Amazon Clinic launched nationally earlier this year, partially motivated by high consumer demand, according to Forbes.
Nworah Ayogu, MD, chief medical officer and general manager of Amazon Clinic told Forbes he was "surprised by the amount of consumer demand" Amazon Clinic commanded after its initial roll-out last year. The interest pushed Amazon to expand nationally with its unique model for virtual care.
Amazon Clinic facilitates cash-pay virtual services through video visits and online messaging with clinicians. Patients have access to services for around 30 medical conditions and tiered pricing based on location, quality and convenience.
"If you want the lower cost provider, you can choose that. If you are actually prioritizing the speed at which someone is getting back to you, you can prioritize that as well. We think really being able to surface different options for different customers lets them choose what's important for them," Dr. Ayogu told Forbes.
Amazon Clinic has real-time video visits in 50 states and asynchronous care in 34 states where it's legal. Amazon didn't divulge data on the number of people receiving services, but Dr. Ayogu did hint the company may explore accepting insurances, including Medicare, in the future.
But Amazon Clinic still may not succeed. Ezekiel Emanuel, co-director of the Health Transformation Institute at the University of Pennsylvania, told Forbes Amazon's current healthcare offerings won't disrupt healthcare.
"It's not going to move the healthcare needle. I think it's a fact-finding – more of a kind of research project than an honest business," he told Forbes. "Amazon does a lot of that. It tests how people respond, then modifies."