Amazon has been steadily ramping up healthcare initiatives for its workforce this year while placing a distinct emphasis on digital connections and services.
Over the past three months, the retail giant has announced plans to expand its telemedicine offering nationally and to roll out employee health and well-being programs across its workforce. Daniel Durand, MD, chief innovation officer at LifeBridge Health in Baltimore, shared his thoughts with Becker's on Amazon's ability to strengthen its consumer-minded healthcare offerings.
"[Amazon] understands the modern consumer as well as anyone, and it seems to be refining its thesis, learning and making investments that look progressively more sophisticated from the standpoint of experienced healthcare operators," Dr. Durand said.
Here are three digital health initiatives Amazon has announced in the past three months:
1. In March, Amazon said it plans to roll out its virtual medical service, Amazon Care, for its employees in all 50 states and Washington, D.C., by summer. Amazon launched Amazon Care, which offers telemedicine and in-person primary care services for the company's employees and their dependents, in September 2019.
2. Amazon said it also plans to launch WorkingWell, a program that will offer employees physical, mental and nutritional support. The wide-scale rollout will be deployed across Amazon's entire U.S. operations network by the end of the year. In addition to in-person health and safety measures, WorkingWell also will include videos covering mindfulness practices like meditation and interactive kiosks that promote healthy eating.
3. Last month, Amazon unveiled a new mental health benefit for its 950,000 U.S. employees, giving them and their families access to services including virtual counseling. With Resources for Living, Amazon employees and their families can get free one-on-one counseling sessions, available in person and via phone, video or text, as well as access to a mobile app that offers computerized cognitive behavior therapy and mindfulness resources.