Amazon’s plans to cease operations of Amazon Care at the end of 2022 have raised a few questions. What’s next for Amazon and healthcare?
Amazon has announced (now officially) that Amazon Care operations will shut down on New Year’s Eve of 2022. The move comes just three years after it began piloting a primary care service for its employees, which merged in-person services with telehealth.
The end of Amazon Care
The end of Amazon Care is concrete, but it will not affect any other services outside of the Amazon Care and Medical Care teams.
Neil Lindsay, senior vice president of Amazon Health Services, wrote an email to staff which stated the firm had “gathered and listened to extensive feedback”.
“However, despite these efforts, we’ve determined that Amazon Care isn’t the right long-term solution for our enterprise customers, and have decided that we will no longer offer Amazon Care after December 31, 2022.”
Amazon has other healthcare plans
As reported by Health Tech World, the global retail giant will acquire primary care organisation One Medical for $3.9b (£3.5bn) – a total of $18 per share in an all-cash transaction.
In 2018, it acquired PillPack, an online pharmacy.Amazon closed a $13.7bn deal to buy Whole Foods in 2017 and a $8.5bn purchase of Hollywood studio MGM which was finalised earlier in 2022. But the most recent purchase is probably one of its most significant, and controversial, acquisitions so far.
In another healthcare move, Amazon is reportedly amongst the highest bidders for the buyout of Signify Health – according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.
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