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Happy Friday, health tech fans. A lot has happened in the last 24 hours and let’s get to it.
Only weeks Amazon announced yesterday afternoon that it is shutting down AmazonCare, a hybrid in-home primary care service, at the end of the year after agreeing to a medical merger. Erin wrote.
Why is it important? Amazon, which has spent years laying the groundwork for a large healthcare footprint, is closing up shop on one of its homegrown efforts in primary care.
Yes, but: The tech giant isn’t backing down from the sector anytime soon.
Grab it fast. Amazon launched CARE as a pilot for its Seattle office workers and their families in 2019 and has since expanded the program steadily.
- Last spring, the company announced that it will offer its services nationwide.
- Soon after that, Amazon said it would begin selling Care to employers.
Details: Amazon Health Services SVP Neil Lindsey said in an email to the department’s staff that Care was not a sustainable and comprehensive tool for its customers. (Amazon shared a copy of the email with Axios.)
- “While our registered members like a lot of Amazon Care, it’s not a complete offering for the large enterprise customers we’re targeting, and it hasn’t been viable for a long time,” Lindsay said.
- He added that the company will cease Amazon Care operations after December 31, and that only the Amazon Care and Care Medical (the technology giant’s clinical partner) teams will be affected.
What they say: With pending healthcare acquisitions (not to mention the buzz surrounding Signify Health), Amazon is on the verge of becoming a healthcare “powerhouse,” BTIG analyst David Larson wrote in a note Wednesday.
- “Our view is that it makes more sense to buy these platforms than to build new ones,” Larson said.
💭 Our thought bubble:- Amazon risks duplicating efforts to run both Care and One Medicine, and with the tech giant’s history of shuttering bold healthcare projects, we can’t say we’re surprised.
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