From books to web services and from e-commerce to entertainment, part of Amazon’s success is due to its various business expansions, which opened new opportunities for the Seattle retailer. Now it’s continuing its expansion into the healthcare industry. On Tuesday the company announced it would be expanding its telehealth service Amazon Care.
Amazon Care was launched in 2019 for Amazon workers and provided hybrid web-based and traditional health services. It was previously only available in a handful of cities, including Seattle. Now the service is going national and will soon be available in over 20 cities. It will also be accessible to more than just Amazon employees.
The service is accessed through the Amazon Care website or app and after logging in workers can connect with doctors via video calls or through SMS messaging. If a patient needs further care, a certified nurse is dispatched to provide care or diagnostics. With the Covid-19 pandemic, the service was also expanded to provide resources about the respiratory illness and also provided information on where to get tested or vaccinated.
In a statement, Amazon Care listed Chicago, New York City, San Francisco and Miami as confirmed locations where the service will expand. The retail giant will also be looking at other locations for expansion throughout the year.
With the service becoming available to workers outside of Amazon, other employers will be able to partner with Amazon Care to provide health solutions to their workers. Silicon Labs, TrueBlue and Whole Foods Market have already partnered with the service to provide medical care for their employees.
“Patients are tired of a health care system that doesn’t put them first. Our patient-centric service is changing that, one visit at a time,” Kristen Helton, director of Amazon Care, said in a statement. “We’ve brought our on-demand urgent and primary care services to patients nationwide. As we grow the service, we’ll continue to work with our customers to address their needs.”
Amazon first broke into the healthcare industry in 2016 when it partnered with Boston Children’s Hospital and developed software for Amazon Alexa that enables it to provide general health advice. After becoming a HIPAA compliant, Amazon updated Alexa to read patient records and schedule doctor’s appointments.
Furthering its health venture, Amazon acquired PillPack in 2018, allowing the company to refill medicine prescriptions and ship them directly to customers.
