Amazon has become a healthcare service provider

This is from their press release

One Medical joins Amazon to make it easier for people to get and stay healthier

“If you fast forward 10 years from now, people are not going to believe how primary care was administered. For decades, you called your doctor, made an appointment three or four weeks out, drove 15-20 minutes to the doctor, parked your car, signed in and waited several minutes in reception, eventually were placed in an exam room, where you waited another 10-15 minutes before the doctor came in, saw you for five to ten minutes and prescribed medicine, and then you drove 20 minutes to the pharmacy to pick it up—and that’s if you didn’t have to then go see a specialist for additional evaluation, where the process repeated and could take even longer for an appointment,” said Amazon CEO Andy Jassy. “Customers want and deserve better, and that’s what One Medical has been working and innovating on for more than a decade. Together, we believe we can make the health care experience easier, faster, more personal, and more convenient for everyone.”

This is about convenience.

This is also “amazonification” of healthcare (and healthcare being sold as a service); especially to those with chronic conditions, because it is profitable to milk out subscriptions. Amazon, interestingly, has made its foray in primary healthcare (as a low-hanging fruit) to understand the dynamics. Pair it up with the foray in robotics (and “smart assistants”), and they are preparing for a domiciliary system for the aged populations. Besides, they have invested in pharmacy chains to take a stock of the generic medications (initially) and then gradually work up their way for complex healthcare delivery.

Amazon’s understanding of healthcare stems from supply chains, logistics and “prime-membership”. If I were to bet on the big tech for their healthcare ambitions, it would be Amazon. I believe they have the most efficient cloud (AWS), institutional knowledge of warehousing/supply chains, robotics/voice assistants, a grip on the regulation and ability to lock in users. Healthcare is likely to be another vertical on Amazon marketplace. This is the commodification of healthcare delivery.