By Alice Seeley
Amazon Inc. announced that it will shut down its Amazon Care primary healthcare services at the end of 2022. The move will only impact Amazon Care and Care Medical teams and not Amazon’s other healthcare services.
“This decision wasn’t made lightly and only became clear after many months of careful consideration,” said Neil Lindsay, Amazon Health Services senior vice president. “Although our enrolled members have loved many aspects of Amazon Care, it is not a complete enough offering for the large enterprise customers we have been targeting and wasn’t going to work long-term.”
Amazon Inc has not stated the number of employees who will be laid off when Amazon Care closes. However, Lindsay reassured employees.
“Many Care employees will have an opportunity to join other parts of the Health Services organization or other teams at Amazon – which we’ll be discussing with many of you shortly – and we’ll also support employees looking for roles outside of the company,” Lindsay wrote in an emailed memo to employees.
Amazon Care was started in 2019 as a pilot program for Amazon employees and their families in Seattle, Washington. In 2021, the program expanded to non-Amazon employees across the country. This program currently provides telehealth and on-demand services from a team of clinicians without physical offices.
While Amazon is getting rid of its telehealth service, it is still investing in other health care services. Just last month, Amazon acquired One Medical for almost $4 billion in an all-cash deal. One Medical operates 188 medical offices in 25 markets and works with companies to offer health benefits to their employees.
In the emailed memo, Lindsay stated Amazon “will continue to invent, learn from our customers and industry partners, and hold ourselves to the highest standards as we further help reimagine the future of healthcare.”
