Amazon Care was first launched in 2019 to provide virtual healthcare services to its employees. The company announced on August 24 that it will be shutting down the service on December 31.
In an email, Amazon Health Services Senior VP, Neil Lindsay, told employees that Amazon Care was not a sustainable, long-term solution for its enterprise customers. It is worth noting that Amazon recently purchased a slew of primary care clinics and has to increase its footprint in healthcare.
Amazon Care-s For Profits
The tech giant extended the healthcare service nationwide in February and announced plans to extend in-person services to 20 new cities. The e-commerce company had promised to expand its healthcare offerings to keep up with the growing needs of customers.
At the start of the year, Amazon Care was fast becoming the partner of choice for organizations looking to expand workplace benefits with healthcare offerings. At the time, Kristen Helton, director of Amazon Care said, “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.”
But all that is set to change as the company prepares to shut down its operations. In a memo, Lindsay stated that the time is time for reinvention, which is why Amazon Care is shutting down to make room for bigger things. He also mentioned that Care employees will be given the opportunity to move to other parts of Health Services or join other teams at Amazon. Lindsay ended the memo saying, “As we take our learnings from Amazon Care, we will continue to invent, learn from our customers and industry partners, and hold ourselves to the highest standards as we further help reimagine the future of healthcare.”
The decision only impacts Amazon Care and care Medical teams. Other Amazon healthcare services will continue to operate as normal.
Amazon Health Services
When Amazon decides to enter the arena, you can be sure the company does nothing half-heartedly. It is the same with its healthcare dream. The retailer wants to make it big and will not stop at anything to ensure that it provides world-care services and is the leader in the pack.
In July, Amazon revealed that it will be buying subscription-based healthcare provider One Medical for around $3.9 billion. At $18 a share, Amazon is paying a 77% premium to what the primary care company was valued at before purchase.
When panic set in as customers worried about the tech company having access to sensitive medical data, the company did little to mitigate tension. It promised to abide by the rules and regulations set by the government and to “never share One Medical customers’ personal health information outside of One Medical for advertising or marketing purposes of other Amazon products and services without clear permission from the customer.” Despite the announcement, customers remained skeptical about the tech giant’s intentions and some even went as far as to cancel their subscriptions. The greatest worry they expressed was that Amazon might combine that data already available with them with the healthcare data to better understand their customers and drive business.
Recently Signify Inc., another healthcare provider, revealed that it is up for sale. And Amazon is among the bidders for the home health service provider. The company provides tech and support for at-home care. Caitlin Seeley George, campaign director for Fight for the Future, an advocacy group focused on technology and digital rights, told CNBC that it will be difficult for Amazon to get people to trust them with healthcare information.
Amazon’s expansion into the healthcare space has definitely worried retailers and customers alike, but it remains to be seen how the company will change the landscape.
