Amazon's plan to buy One Medical for $3.9 billion will give the retailer a larger foothold in selling healthcare services to employers, an arena the company entered in 2019, the Wall Street Journal reported July 22.
Six things to know about the deal and Amazon's previous endeavors to disrupt healthcare:
- One Medical is an app and website members use to book appointments, track health records and renew prescriptions.
- One Medical has yet to turn a profit since going public in 2020. In the first three months of 2022, losses reached $90 million.
- The acquisition of One Medical will pit Amazon against other companies such as UnitedHealth Group's Optum, CVS Health and hospital systems that increasingly employ physicians, according to the report.
- Amazon's earlier forays into healthcare include a $1 billion deal for a business to ship prescriptions nationwide and a venture to remake healthcare that companies offer to U.S. workers. They haven't met with much success, according to the report.
- In 2019, Amazon launched Amazon Care, a telehealth service it first offered to its employees. Last year, it said it would expand the offering to other companies.
- Amazon also launched its own pharmacy business after buying online pharmacy PillPack two years ago, but the service has failed to gain meaningful traction, critics say.