Amazon change strategy in health care sectorand a month after announcing the acquisition of One Medical for $ 3.9 billion, announces the closure of Amazon Care, virtual and home health service initially created for its employees and then extended to third-party customers. Neil Lindsay, senior vice president of Amazon Health Services, explains that
[…] after receiving feedback from our corporate customers and their employees […] We understand that Amazon Care is not the right long-term solution for them and have decided that we will no longer offer the service after December 31, 2022.
Amazon Care: remote healthcare system with which patients chat with healthcare professionals and can schedule video visits. In some cases, a home visit is also planned (for vaccinations, for example) – the on-site service should have expanded to another 20 cities by the end of 2022.
INEVITABLE DISMISSALS
Those who have been working on the Amazon Care project for years will pay the consequences first and foremost: some of these they will be transferred to other divisions of Health Services and Amazon, others will inevitably be fired. And this is a decision that leaves you amazed, given the growing commitment of the e-commerce giant in the health sector: from 2018 to today, in fact, the company has gone from selling drugs online in the United States to offering a real system health care for their own employees and those of other companies. And, as mentioned, a huge investment was made just a month ago with the acquisition of One Medical.
UNCHANGED COMMITMENT, BUT NOT THROUGH AMAZON CARE
Acquisition that will be subjected to antitrust scrutiny American, and that will continue despite the closure of Amazon Care. Evidently the plans of the company are different, and the internalization of know-how and above all of the data in the hands of the acquired company can only benefit Amazon. In fact, Neil Lindsay admitted that Amazon’s ambitions in healthcare are unaffected, only they will no longer pass through Amazon Care.