Telehealth Service Amazon Care Attracts Attention From Firms, Stock Market

Amazon has signed up numerous companies for its telehealth service, CNBC reported. The service is called Amazon Care, and it launched in 2019.

Via the service, users can access virtual healthcare visits, free telehealth consultations and paid in-home visits from nurses for testing and vaccinations, according to CNBC.

In March, the eCommerce giant announced the expansion of the virtual care service nationally for employees and other companies as of this summer. However, the in-person services will initially only be expanded in Washington state and some metro areas like Boston and Washington D.C., CNBC reported.

Company executive Babak Parviz said that while there are no official confirmations of which companies have signed up for the service, a list of them would be announced later this year, according to CNBC.

And he said the company is working to make Amazon Care available for other geographies, including rural areas, in the future. That entails hiring “thousands” of new employees, CNBC reported.

Amazon’s pharmaceutical ambitions have also included the debut last fall of the Amazon Pharmacy, an online prescription fulfillment service. That launch came on the heels of the 2018 acquisition of PillPack, according to CNBC.

In 2020, Amazon also partnered with healthcare provider Crossover Health in order to roll out neighborhood health clinics for warehouse workers and their families in several cities. And the company worked to launch a joint venture with Berkshire Hathaway and J.P. Morgan for employer health programs that was ultimately disbanded, CNBC reported.

PYMNTS reported earlier this year on the eCommerce giant’s work in healthcare, writing that the healthcare industry is one that could benefit from more digitization. Amazon has also previously introduced a feature to allow for easily finding and comparing drug prescription costs.

While the healthcare industry represents over 17 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP), Amazon noted that only 11 percent of customers are shopping online for better prices when they encounter higher-than-expected drug costs.