JUCM News readers are aware that Amazon has tried many times, in many ways, over many years to chisel out a piece of the U.S. healthcare marketplace. Most recently, we told you that they opted to spend $3.9 billion to buy One Medical—a departure from Amazon’s brand recognition as a giant in the online marketplace given that One Medical has 125 brick-and-mortar locations. Now, according to a report from CNBC, they’ve taken another step away from the virtual world by deciding to shut down their Amazon Care telehealth service by the end of the year. That program was piloted in 2019 specifically for the company’s roughly 55,000 Seattle-area workers. According to an internal memo obtained by GeekWire and also reported by CNBC, the decision was an acknowledgment that Amazon Health wasn’t “the right long-term solution for our enterprise customers.” The service has been providing virtual urgent care visits, free telehealth services, and fee-based in-home visits for testing and vaccinations.
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The Next Move in Amazon’s Healthcare Path Is to Take a Step Back