Amazon Launches Virtual Clinic Called Amazon Care

This article is contributed by our content partner, Nexchange NOW.

Amazon, the world’s largest internet company by revenue, quietly launched a virtual health clinic for Seattle-area employees, CNBC reports.

The virtual clinic, named Amazon Care, offers a variety of services, from app-, video-, or chat-based telemedicine all the way to prescription drug delivery.

“We’re currently piloting a healthcare benefit designed to help Amazon employees get fast access to healthcare without an appointment, at the convenience of their schedules, at their preferred location (home, office, or virtual). Amazon Care eliminates travel and wait time, connecting employees and their family members to a physician or nurse practitioner through live chat or video, with the option for in-person follow up services from a registered nurse ranging from immunizations to instant strep throat detection,” Amazon told CNBC in a statement.

There’s no word yet whether Amazon will be expanding this to employees outside of Seattle or even to the public, but as CNBC notes, tech companies have a habit of trying out new products on their employees before launch, so we’ll see how this goes. Amazon itself has been testing a lot of opportunities in health care, so it wouldn’t be much of a surprise.

“Amazon is a company that is experimenting a lot with a variety of opportunities in health care,” said Glen Tullman, the executive chairman of Livongo, a health-care company specializing in treating diabetes, which works as a partner to Amazon. “It’s one to watch.”

Image via Nexchange NOW
Original Article: http://www.nexchangenow.com/news/healthtech/70976/amazon-launches-virtual-clinic-called-amazon-care/