“Amazon prime health”, the future health program launched by Amazon?

With the acquisition in 2019 of Health Navigator, a telemedicine start-up, Amazon found the cornerstone of Amazon Care, a virtual clinic for Seattle employees disclosed in late September 2019.

Amazon Care offers four options to its employees :

• Videoconferencing consultations;
• A dedicated and private messaging system;
• The arrival of medical staff at home;
• Prescription drugs and the possibility of being delivered to a pharmacy (this is PillPack, an American drug distributor purchased by Amazon on June 28, 2018).

In January 2019, taking advantage of the weakness of the American health system, Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan Chase joined forces to create “Haven”, the company that launched its health insurance. The non-profit organization is only for their more than 1 million employees… For the moment.

As we already mentioned in our decoding in 2018 (‘Amazon at the heart of our health’), Amazon has already made its way into the world of health in the United States. A sector that is worth 3,500 billion dollars.

We mention the creation of’1492′, its medical research center, the acquisition of Pillpack (online pharmacy) and the creation of its cloud Comprehend Medical, which is capable of processing millions of unstructured data for healthcare professionals (prescriptions, pathology reports) and defining a personalized diagnosis for patients.

In the meantime, its Comprehend Medical cloud has been approved by HIPPA, the US equivalent of the General Data Protection Regulations (GDR) for medical data.

This year, Amazon has filed a patent (see patent below) for Alexa that allows it to determine if the user is sick by analyzing his voice (soon facial recognition) and to automatically launch a remote medical consultation (Amazon care) via the voice assistant which, in the latest versions, incorporates a video screen. 

If we follow the various announcements (Amazon Care, Haven…) and Amazon’s patents on health, ‘Amazon Prime Health’ is soon ready in view of the complete value chain!

It is likely that ‘Amazon Prime Health’ will be included in Amazon Prime or soon ‘Amazon Prime Life’!

Amazon is not the only one! Walmart, which in recent years has created its own clinics and pharmacies under the name of ‘Walmart Health’, is following the trend. Like these two brands, Apple and Alphabet are trying their hand at this sector… But Amazon seems to be one step ahead !

Mastering data health means acquiring decisive power. Health will be the main driver of ecosystem empowerment. By appropriating health data, actors such as Amazon are intervening across borders that were previously held by governments that were increasingly unable to satisfy health services.

These new entrants establish the most intimate dialogue possible with the consumer, without going backwards. Health will make them a true trusted third party and will complement their product and service offering in a decisive way to literally create a life package.