Why the Amazon Ecosystem is Primed to Disrupt Healthcare

Dan Stanek

Kate Fisher

Estimated Read Time: 2 Minutes

With the recent acquisition of One Medical and Iora Health, Amazon seems intent to make their mark on the healthcare industry. One Medical, founded in 2007, is a nationwide primary care practice that provides membership-based services in major cities as well as extensive virtual care options and health benefits to more than 8,000 companies and their employees. Their physical locations are beautifully designed, often in retail locations, and the entire experience is easy and distinctly non-traditional. Iora Health, acquired by One Medical in 2021, is a high touch, but technology enabled primary care group that services adults that are on Medicare and Medicare Health Advantage plans.*(Background Info on These Companies from Exceptional Primary Care – Find a Doctor Near You | One Medical) Now that we know the players, let’s take a look at a few of the facets of this merger.

In an on-demand world, Amazon makes things look frictionless and easy. They use technology to improve customer experience, and there are a number of areas in healthcare where they can apply these practices. Although One Medical already has a best-in-class physical experience and good virtual/digital tools in their arsenal to serve their membership base, Amazon can take them to the next level with their digital, AI, and voice capabilities. To promote continuous and preventative health, Amazon could take care one step further with easy and intuitive device options. This includes wearables to collect vital wellness data (the Halo), home health monitoring devices, and other health technologies, all connected to patient records and usable by their practitioners. Adding medicine management through PillPack, behavioral health through Ginger, and even the potential for food as medicine through Whole Foods or Amazon Fresh, unlocks a dimension of health and wellness many aspire to, but have not been able to execute.

In short, Amazon can leverage its customer centricity and operations expertise along with One Medical’s healthcare services to create an experience delivered directly to the door or screen of the consumer. The ability to leverage the data from continuous health devices as a predictive tool to allow for a physician to intervene before a health event would be a game-changer.

With customer care and data management under their belt in addition to deep financial pockets, Amazon and One Medical seem ripe to scale healthcare solutions and create more physical locations across the US at a rapid rate . Further, as the physical locations for Iora continue to expand, so too can the home health network that Amazon seems to be seeking through acquisition. Amazon and Iora will be differentiating themselves in the 65 and older healthcare scene and it’s none too soon.

With this merger, healthcare consumerism is becoming a reality and the time to evolve is now. Amazon entering the ring with One Medical should be a not-so-subtle nudge to large medical organizations, primary care centers, and urgent care facilities to reexamine their processes and address their inefficiencies.

Is Amazon on-demand prime healthcare on the horizon? Download the complete POV below to find out more about where the future of consumer-drive healthcare is headed.