Amazon is reportedly going to offer a full package of in-person and virtual healthcare services in Boston, Dallas, Chicago, and Philadelphia. Learn more here.
Even in the absence of the pandemic, the tech and commerce industries were expected to rise in 2020. However, the pandemic fast-motioned their advancements and brought them to a height imagined by a few.
Among them, Amazon emerged as a clear winner since the tech giant multiplied its revenue, earning $386 billion in 2020, which was a 38% increase from 2019. Considering Amazon’s revenue generation from the past few years, the tech giant is bagging a ten-billion increment every year.
Today, the company is prospering with every passing day, mainly due to its diversification in different sectors, including entertainment, logistics, and now healthcare – more on that later.
In this article, we take a look at Amazon’s ever-increasing influence and the company’s entry into the in-person and virtual healthcare sector.
Amazon Leads Diversification
One of the major reasons for Amazon being where it is right now is the company’s ability to diversify. Originating as a marketplace for buying books, Amazon has now branched into different industries, due to which it is ruling the ecommerce market.
Here are some examples of Amazon’s diversification:
Amazon Prime
Amazon Prime is an all-encompassing feature of Amazon, giving customers pretty much everything they need.
First, they get free and fast shipping, which is a huge plus for shoppers. Second, they get access to Prime Entertainment. Third, the Amazon Prime credit card has 5% rewards, making this sector of the company an attractive option for many consumers.
In December 2019, there were 112 million Amazon Prime subscribers in the US, which is 17 million more than the number of people using Prime in 2018.
At the end of 2019, the pandemic hit and most countries went into lockdown in the first quarter of 2020. With more people staying home and shopping online, the need for Amazon Prime grew at an accelerated rate, leading to 200 million subscribers.
Kindle
Amazon’s Kindle is a market-leading e-book reading device that has influenced the growth of e-book publishing worldwide. Owing to this, Amazon has become a force to be reckoned with in the e-book publishing industry.
Logistics
To bring speedy deliveries to customers, Amazon dived into logistics. The Fulfilment by Amazon business is a connection between Prime and Marketplace, making it easier for vendors to ensure quick and cost-efficient deliveries to consumers.
These are just some of the many services Amazon provides, along with delivery, digital content, Amazon Games Studio, Amazon Luna, Amazon Alexa, retail goods, etc.
Amazon is Reaching the Health Sector
Initially, Amazon was only offering its virtual health care services to employees only. But as the pandemic hit, the company expanded the services to customers too, bringing in one more way of generating revenue.
Patients can use a mobile app to connect to their virtual doctors and get their prescriptions. Amazon uses Care Medical to source the clinical staff for this program.
Health Sector as a Business Offers Huge Opportunity
The health sector is brimming with opportunities, especially in the aftermath of a deadly pandemic. In 2018, the industry was worth $8.45 trillion and growing at an annual rate of 7.3%.
It is understandable why Amazon saw it as a lucrative market since experts forecast the US healthcare and fitness sector to grow by $808 billion by 2021.
Meanwhile, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid estimate that the healthcare industry in the US will reach $6.2 trillion by 2028. The industry is so huge that it accounted for 17.7% of the national GDP in 2018.
Telehealth and In-Person Care Complete Amazon’s Ambition in the Space
Judging from the current scope of the project, Amazon’s healthcare services are headed towards major expansion. At the moment, they are available to more than 40,000 users, most of which are employees.
Amazon is partnering with Crossover Health to scale its on-premise health clinics and provide in-person care. Along with health and fitness checkups, the partnership will also allow consumers to get physical therapy and behavioral health services.
Telehealth went on a rise during the pandemic as people could not visit their doctors in person. As vaccinations are becoming common and things are opening up, some experts expect telehealth to go down in popularity.
However, people are still adopting telehealth substantially. In fact, telehealth visits make up 5% of all healthcare claims in the US. Moreover, Emarketer forecasts that 39.5% of US patients will be using telehealth by 2025.
Moreover, a Center for Connected Medicine and KLAS Research survey showed that 80% of the hospitals said 20% of their total appointments had been telehealth visits. Therefore, they are still planning to expand their telehealth services even with in-person visits opening up to pretty much everyone.
Considering all these statistics, it is easy to see why Amazon is still stepping into telehealth services to provide medical care to its consumers.
What to Expect as a Consumer?
As a consumer, you can expect Amazon’s health and fitness services to reach you very soon. According to Healthcare IT News, “Amazon Care will bring the “full package” of telehealth and in-person services to Philadelphia, Chicago, Dallas and Boston in 2021, with 16 more to follow the next year.”
Amazon initially introduced healthcare services for its Washington employees back in September 2020. After that, the company made these services available to all employees in the country. But now, the tech giant is rolling out of these services for consumers in some states.
The company plans to provide in-person services to customers in Atlanta, Denver, Detroit, Houston, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis, Nashville, New York, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, San Francisco, San Jose and St. Louis by 2022.
Consumers can expect to get their healthcare from the same place where they buy their gadgets and everyday use items from – it sounds crazy, but is very convenient.
Wrapping Up
One thing is clear; there’s no stopping Amazon. The retail giant sees an opportunity and starts working on it before a competitor even has the time to make a strategy. That is one of the major reasons Amazon is leading the commerce sphere.
