Amazon plans to buy One Medical, a large group of primary care doctors, for $3,9 billion. What does that mean for the future of health care in the US? Stat News reports.
Amazon already owns a pharmacy business, health clinics and telehealth services. With the purchase of One Medical, it will own 180 medical facilities and business from a number of companies that use One Medical to care for their workers. One Medical says that it currently provides care to about 800,000 people.
Once it acquires One Medical, Amazon will offer both in-person and virtual services through Amazon Care. It will offer primary care, lab services, vaccinations, preventive care, urgent care and an online pharmacy. Most likely, Whole Foods will offer some medical services on sit. Amazon Care also sends nurses to patient homes in some instances.
Presumably, Amazon will generate revenues from big corporate health insurers and Medicare. One Medical has been contracting with Medicare on both the Medicare Advantage side as well as now in traditional Medicare as a direct contracting entity–an entity that is paid a flat rate by the government to “manage” care for people in traditional Medicare.
Currently, employers and others pay One Medical an annual fee of $199 a person plus care costs to provide their workers and others primary care.
Amazon intends to offer primary care services throughout the nation. The question remains as to whether Amazon will improve quality and lower costs. And, can it turn a profit? One Medical charges high costs for its primary care services.
Primary care has never been a profitable business. Doing it well takes time. So, Amazon might be thinking it will use this primary care business as a tool to generate more revenue from its other businesses.
And, how will Amazon address the care needs of people with costly and complex conditions? Older adults and people with disabilities who need a lot of care have always been a population corporate health plans have sought to avoid, for fear of losing money.
I have always assumed that Amazon or Facebook or Google or Apple would take over our health care system. They continue to take over large tranches of the economy. It’s easy to imagine that these companies would not use their power to the good of patients. They need to generate profits. But, the current system is anti-competitive and completely broken. Could a world with Amazon Care be worse?
What should you do? Choose your primary care doctor carefully. You need a good one for many reasons,, even if you’re healthy. You want one who puts your health care needs first and will direct you to the best specialists should you develop a complex condition. You want to avoid primary care doctors driven by financial incentives to delay or deny you care.
Here’s more from Just Care:
- Primary care through CVS? Financial incentives pose a serious concern
- Questions for your primary care doctor if you have Medicare
- Six reasons you need a primary care doctor in this age of specialization
- Four questions to ask yourself about your primary care doctor
- Four things to think about when choosing between traditional Medicare and Medicare Advantage plans
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