up in Washington state before expanding across the US by this summer, targets employers by serving as a workplace benefit for employees. Amazon Care allows employers to offer an alternative to traditional medical coverage that is efficient and high-quality. 

Amazon Care is also able to pivot to reflect its users’ changing needs. Amazon Care is helping patients adjust their work-from-home setups to be the most ergonomic they can be, and is now administering COVID-19 vaccines in-house. 

The online retail giant has expanded other healthcare offerings recently. Amazon has supported the vaccine rollout by hosting pop-up vaccination clinics and launched Amazon Pharmacy, an online and mobile prescription ordering and fulfillment service. 

More recently, Amazon announced that its wearable fitness device, Halo, can now be paired with Alexa speakers. This means users can ask personal health and fitness questions directly to Alexa, without having to open the Halo app.