The world’s largest online retailer, Amazon, has announced the signing of a $3.49 billion acquisition agreement for One Medical.
The company, whose main service is providing primary healthcare, is based on a membership model that promises users, among other things, '24/7 access to virtual care', meaning the ability to consult with healthcare professionals virtually at any time of day. It operates in about a dozen major U.S. markets and collaborates with over eight thousand companies that wish to provide health benefits to their employees.
As Neil Lindsay, Senior Vice President of Amazon Health Services, stated yesterday, this e-commerce giant aims to become one of the companies that will drastically improve the healthcare experience in the coming years.
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This acquisition is the latest example of how the tech giant is expanding its operations in the healthcare sector, having previously acquired PillPack online pharmacy in 2018 and subsequently launched its own digital pharmacy in the U.S.
However, the acquisition of One Medical is one of the largest ever, and thanks to it, Amazon will now have access to physical healthcare clinics as well as the financial flow between users and the hospital system.
In recent years, due to the pandemic, this company has seen a rise in demand for its services alongside the growth of the telehealth sector. According to reports, One Medical had 28 percent more users in the first quarter of this year compared to the previous year, totaling 767 thousand users.
Many are concerned that Amazon will have access to health data of users, prompting calls for the U.S. Congress to adopt antitrust reforms as soon as possible to prevent this tech giant, along with many others, from abusing its market position, as high-ranking officials in the U.S. have recently agreed that market competition oversight needs to be enforced more aggressively.
