Amazon announced that it made its virtual health services available nationwide with plans for a large rollout of in-person services this year.
The company launched Amazon Care in September 2019 to combine virtual care and in-person services, with the latest expansion making the services available nationwide.
According to a news release, Amazon will look to roll out in-person services in more than 20 new cities this year as it invests in the growth of its clinical care team and in-person care services in the country. The company points to the COVID-19 pandemic as a driving factor behind the demand for bringing care to patients’ homes through both virtual and in-home means.
The company’s in-person services are already available in Seattle, Baltimore, Boston, Dallas, Austin, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and Arlington. The planned 2022 expansion includes major metropolitan areas such as San Francisco, Miami, Chicago and New York City.
New customers, including Silicon Labs, TrueBlue and Whole Foods Market, joined the list of companies offering Amazon Care to employees nationwide, with the platform including urgent and primary care services such as COVID-19 and flu testing, vaccinations, illness and injury treatment, preventive care, sexual health and prescription requests and refills.
“Patients are tired of a health care system that doesn’t put them first. Our patient-centric service is changing that, one visit at a time,” Amazon Care Director Kristen Helton said in the release. “We’ve brought our on-demand urgent and primary care services to patients nationwide. As we grow the service, we’ll continue to work with our customers to address their needs.”
