By Nathalie Voit
Amazon is acquiring San Francisco-based virtual healthcare chain One Medical, according to a statement from the company posted on July 21.
The e-commerce retailer will purchase the membership-based primary care service for approximately $3.9 billion, or $18 per share, according to details of the binding merger agreement.
“We think health care is high on the list of experiences that need reinvention. Booking an appointment, waiting weeks or even months to be seen, taking time off work, driving to a clinic, finding a parking spot, waiting in the waiting room then the exam room for what is too often a rushed few minutes with a doctor, then making another trip to a pharmacy – we see lots of opportunity to both improve the quality of the experience and give people back valuable time in their days,” SVP of Amazon Health Services Neil Lindsay said in last week’s statement.
“We love inventing to make what should be easy easier, and we want to be one of the companies that helps dramatically improve the healthcare experience over the next several years,” he added.
The all-cash deal marks Amazon’s latest foray into the blossoming yet booming MedTech market, particularly in delivering direct-to-consumer healthcare services.
In 2018, Amazon acquired mail-order pharmacy PillPack. Following the launch of its in-house pharmacy in November of 2019, all PillPack branding has been updated to state “PillPack by Amazon Pharmacy” from “PillPack, an Amazon company.”
Amazon also teamed up with Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan Chase to roll out Haven Healthcare at around the same time. Haven, a non-profit joint health venture focused on lowering costs and improving equal access to health care, ultimately dissolved less than three years after its official inauguration in early 2018.
According to its website, One Medical operates in most major U.S. metro areas. The 24/7 telehealth provider works with over 8,000 companies to offer One Medical health services to their employees.
