In an unprecedented move, retail giant Amazon is offering something new in its blockbuster Prime Day sales event this year: healthcare services.
Last week, the company announced a plethora of deals that would be available for Amazon Prime customers. While discounts and deals were announced on a variety of standard products, Amazon is going further this year by announcing that Prime Members can purchase a one year One Medical membership at a discounted rate of $144, 28% lower than the standard price of $199.
One Medical is a primary care services company that was acquired by Amazon earlier this year, empowering the company to operationalize its efforts to streamline healthcare delivery. Neil Lindsay, Senior Vice President of Amazon Health Services, commented regarding the acquisition: “We’re on a mission to make it dramatically easier for people to find, choose, afford, and engage with the services, products, and professionals they need to get and stay healthy, and coming together with One Medical is a big step on that journey…One Medical has set the bar for what a quality, convenient, and affordable primary care experience should be like. We’re inspired by their human-centered, technology-forward approach and excited to help them continue to grow and serve more patients.”
Through One Medical, Amazon offers access to a variety of primary care services, including on-demand virtual care, access to in-office or remote visits, robust laboratory services, and much more.
Amazon Prime delivery truck. (Photo by Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images)
Andy Jassy, CEO of Amazon, describes in the press release how the world will slowly outgrow traditional models of healthcare delivery, and will increasingly seek more efficient and convenient products.
In this way, Amazon has indeed been a generational trend-setter across many different industries. Similar to what Jassy alludes to above, the company transformed the way shopping is done, giving rise to the behemoth industry of eCommerce. Slowly, it grew its reach into a variety of other areas, ranging from grocery delivery (via Whole Foods) to pharmacy services— and now, healthcare. Indeed, this bet by Amazon on healthcare is a novel step forward into the next generation of care delivery.
Furthermore, the venture also signifies a bold undertaking to conceptualize healthcare services as a tangible product; though other organizations have attempted to bring similar price transparency and a streamlined approach to offering healthcare services, only a few have been successful and have been able to navigate the myriad of policy, regulatory, and compliance challenges that healthcare entails.
Amazon’s work in this space is still relatively early, and the company will undoubtedly undertake many more bold initiatives in healthcare in the years to come. Nevertheless, this is indeed a bold step forward in re-imagining the future of care delivery.