Amazon Tech Lets Doctors and Nurses Pay by Badge at Hospitals

Doctors, nurses and other healthcare staff can now use Amazon’s checkout-free technology to buy food and beverages at hospital cafeterias and stores by scanning their employee badges.

This new “badge pay” is the latest feature to be added to Amazon’s Just Walk Out technology, the company said in a Thursday (Jan. 11) blog post.

Saint Joseph’s/Candler’s Candler Hospital Campus in Savannah, Georgia, is the first location to add the badge pay capability and the first U.S. hospital to offer Just Walk Out technology, according to the post.

“With this technology, Candler Hospital coworkers needing a quick snack or a meal during the third shift, as well as visitors taking care of friends or family members, have a convenient way to purchase the meals, snacks and drinks they need so they can quickly get back to their loved ones,” Paul P. Hinchey, president and CEO of Saint Joseph’s/Candler, said in the post.

Just Walk Out combines computer vision, sensor fusion and generative artificial intelligence to allow customers to take items from the shelves, leave a store and be billed automatically, according to the post.

The technology is in use at dozens of Amazon-owned stores and more than 120 third-party locations, the post said.

Just Walk Out’s new badge pay capability links employees’ badges to their payroll deduct account, per the post. Employees can then scan their badge when entering the store, shop and leave the store without standing in line, with the purchase amount being automatically deducted from their account.

In a healthcare setting, this solves several challenges, including that many hospital staff do not carry their wallets or phones during working hours, and most hospital cafeterias and stores are closed during their overnight shifts, according to the post.

“Badge pay is the latest Just Walk Out technology innovation that removes friction for retailers while providing convenience for customers,” Amazon wrote in the blog post.

PYMNTS Intelligence found that a portion of shoppers are open to the Just Walk Out payment method.

Thirty-five percent of U.S. consumers who use internet-connected devices would be interested in using this method, and 6% have already done so, according to the “How We Will Pay Report.”