Amazon eyes expansion of in-person healthcare to 20 more cities

Alia Paavola -

Amazon has plans to bring in-person healthcare to 20 major cities by the end of 2022, Insider reported Sept. 7.

Amazon Care, the e-commerce giant's healthcare venture that offers telemedicine and in-person primary care, launched as a pilot program in 2019. It initially only was available to Amazon's Seattle employees and their dependents, but Amazon later expanded it to all employees in Washington state and announced plans in March to expand to other employers across the country. However, the in-person component of the venture was limited to Washington state, Washington, D.C., and Baltimore, according to the report. 

Now, Amazon is looking to bring both telehealth and in-person care to Philadelphia, Chicago, Dallas and Boston in 2021, people familiar with the deal told Insider.

Additionally, the company plans to bring in-person Amazon Care to 16 cities in 2022. The cities are: Atlanta; Denver; Detroit; Houston; Indianapolis; Kansas City, Mo.; Los Angeles; Miami; Minneapolis; Nashville, Tenn.; New York City; Phoenix; Pittsburgh; San Francisco; San Jose, Calif.; and St. Louis.

In July, Insider reported that Amazon Care approached several big health insurers in an effort to expand coverage of its services. The healthcare venture reportedly talked to Aetna, Premera Blue Cross and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts.

Securing health insurance coverage or joining an insurer's network would be a big step for Amazon Care, as it would allow the company to expand services to more companies and patients. It would allow insured people to use Amazon Care as they would any other in-network provider.

Currently, Amazon Care works with employers that pay a monthly fee for employees to access its services, including Amazon itself, Peloton-owned Precor and several others.

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