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Amazon officially becomes a health care provider after purchase of One Medical
- Jgrubb 4y agoI pray lately for the awakening of the antitrust giant. It has slumbered for far too long and this has got to stop.
- steve_adams_86 4y agoIt seems to be fully awake, just totally content with this stuff. The merger of TickerMaster and Live Nation was remarked as a positive development which left abundant space for competition to thrive, for example. I learned about this specific case from Adam Conover's video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayrVYwoe-DY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayrVYwoe-DY
- Phelinofist 4y agoReal dystopian shit
- ImHereToVote 4y agoI, for one, welcome our new feudal overlords.
- CatWChainsaw 4y agoHIPAAcalypse when? Forgive me for feeling a bit skeptical/cynical of making Amazon an even bigger data hoarder... There's also some irony in Amazon caring about health when its warehouse workers have to pee in bottles and sometimes die because they aren't allowed to evacuate during a tornado.
- what_ever 4y agoAlso discussed here - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34895396 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34895396
- DueDilligence 4y ago[flagged]
- eddsh1994 4y agoWhen will Prime Membership IDs replace social security numbers?
- matthoiland 4y agomultipass
- atonse 4y agoJesus Christ where is the government in all this??? How is this level of consolidation of information and services being allowed? After Amazon purchased Whole Foods, we've been forced to use their absolutely shitty grocery delivery app instead of Instacart, and it hasn't improved in 3+ years. Just monopolist garbage.
- lolinder 4y agoOr you could shop at any of the dozens of other grocery stores out there that Instacart still supports: https://www.instacart.com/grocery-delivery/wa/near-me-in-seattle-wa https://www.instacart.com/grocery-delivery/wa/near-me-in-sea... It's not a monopoly when a company you don't like buys a chain that you did like and ruins the experience. It sucks, but it's not a problem for antitrust unless the acquisition creates unfair competition in the target industry.
- lepus 4y agoPicking the grocery industry isn't exactly the best choice to show healthy competition and that we have a wide range of options https://prospect.org/power/proposed-kroger-albertsons-merger-would-create-grocery-giant/ https://prospect.org/power/proposed-kroger-albertsons-merger...
- lolinder 4y agoI didn't pick the grocery industry, OP did, I was just working with what they were discussing. Anyway, the question isn't whether grocery stores have a consolidation problem (they do), it's whether Amazon's purchase of Whole Foods made that problem better, worse, or unchanged. Looking at the market, it's hard to argue that Amazon buying Whole Foods made the consolidation worse, because Amazon wasn't a grocery store player until they bought it. And, in fact, it's likely that Amazon's purchase could slow the consolidation because they are better able to keep Whole Foods independent of the existing conglomerates than Whole Foods could while operating alone. If an acquisition was inevitable, better Amazon than Kroger.
- wil421 4y ago
- gdurham 4y agoI’m waiting for this to become the “company town” of tech. Employees make money, forced to spend it at the company store. Is Amazon in housing yet?
- matt_heimer 4y agohttps://www.theverge.com/2021/1/6/22216769/amazon-affordable-housing-pledge-cities https://www.theverge.com/2021/1/6/22216769/amazon-affordable...
- atlasunshrugged 4y agoI think that's more about shoring up local political support so they're not a target of people complaining about affordable housing and how big tech co's lead to higher rental costs rather than a business opportunity (but you never know!)
- sf_rob 4y agoSpeaking of this, my employer provided healthcare (Aetna) refused (according to Costco) to fill my existing prescription at Costco after messaging me that they would like to transfer it to CVS (which Aetna now owns). They'll allow it if I call them, but it was jarring.
- silisili 4y agoThis is sadly common. I have a compound that I'll likely have to take for life. Compounds are freaking hard, most pharmacies act clueless when asking. And they're regulated by state, so when you move, you often have to find a new one. Anyhow, our insurance decided everything should be done via Walgreens or CVS(don't remember now), or denied. They had no idea about it, and said they don't do compounding. Like you, I called insurance co, and they said oh, we'll just opt you out no problem. Why wasn't that the default? Anyhow, I found it easier to just pay cash anymore. 600/yr, but still somehow less frustrating than dealing with insurance that just finds ways to try to screw you constantly.
- nebula8804 4y ago
- nickysielicki 4y agoLots of cheap takes in here. I think it’s a solid bet. Healthcare makes no sense. Example: I fractured my elbow 2 weeks ago snowboarding (sticky down-flat-down). In order to see an orthopedic, I need to see a primary care physician for a referral. But I don’t have a doctor in the area and haven’t had a checkup in a long time. So in order to get an xray of my elbow I need to get a new primary care physician to write me a referral for an orthopedic specialist. It would take like 6 hours of my time to go through this process. So what am I doing? I’m hoping and praying that it doesn’t require surgery and letting it heal on its own. I still can’t fully extend or retract my arm. You might think this is dumb on my part, but I don’t want to miss work. Millions of people think the way I think. Telemedicine changes everything.
- barbazoo 4y agoThat sounds tough, sorry you have to go through that. I do want to share that up here in BC, we have both, publicly funded health care AND telemedicine offered by private companies but charging MSP (Medical Services Plan). So it's not an either or. We don't need Amazon to bring health care to people.
- ygjb 4y agoThat's not a very complete story. The proliferation of telemedicine services by private sector services in BC, and Telus in particular has actively reduced the availability of healthcare professionals in rural communities. While telemedicine is a suitable replacement for some medical services, the cannibalization of public health services for privately owned, less capable service delivery models is actively harming folks who need in person care. This isn't theoretical, there have been numerous cases across BC, Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan where medical offices in rural communities have simply closed to in-person visits and the doctors have shifted to deliver telehealth services exclusively. This increases access for prescription refills, or low-to-moderate risk, non-acute diagnosis that can be done, but lowers access to in-person care, or the established doctor/patient relationship for prescriptions for high risk medications. I am not opposed to private participation in publicly funded health care programs, but the increased push across Canada from business and some political parties for increased private care options appears to be directly undermining the public health care system. We should have a true single payer system, with mandated pricing for medical procedures, and drive private sector competition to allow them to compete with publicly delivered options in a way that increases, not decreases access. I'm not sure how to do that because I am an application security specialist, not a medical policy specialist, but it's obvious to many Canadians that the current approach is not working, and is probably not a model to promote.
- xnx 4y agoI'm kind of OK with this. The only force large enough to force change on the healthcare industry is probably a megacorp like Amazon/Google/Walmart/Apple. Similar to how Uber (for all it's many many problems) was the one to get taxi service to improve.
- alpaca128 4y agoI admire your optimism about changes forced by Amazon being actual improvements for anyone but Amazon.
- delecti 4y agoI don't want to be a competitor or employee of Amazon (I've been the latter), but being a customer of them has been a pretty consistently good experience.
- ejb999 4y agoI am willing to give them the benefit of the doubt - if amazon can show they can make money in this space by streamlining the medical experience, all the power to them - and it should attract others to try and do the same. Competition is a good thing. The medical industry is in need of a bit of disruption, why not give it a try.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- 98codes 4y agoOneMedical was running for years without Amazon -- let's not start giving them credit for revolutionizing anything but their telemetry just yet.
- JohnFen 4y ago> The only force large enough to force change on the healthcare industry is probably a megacorp like Amazon/Google/Walmart/Apple. That might be true, but it's really hard for me to see how the change they force would be for the better.
- abeppu 4y agoSo aside from the data governance concern, I am curious to see how they'll change one medical. Wholefoods definitely got worse after Amazon took over. Even prior to the pandemic they started having difficulty keeping stuff in stock, they've swapped out a lot of better brands for their private label, and their locations can feel like fulfillment centers. So ... what will they do to one medical? There are certainly many opportunities for improvement, but I'm guessing that's now how this will play out.
- kridsdale1 4y agoI’m really upset. I love OneMedical and I would hate to have to go back to the traditional model. One of the best features about OM is its relative obscurity. So I as a customer have a huge amount of supply available to me. That means I get whatever health needs met immediately. If Amazon makes the user base larger, I will lose this wonderful experience.
- abeppu 4y agoI'm very surprised to hear this: - in my city, One Medical offices are in several neighborhoods and are very far from obscure - I generally can't get an appointment with my GP without scheduling a month ahead. For anything short term, I end up having to use whatever PA or NP is free. Labs onsite are not done by appointment, and depending on the line I can wait up to an hour to get a quick blood draw.
- mahnouel 4y agoWhen paying for Prime starts to be like paying taxes.
- naveen99 4y agoNow if they can also get approval in every other country.
- tunesmith 4y agoOne Medical acquired Iora and completely hollowed out what made Iora awesome... the "health coaches" exist in name only now and aren't distinguished from regular medical assistants anymore, no more room or time for community efforts anymore, etc. I think it's just another example of metrics run amok. You do too much of that, and all the slush and slack gets drained out of the system, and the system starts to die since it never learned how to measure how that slush/slack is valuable. This seems to be such a general pattern these days, but I guess it's been a slow march ever since the 80's.
- daqhris 4y agoQuoting the article : "One Medical’s seamless 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 have been delighting people for the past 15 years." Not experienced with Amrican healthcare services, I understand this is a huge telemedecine firm. It's reasonable for Amazon to invest in a virtual medecine provider. Too much cash on-hand waiting for a strategic investment in a new industry. Reminds me of Berkshire Hathaway's purchase of the insurance provider Gecko. Both are business deals that are convincingly different from Alphabet buying FitBit (software company seeing value in another software company). If you're a customer of Amazon, this will satisfy you and disrupt the whole healthcare sector. I expect more effectiveness and value-added than from the US gov initiative "Obamacare" (harshly challenged by political backlashes).
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- piperswe 4y agoIt's mainly a large in-person primary care firm, with additional telemedicine services.
- atlasunshrugged 4y agoWhile I'm not thrilled in general about a big company acquiring one more thing, I'm honestly glad that it's in this industry. The medical world (in the U.S. anyways) needs some serious competition from folks and this, paired with Amazon's foray into prescription services, gives a signal that they're willing to do something here. Probably won't be a panacea, but much better that Amazon's buying them than some major healthcare company. https://techcrunch.com/2023/01/23/amazon-launches-rxpass-a-5-month-prime-add-on-for-all-you-need-generic-drugs-covering-80-conditions/ https://techcrunch.com/2023/01/23/amazon-launches-rxpass-a-5...
- MisterPea 4y agoAgree, I think the US has the best specialists in the world but it is missing a middle layer of primary care physicians that spurred companies like One Medical and Carbon. Having a company like Amazon (hopefully) establishing this middle layer would be great for healthcare in America. Although I do think the Doctor to NP ration should be much lower in these places.
- noddingham 4y agoYou're really looking forward to Amazon Basics quality medical services? /s
- atlasunshrugged 4y agoInstead of going to a primary care physician and them telling me everything is normal, just take an advil and then getting two $300 bills from different vendors, one being out of network but not disclosed because even though they're in a hospital in network they're a third party provider? Yes, absolutely prefer somebody like Amazon for a first screen telehealth or basic primary care. That said, I use Forward medical and it is phenomenal!
- denlekke 4y agofor all the flaws amazon has, i generally get great service from them as a company and happily keep giving them my money. so i am actually looking forward to whatever they come up with and will probably try it
- electrosphere 4y agoAmazon is becoming "Buy N Large" from Wall-E.
- teddyh 4y agoLike I said in 2017¹: Just think of all the interesting data they will aggregate! 1) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15564533#15565018 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15564533#15565018
- jimbokun 4y agoCan someone explain what this service does and doesn't provide? I don't see how they can pay doctors to provide this service, and still make money at this price point.
- stronglikedan 4y agoLikely one doctor per location, with a bunch of PAs doing the work.
- Kokichi 4y agoThey still use your insurance. The service makes it extremely easy to get lab work done and see a PCP very quick (I set up appts same or next day). I've used it for physicals/checkups and for getting set up with physical therapy. My local hospital system had a multi-month long wait to see anyone for a simple annual physical. tl;dr - quick and easy access to a consistent PCP
- 98codes 4y agoA good app where you can schedule appointments sometimes within the same day or often a day or two, a dedication to on-time appointments in the office (I've yet to wait for than a minute or two beyond my appointment time in 5+ years of membership, across different providers), and fast turnaround of lab tests that they run often in-house. I couldn't possibly go back to the old way of waiting weeks for an appointment and waiting god knows how long once I get there. EDIT: A have a handful of doctors to choose from here in Seattle that rotate between the offices in the city, along with a bunch of nurse practitioners
- nortonham 4y agoNational health service when?
- JohnFen 4y agoThere are very few companies I would trust less with health care data than Amazon.
- nyrulez 4y agoOne Medical is the best value in health services today. I wish this was the default service model for US at scale.
- lm28469 4y agoI highly recommend watching this to see how deep it runs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVVfJVj5z8s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVVfJVj5z8s