No Wild Expectations – A Will to Try Something New

The collaboration between Amazon Medical Services and the 220-site One Medical may signal a near-term business model shift in patient care. In a brief conversation with the companies’ four-person strong chief medical officer team at HLTH 2023, it was evident that senior staff at both companies have been rolling up their sleeves to think through how to leverage their combined strengths to improve people’s access to care. It’s happening.  There were no promises or predictions of what’s ahead.  Yet, the combined leadership team was frank in acknowledging the possibility of making a difference in people’s health.

Amazon and One Medical objective is to team up and make it easier for customers to access its wide range of primary care and pharmacy services. One Medical offers in-office and 24/7 virtual care services, on-site labs, and programs for preventive care, chronic care management, common illnesses, and mental health concerns. Through its app, members can access on-demand video chats, receive “Treat Me Now” assessments for common health concerns, book same- or next-day appointments, direct messages with providers, renew prescriptions, and access their care plans.

Amazon has invested in varied clinical, pharmacy and telehealth services.  Amazon Pharmacy is a digital-first, full-service pharmacy on Amazon.com—essentially, a pharmacy in your pocket. As expected, the warehouse giant carries most prescription medications with the ability to deliver right to customers’ doors – even providing free delivery for Prime. Their pharmacy team is available 24/7 to answer patient questions.

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Combining Amazon technological and supply chain savvy with the One Medical patient-centric approach, the healthcare industry could witness a business model transformation prioritizing personalized, efficient, and proactive healthcare services. While industry leaders often talk about “patient centricity,” the Amazon Medical Services lead exec made it clear that is where they are heading – a  healthier and better patient experience.

In an exclusive comment to Medika Life, Neil Lindsay, senior vice president Amazon Health Services, said:

“Much of the current health care experience is simply too hard. At Amazon, we believe we can make health care easier by relentlessly applying customer obsession to experiences that deliver  choice, convenience, and continuity of care for people in their pursuit to get and stay healthy.”

Lindsay was integral in building the Amazon consumer brand, shaping branding for the Kindle e-reader and Fire and Echo devices.  He knows the strengths of Amazon consumer marketing and technology strengths.

Leading economist and authority on integrated delivery systems, Dr. Alain C. Enthoven wrote more than a decade ago that the “healthcare system is fragmented, with a misalignment of incentives, or lack of coordination, that spawns inefficient allocation of resources. Fragmentation adversely impacts quality, cost, and outcomes.”

Not much has changed since Dr. Enthoven penned those words; fragmentation complicates every aspect of care. Amazon and One Medical executives know that and are looking at how their combined strengths and readiness to invest in building a better medical mouse trap will make their vision valuable to payers, patients, product innovators and providers.  The two companies sit at the nexus of the ecosystem.

Among the possible advantages lies in integrating Amazon’s innovative technologies into One Medical’s patient-care model, such as augmented intelligence, data analytics, and home automation. Patients could benefit from personalized health recommendations from their medical history, lifestyle, and physician’s advice.

“We believe technology, threaded across health care, can improve the entire experience—reducing the time customers spend seeking care, saving customers money, and supporting clinicians so they can focus on patient care,” adds Amazon’s Lindsey.

Amazon’s voice assistant devices like Alexa could finally find a practical purpose and accelerate communication between patients and their health providers, enabling remote consultations and medication reminders. Amazon supply chain expertise has yet to be fully realized, tapping into the consumer giant’s logistics network potential to streamline the medication and medical supply delivery, ensuring timely access for patients, especially those with chronic conditions. The ability to handle prescription refills and follow-up on diabetes monitoring and therapeutic supplies can reduce urgent hospitalizations.

It’s long been suggested that “the patient is at the center of care.”  That is a distant dream.  Consumerism is at the center – prescribing products that patients may never fill at pharmacies.  No doubt, Amazon knows consumer patterns and markets.  When the partnership moves into high gear, it might enhance the overall patient experience through convenient and comprehensive healthcare services.

“Improving how primary care providers can access the information they need to understand a patient’s full health picture while reducing administrative burden has long been a priority for One Medical. For example, One Medical has already forged relationships with leading health systems across the country to digitally integrate to provide for the seamless and secure flow of information between primary care and specialty care settings to improve the experience of both patients and providers,” shared primary care physician Andrew Diamond, MD, Ph.D., chief medical officer, One Medical.

Making the Consumer Matter

The One Medical patient-focused approach, characterized by longer appointment times and same-day scheduling, could be augmented by Amazon user-friendly interfaces so that patients could easily manage appointments, access test results, and communicate with health providers. A business model centered around patient design and technologies could reduce administrative hassles and waiting times, leading to higher patient satisfaction and better health outcomes. That in itself would be a high bar set for others to follow.

Amazon is savvy about integrating technology into its business platforms. If One Medical can find its way to advance proactive healthcare management through wearable devices and remote monitoring tools, patients could actively track health metrics and invite health professionals to around shifts in their well-being. An approach to real-time data exchange would be a shift from sick care to preventive care, potentially reducing patterns around chronic disease management and unplanned hospitalizations. This might well be the (healthy) version of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups when it comes to personalized care combined with a tech-based touch.

HLTH Showed its Sector Commitment

“As part of Amazon, we look forward to continuing to innovate on using tech to improve the organization, filtering, and presentation of patient health information for care teams while prioritizing security and privacy. We’d love to reach the point where providers can see a comprehensive summary of a patient’s health history as easily as Amazon customers can see their past purchases on Prime,” added One Medical’s Diamond.

The United States health ecosystem is a modern-day version of the mythological Labyrinth. Like the Cretan maze, it is almost impossible for patients and providers to navigate. Still, Amazon Health Services, now with One Medical as a big piece of its supply chain and tech puzzle, certainly has the resources, patience and self-interest to explore and try to get it right. HLTH was the perfect forum for Amazon Health Services to let the sector know it’s in the game!

While success will take time and effort, expect this e-commerce giant and its significant investment in One Medical to continue to press forward learning until it gets it right.

Amazon Introduces New Health Benefit for Prime Members

Read their news release here: https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/retail/one-medical-amazon-prime-benefit

The post The Amazon and One Medical Combo May Not Disrupt the Health System Now – They Will Champion its Transformation appeared first on Medika Life.

People pay attention when Amazon – a power brand – makes a move, and since the release crossed the wires, business journalists and analysts have been reporting and posting on their social platforms that this acquisition will transform the US healthcare scene and disrupt the status quo.

Everyone seems to be making money in the health sector, why not Amazon?

The purchase certainly enables Amazon to leverage its logistics expertise and cloud-based information-storage savvy to reduce friction points in accessing care and, simultaneously, add to its burgeoning health-revenue-based business.

But will the purchase of One Medical transform the vast and fragmented US health system? Let’s not jump to that conclusion just yet.

The US Health System Swamp

This is not Amazon’s first time dipping its big toe into the murky waters of the US health system, yet many observers rate this move as more significant than the company’s previous ventures.

Considering Amazon’s past track record in working to transform healthcare, it’s best to view the company’s aspirations to improve the care experience with a healthy dose of skepticism.

This is because the US health system is too big and pasted together for any single effort to have an effect.

Created slapdash in the decades since World War II, today, the US system is so fragmented that business leaders outside health care cannot fathom how companies in the health ecosystem operate or make money.

It’s hard for them to imagine how pharmacy benefit management companies make money, or how payers both encourage preventive care and, at the same time, reject physician requests for diagnostic procedures.

Amazon knows there is plenty of money to go around, and they want in, but it’s not easy to figure out how.

But, Amazon understands consumer experience better than any other company, and this time they are sticking to their knitting by tracking the access to care supply chain.

Stumbles Are a Learning Opportunity

It’s a wise move considering past efforts. Remember the Amazon partnership with JP Morgan and Berkshire Hathaway?

These three amigos were bullish on how their economic power and influence would transform healthcare, but in the end, their joint project Haven faced more significant problems than money, data or supply chain expertise could solve.

Haven’s death underlined just how increasingly fragmented the US health system is. Perhaps the three leaders at the top could never completely define the challenge Haven was created to address?

Ultimately, their desire to reduce healthcare costs and improve the consumer experience – which were goals Haven had in common with Amazon’s aspirations for One Medical – was emblematic of focusing on symptoms, not the underlying disease.

And while the Haven shutdown may have been accelerated by a lack of collaborative mindset, unwieldy structure or even a lack of unifying strategic priorities, it’s likely that the stake in the heart for Haven was the same specter confronting the authors of Medicare in 1964: fear of change and protectionism.

It is almost certain that Amazon will accelerate One Medical’s pursuit of profitability and debt reduction, but HIPAA requirements will block Amazon from accessing One Medical patient data.

So, rather than being a transformative moment, this may well be a $4 billion investment for Amazon’s leaders to learn more about just how the US healthcare system is broken.

It also hopefully will allow Amazon to apply these lessons and use its expertise to make a little piece of the puzzle operate better.

Where Amazon Has an Edge

There are four decision-making health sectors: payers, policymakers, product innovators, and providers.

But the fifth sector, made up of patients – which everyone is putatively focused on helping, does not even have a seat at the decision-making table.

Amazon has an edge in that they understand the customer experience better than any other player – and they know how to establish and keep consumers’ trust.

While patients undoubtedly have the most skin in the access-to-care game, their interests and voice often go unheard outside corporate conference rooms.

But Amazon has consistently fostered consumer confidence by reducing friction points, a patient-centric service orientation very much missing from the health system.

Building on the notion that consumer experience must be prioritised is a great differentiator, but it will not help when cutting deals with payers or providers.

Amazon is now pitted against mega-players such as UnitedHealth Group’s Optum, CVS Health’s Aetna and hospital systems that are transforming into massive physician networks.

Amazon’s acquisition now invites other players to snatch-up companies like One Medical striving to turn a profit.

Amazon’s next steps are what observers should be watching closely.

How does this acquisition connect to its other purchases and partnerships, such as Amazon Care, the employee-specific telemedicine and in-person primary care service company launched three years ago?

Amazon Care operates at locations in Seattle, Baltimore, Boston, Dallas, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C, Austin, Texas, and Arlington, Virginia. Will Amazon Care and One Medical merge?

Will it impact their online pharmacy business? Amazon bought PillPack two years ago for $1 billion, yet despite its unparalleled delivery expertise, the company has still to gain traction in the pharmacy sector.

Plus, remember the smart collaboration that Amazon struck with telehealth giant Teladoc giving the latter broader consumer access to “I want a doctor” using Alexa as a virtual-care tech platform.

Leading economist and authority on integrated delivery systems, Dr. Alain C. Enthoven, wrote more than a decade ago that the “healthcare system is fragmented, with a misalignment of incentives, or lack of coordination, that spawns inefficient allocation of resources. Fragmentation adversely impacts quality, cost, and outcomes.”

Not much has changed since Dr. Enthoven penned those words; fragmentation complicates every aspect of care.

Amazon may be a supply-chain management behemoth, but can they transform or disrupt the system so that care becomes less expensive? Will people with pressing health concerns have greater access to care? Maybe.

Amazon has joined the club of mega players committed to making waves within the health ecosystem – Apple, Google, Microsoft, Oracle, Teladoc and others.

Combined, these players add more complexity to a non-integrated system that generates more and more layers – each with its own economic model and an invoice to be paid by some part of the ailing health system.

At the bottom of this system, supporting it, hopefully benefitting from it but just as often held captive by it, is the patient-consumer. This is where Amazon is likely to focus, but will that focus result in transformation?

Reflecting on the Amazon acquisition, innovation theorist John Nosta wrote that an “essential component to this discussion is time. The imposition of social imperatives like equity in the context of the early stages of technological development crush innovation at its very core.”

The United States health ecosystem is a modern-day version of the mythological Labyrinth.

Like the Cretan maze, it is almost impossible to navigate, but Amazon certainly has the resources, patience and self-interest to explore and try to solve the puzzle.

While success will not come easily or quickly, expect this e-commerce giant to continue to press forward with its headline-grabbing investments, learning until it gets it right. Improving our lot is not Amazon’s business objective, but we may benefit as an outcome.

The post The Health System Will Not Be Transformed by Amazon – But It Will Improve appeared first on Medika Life.