After the sudden shutdown of its ambitious telemedicine experiment, the company continues to explore options for a major expansion into the health industry.
The news caught Amazon employees by surprise — including those who used the service as patients. The company’s human resources staff had been promoting Amazon Care as a health benefit the same week it shut down, an Amazon employee told The Washington Post.
“It must mean something went wrong in the calculus,” said health-care consultant Paddy Padmanabhan of the Amazon Care closure.Ali Parsa, CEO of digital health company Babylon Health, said when it comes to building a primary care service from scratch, “there are no shortcuts.” The Post spoke with six current and former employees, as well as four industry experts, about where Amazon’s strategy for health will go post-Amazon Care. Some spoke on the condition of anonymity because they’re still employed by Amazon and aren’t authorized to speak publicly, or because they previously signed a nondisclosure agreement.
The investment, while modest, is notable: Amazon Care was Amazon’s only at-home care operation, and One Medical doesn’t provide in-home care. Lobbyist Krista Drobac, who heads Moving Health Home, declined to be interviewed about Amazon’s intentions, but said at the time that the group had not been made aware of Amazon Care’s closure before the public announcement.
Amazon’s other acquisition target, One Medical, in June 2021 acquired Iora Health, a primary care service aimed at adults 65 and over, a population that is growing rapidly as the baby-boom generation ages.
“They decided this is too hard to build on their own from scratch, so they are acquiring somebody to give them a kick-start in the same way they tried to do with perishable goods by acquiring Whole Foods,” said Babylon Health’s Parsa, who does not have direct knowledge of the deal.It could also potentially help Amazon in its quest to lower employee health-care costs, as One Medical is
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