Amazon's secretive healthcare team, which has been referred to internally as 1492, is reportedly interested in developing healthcare technologies for aging populations, according to CNBC.
Here are seven things to know.
1. Since 2015, Amazon has been meeting with the AARP, a lobby that supports older Americans, to discuss various collaborations and share research. In those meetings, Amazon expressed interest in designing technology for aging populations.
2. A person familiar with the Amazon and AARP meetings told CNBC the secretive healthcare team asked questions about the size of the market, sought answers to whether elderly populations trusted Amazon over other vendors and inquired about the technology needs of this group.
3. While Amazon has kept quiet about its ventures into the healthcare arena, Babak Parviz, Amazon's vice president of special projects, spoke openly about its plans to develop technologies for the elderly at an event hosted by Klick Health in February.
4. "Something ... we've been building for some period of time and we deeply care about ... relates to what happens to older people," Mr. Parviz said at the event, according to CNBC. "We have looked at the older population in the context of health ... and we know this group has a lot of issues and unmet needs."
5. Even though Mr. Parviz spoke about Amazon's intention to develop technologies to help the elderly, no specific details have been released.
6. A 2016 Technology Market Overview Report estimates the market for technology to assist aging adults will reach more than $30 billion in the next several years — a trend that may have swayed Amazon to disrupt the market.
7. Mr. Parviz, who formerly worked at Google X, heads the secretive team at Amazon that is dedicated to exploring opportunities in the healthcare space, including applications for Amazon Alexa, EMRs and telemedicine.