Kristen Helton, director of Amazon Care, on Feb. 21 told Forbes that "patients are tired of a healthcare system that doesn't put them first." Here are three key avenues Amazon is using to address that issue:
- Amazon Care: Amazon Care is the e-commerce giant's healthcare venture, which offers telehealth and in-person primary care. On Feb. 8, the business made its virtual health services available nationwide and said in-person services will be rolled out in more than 20 new cities in 2022; in-person services are already available in Seattle, Baltimore, Boston, Dallas, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., Austin, Texas, and Arlington, Va.
Amazon Care offers urgent and primary care services, such as COVID-19 testing, vaccinations, prescription refills and preventive care. In locations where in-person care is available, Amazon Care also deploys nurse practitioners to patients' homes. - Amazon Web Services: Amazon Web Services is Amazon's cloud technology platform. Some of the largest healthcare companies in the world are powered by AWS, including Cerner, Atlanta-based Piedmont Healthcare and Chicago-based Rush University Medical Center.
In June, AWS launched an accelerator to offer digital health startups resources, expertise and opportunities to collaborate with AWS healthcare customers and partners. The program is designed to accelerate startups' growth in the cloud, focusing on technologies such as remote patient monitoring, data analytics, patient engagement, voice technology and virtual care. - Wearables: In 2020, Amazon developed the Halo Band, a wearable tracking health metrics such as temperature, heart rate, sleep, activity and nutrition. The device works in conjunction with the Amazon Halo app, which shows users the data collected by the wristband and offers actionable insights.