There is very little in our lives today that Amazon doesn’t touch. What began as a new way to purchase books so long ago has become an integral part of our daily lives in one way or another. As it turns out, healthcare is another sphere that Amazon is making moves in, and it’s important to understand just what their role in the industry is and how that may impact your practice moving forward. Read on to learn more.
What role has Amazon taken in healthcare?
Amazon has been taking various opportunities to step into the healthcare space over the last several years. In 2018, Amazon acquired online pharmacy PillPack, and rebranded it as Amazon Pharmacy. In 2019, Amazon launched a primary care service for its internal employees called Amazon Care. Over time, Amazon Care was scaled to include external employers as well. In what appears to be a strategic move, Amazon Care ended all operations at the end of 2022, as Amazon felt it wasn’t the right long-term solution for the customers it served.
Just a month before Amazon announced its intentions to discontinue Amazon Care, they announced a deal to buy One Medical, a primary care provider that serves more than 8,000 employers. With this deal, Amazon will also be gaining a presence in the Medicare sphere. There have also been rumors that Amazon is pursuing the acquisition of a home health technology and services provider. Finally, Amazon has its own fitness band, the Amazon Halo, and Amazon Web Services has been finding its way into the healthcare industry with its cloud computing capabilities.
How is Amazon’s role in healthcare impacting practices?
Amazon’s presence in healthcare is likely to inspire some changes in the industry overall. First, Amazon is well known for their service, prices, access, and convenience. It’s easy to see how Amazon bringing these characteristics into their work in healthcare could push more traditional practices to make changes in order to keep up. Similarly, the customer-focused style of Amazon, translated to patient-focused in the healthcare industry, is likely to drive practices to adopt patient-centered care more rapidly than they were previously. Additionally, as Amazon’s acquisition of One Medical creates an organization with vast resources at their disposal, it’s possible we will see an uptick in practice buyouts as this new partnership seeks to increase their market share.
The reality is, it remains to be seen exactly what Amazon’s ultimate role in healthcare will end up being and how that will impact more traditional practices over time. The best thing practices can do in the interim is strive to create positive patient experiences and prepare to evolve with the industry, whether those changes are driven by Amazon or some other force.
At Henry Schein MicroMD, we are dedicated to help your practice serve your patients well by providing simple, customizable, and connected software and a suite of Solutions Central partners that are hand-picked to improve efficiency and patient engagement in your practice.
For more information on how we can help you take your practice to the next level, or to get started with a new solution, visit micromd.com or call 1-800-624-8832.
About the author,
Crystal Stanton
Crystal is a Digital Marketing Specialist at Henry Schein MicroMD. Content creation, social media management, and SEO optimization are just a few of her areas of concentration as she seeks to educate clients and prospects alike about the simple, customizable, and connected solutions we offer at MicroMD.
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