the health strategist
institute for
strategist health transformation
Joaquim Cardoso MSc.
Chief Research and Strategy Officer (CRSO),
Chief Editor and Senior Advisor
August 25, 2023
What is the message?
According to a Forbes article, Amazon Clinic aims to introduce transparency to healthcare pricing, allowing patients to view costs and wait times for various medical services.
Collaborating with startups, the service offers message-based and video appointments for specific medical conditions, giving patients the flexibility to choose based on their preferences.
While this initiative represents a significant step toward addressing healthcare pricing opacity, its impact on the broader U.S. healthcare expenditure remains limited due to the complexities of insurance and comprehensive healthcare costs.
One page summary:
Amazon Clinic aims to revolutionize healthcare pricing transparency, providing patients with upfront information on costs and wait times for medical services.
This initiative is part of Amazon’s broader effort to address the lack of transparency and accessibility in the U.S. healthcare system. While Amazon’s move is significant, challenges remain in disrupting the $4.3 trillion U.S. healthcare industry.
The current healthcare payment system lacks uniformity due to negotiations between doctors, insurers, employers, and government entities, leading to varying charges for the same services.
Amazon Clinic seeks to address this issue by offering a platform where patients can view prices, wait times, and prescription details for over 30 medical conditions. It collaborates with four startups that provide message and video appointments for various conditions, aiming to empower patients to choose providers based on their preferences.
Since its launch in November 2022, Amazon Clinic has expanded to all 50 U.S. states, offering both asynchronous (message-based) and real-time video appointments.
Despite growth, specific statistics are undisclosed, though customer demand has driven national expansion. While the service offers pricing information for select medical visits, patients still lack insight into medication and testing costs prescribed during appointments.
Notably, Amazon Clinic operates as a cash-pay service, excluding insurance coverage for now. This limitation underscores the broader complexities of healthcare pricing and insurance systems in the U.S.
Despite Amazon’s scale and influence, addressing only a fraction of healthcare costs remains a challenge. According to experts, Amazon Clinic’s initiative is more of a research project than a groundbreaking business move.
Amazon’s history in healthcare includes acquisitions like PillPack and ventures like Amazon Care, which have faced varying degrees of success.
With Amazon Clinic, the company departs from providing medical services directly, instead outsourcing to startups specializing in virtual care. The startups involved—Curai Health, Hello Alpha, SteadyMD, and Wheel—offer a mix of asynchronous and real-time care for specific medical needs.
However, the impact of Amazon Clinic’s pricing transparency model is subject to debate. Experts emphasize that healthcare price transparency alone might not suffice to drive widespread change, citing the need for patients to have direct financial incentives. Currently, Amazon Clinic’s model aligns with this incentive, as the absence of insurance coverage prompts patients to seek cost-effective options.
Although Amazon Clinic’s endeavor contributes to increasing transparency in healthcare pricing, its effect on the substantial U.S. healthcare spending is limited. While the service offers insights into appointment costs, the larger financial burdens associated with healthcare—medications, tests, insurance complexities—remain unaddressed.
The initiative is part of Amazon’s broader strategy to explore innovative solutions in the healthcare sector, aiming to gauge customer responses and adapt accordingly.
In conclusion, Amazon Clinic’s introduction of transparent pricing for medical appointments is a notable step toward addressing healthcare pricing opaqueness. However, while Amazon’s influence is considerable, the complex nature of healthcare costs and insurance systems poses challenges to creating transformative change within the industry.
DEEP DIVE
This summary was written based on the article “Amazon’s Radical Plan For Healthcare: À La Carte Pricing”, published by Forbes, on August 22, 2023 and written by Katie Jennings.
To read the full article, access: https://www.forbes.com/sites/katiejennings/2023/08/22/amazons-radical-plan-for-healthcare–la-carte-pricing/?sh=5236e5761dd2
