Amazon is taking another shot at becoming a regular health care source for customers with the launch of a service centered on virtual care.

The e-commerce giant says its Prime customers can now get quick access to a health care provider through a program that costs $9 a month or $99 annually.

The announcement arrives less than a year after Amazon announced the $3.9 billion acquisition of the membership-based primary care provider One Medical, which has medical offices in more than 20 markets.

The company has made a number of attempts to incorporate healthcare into its platform and has started building momentum after some initial setbacks.

The company announced in August that it was adding video telemedicine visits in all 50 states to a virtual clinic it launched last year.

Yet Amazon shut down a virtual health care service last year that it spent years developing, and it was part of a high-profile but failed push to address health care costs in a partnership with two other major companies, Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan.

Through the new service, patients will be able to connect virtually around the clock with care providers through its Prime One Medical membership program. The service includes video chats and an option to make in-person visits if there are One Medical locations near by.

The company said Wednesday that its membership fee covers the cost for the virtual visits. But customers would have to pay for any visits they make to the company’s One Medical primary care offices. They can use insurance for that.

Virtual care grew popular during the COVID-19 pandemic, and many health care providers have since expanded their telemedicine offerings. It has remained popular as a convenient way to check in with a doctor or deal with relatively minor health issues like pink eye.

While virtual visits can improve access to help, some doctors worry that they also lead to care fragmentation and can make it harder to track a patient’s overall health. That could happen if a patient has a regular doctor who doesn’t learn about the virtual visit from another provider.

Updated November 9, 2023 at 4:46 p.m. ET to add missing word in the seventh paragraph and correct "last summer" to "last year" in sixth paragraph.

Share:
More In Business
Miller Lite Beer Drops to 'Enhance' Other Light Beers in Time for National Beer Day
It's National Beer Day! Miller Lite is celebrating with its new Beer Drops meant to "improve" the flavor of other light beers to be more like Miller Lite. Elizabeth Hitch, senior director of marketing at Molson Coors, joined Cheddar News to discuss the cheeky product taking a jab at the competition. “We found is that a lot of these beer brands were giving away free product, free beer, and we thought what good is it to have a free beer if it doesn't taste good, right? So, we thought about these flavor-enhancing beer drops to actually add flavor to other light beers to give them as much taste as Miller Lite," she said. Hitch also addressed ongoing concerns with aluminum shortages amid supply constraints as well as a foray into NFTs.
Dictador Rum Jump into the Metaverse
Ken Grier, associate creative director at Dictador, joins Cheddar News to talk about the company launching NFT enabled luxury spirits and its art-oriented treasury club, ArtHouse Spirits DAO.
JetBlue Bids on Spirit, Jeopardizing Frontier Deal
JetBlue made an unsolicited offer to buy low-cost carrier Spirit Airlines, potentially jeopardizing the original offer from Frontier Airlines. Several analysts sounding the alarm on JetBlue's proposed $3.6 billion merger, saying the deal doesn't quite make sense. Jim Corridore, Senior Insights Manager at Similarweb joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss.
Fed To Take More Aggressive Action On Cooling Inflation
The Fed is gearing up to take more action to curb inflation. According to minutes from the central bank's March meeting, officials "generally agreed" the Fed should shrink its balance sheet by $95 billion per month and is considering larger rate hikes than its usual 25-basis point increase. Nela Richardson, ADP's Chief Economist, joined Cheddar to break down the potential impacts of these moves on the economy.
Load More