From rolling out a new medication prescription service, to clearing a regulatory hurdle regarding its pending One Medical acquisition, Amazon is continuing to increase its healthcare presence.
Here are seven times Amazon made healthcare news since Jan. 3, as reported by Becker's Hospital Review.
- Cleveland Clinic's Jeff Rosner said he doubts RxPass, Amazon Pharmacy's new $5 prescription subscription service, will make waves as "large chain pharmacies are already significantly discounting these drugs."
- Amazon Pharmacy rolled out RxPass, a $5 per month medication prescription service, on Jan. 24.
- The American Telemedicine Association's policy council added Sarah-Lloyd Stevenson, senior manager at Amazon, to its council, which helps shape the trade association's state and federal policy strategy.
- Amazon Clinic, the online healthcare service launched by Amazon in November, said it will now offer COVID-19 treatment plans.
- Corporate takeovers of primary care practices by the likes of Amazon and CVS Health are a threat to health equity, healthcare costs and clinician autonomy, researchers wrote in a recent New England Journal of Medicine commentary.
- Fifty-two percent of health tech experts surveyed by Health Tech Nerds, an informational platform focusing on healthcare business, said Amazon would be the biggest threat to health systems' core business in 2023.
- Amazon cleared a regulatory hurdle on its path to acquiring One Medical, as the Oregon Health Authority approved the proposed acquisition after conducting a regulatory review.