Amazon has surpassed milestones in its expansion into the healthcare sector. Unlike traditional healthcare organizations, the company's virtual care pilot, Amazon Care, adopted a unique business model. Here are eight things that make Amazon Care different from traditional healthcare organizations.
Eight things that differentiate Amazon Care from traditional competitors:
1. Amazon Care will expand its services to other companies, as well as Amazon employees in all 50 states this summer.
2. It will focus on employers instead of health plans by contracting directly with employers. This will lower overhead administration costs, which will lower costs for both the employer and employee, according to a March 18 Forrester blog post.
3. The Amazon Care app will allow patients to use engagement tools like receiving after-care summaries and scheduling follow-up visits and follow-up reminders.
4. Amazon Care can help patients evaluate their work-from-home setups to optimize joint and muscle health.
5. Amazon Care will offer non-traditional health services like lifestyle and wellness coaching, the Forrester post said.
6. Amazon Care teamed up with Intermountain Healthcare and Ascension to form a home-based alliance to encourage healthcare policies to designate a home as a site of service.
7. The in-person care facilities are called Neighborhood Health Centers, and they operate on extended hours during both the workweek and weekends to accommodate employee schedules.
8. The health centers' goal is to lower the cost of healthcare by encouraging employees and their family members to go to the centers for preventive care instead of more expensive emergency rooms or urgent care centers.