Amazon: Your Newest Benefits Vendor?
It’s no understatement to say that telemedicine and virtual care have become the darlings of the healthcare market as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Companies are flocking to the space and big acquisitions and mergers have made headlines -- Teladoc and Livongo, Cigna and MDLive, Doctor on Demand and Grand Rounds, to name a few. The latest movement in the space comes from none other than Amazon, which is now expanding its own employee benefit, Amazon Care, into all 50 states.
Amazon Care is a virtual primary care service available to Amazon employees currently, but Amazon intends to offer the same program to other employers later in 2021. It’s part of the ongoing evolution of traditional telemedicine into a more robust, patient-centric offering. Amazon Care director Kristen Helton states in this article, “we have developed the ability to treat chronic conditions…you can see the same provider, have a care team, so that that group of clinicians really gets to know you.”
We’ve written in the past about Amazon’s potential to disrupt healthcare. This latest announcement is further evidence that Amazon is a player to watch, and might be part of your RFPs as soon as this year.