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Amazon has a terrible track record in healthcare - with both internal efforts and acquisitions. I figured they had given up but this acquisition suggests otherw

Amazon has a terrible track record in healthcare - with both internal efforts and acquisitions. I figured they had given up but this acquisition suggests otherwise. I think the business is just too different from what they know for them to really commit to it and be successful. It's a nice rescue for $ONEM stock holders!!!

ctvo 4y ago
What other Amazon efforts in health care are you aware of and what other acquisitions have there been to call their record terrible? I'm only aware of https://amazon.care/ https://amazon.care/
- 1986 4y ago
  https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/04/haven-the-amazon-berkshire-jpmorgan-venture-to-disrupt-healthcare-is-disbanding-after-3-years.html https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/04/haven-the-amazon-berkshire-j...
- discodave 4y ago
  They bought Pillpack. They also announced a big partnership with Berkshire that went... nowhere? I also know of a big secret-project kinda effort, where they were employing research scientists, and other people with very specialized knowledge of protein design... all those people are no longer at Amazon.
  - vineyardmike 4y ago
    I think the Berk partnership led to Amazon care (and probably this).
  - Infinitesimus 4y ago
    Amazon Pharmacy still exists though and I'm sure you know there are always many projects within Amazon that don't become public until much later.
dheera 4y ago
I use Amazon Pharmacy and thoroughly happy with it. Local pharmacies were modifying prescriptions on the way from the doctors' office to the pharmacy by insurance request and Amazon doesn't do that, or at least, Amazon lets me get them as-prescribed and not use insurance. Plus, their uninsured price is actually cheaper than the local pharmacy's copay price in many cases. I live in California, if relevant.
- zamalek 4y ago
  This has been my experience too. After a move across the country, I requested CVS to take over my prescription. I can't remember the specifics, but they botched it in the most incompetent way possible. My doctor recommended asking for a few pills to tide me over while they figured it out, and the very same people who botched it treated me like a drug seeker (for drugs with no recreational use, no less). Amazon were able to find and transfer my prescription in less than 10 minutes. The prescription was on my doorstep a day later. For this very specific scenario, I wouldn't agree that Amazon is winning because they are big vs. small. It is more competent vs. incompetent. > their uninsured price is actually cheaper Yep, I don't use insurance to pay for my prescription.
  - dheera 4y ago
    Yep also Amazon gets the need for 180 day refills and will happily issue refills a month or even more in advance. Local pharmacy would often only give 30 days at a time and not refill until 3 days before the 30 days is over, are they fucking crazy do they think people don't travel? There are things called planes and trains that they might not yet have heard of, they get people around the world, so I don't sit at home in CA all year
- NelsonMinar 4y ago
  I'm also having a reasonably good experience with Amazon Pharmacy (aka PillPack). The website actually works, which is more than can be said for any other mail-order pharmacy. Same stupid pricing and insurance hijinx as any other pharmacy but Amazon seems to do a reasonably good job interfacing with that horribly broken industry.
kgwgk 4y ago
https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/technology/amazon-jpmorgan-chase-berkshire-hathaway-healthcare-costs-technology-pharmacy https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/technology/amazon-jpmorgan-...
metadat 4y ago
The pressure is on now that Oracle acquired CERNER. Healthcare is the obvious golden goose in the long-term.

ctvo 4y ago

What other Amazon efforts in health care are you aware of and what other acquisitions have there been to call their record terrible? I'm only aware of https://amazon.care/ https://amazon.care/

1986 4y ago
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/04/haven-the-amazon-berkshire-jpmorgan-venture-to-disrupt-healthcare-is-disbanding-after-3-years.html https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/04/haven-the-amazon-berkshire-j...
discodave 4y ago
They bought Pillpack. They also announced a big partnership with Berkshire that went... nowhere? I also know of a big secret-project kinda effort, where they were employing research scientists, and other people with very specialized knowledge of protein design... all those people are no longer at Amazon.
- vineyardmike 4y ago
  I think the Berk partnership led to Amazon care (and probably this).
- Infinitesimus 4y ago
  Amazon Pharmacy still exists though and I'm sure you know there are always many projects within Amazon that don't become public until much later.

dheera 4y ago

I use Amazon Pharmacy and thoroughly happy with it. Local pharmacies were modifying prescriptions on the way from the doctors' office to the pharmacy by insurance request and Amazon doesn't do that, or at least, Amazon lets me get them as-prescribed and not use insurance. Plus, their uninsured price is actually cheaper than the local pharmacy's copay price in many cases. I live in California, if relevant.

zamalek 4y ago
This has been my experience too. After a move across the country, I requested CVS to take over my prescription. I can't remember the specifics, but they botched it in the most incompetent way possible. My doctor recommended asking for a few pills to tide me over while they figured it out, and the very same people who botched it treated me like a drug seeker (for drugs with no recreational use, no less). Amazon were able to find and transfer my prescription in less than 10 minutes. The prescription was on my doorstep a day later. For this very specific scenario, I wouldn't agree that Amazon is winning because they are big vs. small. It is more competent vs. incompetent. > their uninsured price is actually cheaper Yep, I don't use insurance to pay for my prescription.
- dheera 4y ago
  Yep also Amazon gets the need for 180 day refills and will happily issue refills a month or even more in advance. Local pharmacy would often only give 30 days at a time and not refill until 3 days before the 30 days is over, are they fucking crazy do they think people don't travel? There are things called planes and trains that they might not yet have heard of, they get people around the world, so I don't sit at home in CA all year
NelsonMinar 4y ago
I'm also having a reasonably good experience with Amazon Pharmacy (aka PillPack). The website actually works, which is more than can be said for any other mail-order pharmacy. Same stupid pricing and insurance hijinx as any other pharmacy but Amazon seems to do a reasonably good job interfacing with that horribly broken industry.

kgwgk 4y ago

https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/technology/amazon-jpmorgan-chase-berkshire-hathaway-healthcare-costs-technology-pharmacy https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/technology/amazon-jpmorgan-...

metadat 4y ago

The pressure is on now that Oracle acquired CERNER. Healthcare is the obvious golden goose in the long-term.