Amazon is aiming to control healthcare spending by paying to send employees to California to receive cancer care, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Seattle-based Amazon will cover travel expenses for employees diagnosed with cancer who see physicians at Duarte, Calif.-based City of Hope. More than 380,000 of Amazon's workers and families are eligible for the benefit, which can be used for any cancer diagnosis, according to the report.
Dene Sparrman, Amazon's director of global benefits, told The Wall Street Journal the benefit is designed to lower healthcare spending and increase employees' choices.
"Instead of waiting for patients to get the wrong care first, then reaching out to the expert, this model is designed so that the patient has access to expertise as early as possible to help ensure the correct care is delivered first," she told The Wall Street Journal.
The new benefit also enables Amazon workers to meet with City of Hope physicians by videoconference, when allowed by state regulations, according to the report.
Access the full WSJ article here.
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