Amazon is shutting down its telehealth service, Amazon Care. They are getting out of the business of telehealth. They’re done with it. It’s over. Amazon Care is no more. It has ceased to be… and the healthcare industry should be scared out of its wits.
While it’s true that Amazon gets in and out of a lot of different businesses all the time, it is also true that Amazon deeply learns from its failures and uses the gained understanding to come back huge. Healthcare is simply too big of an opportunity for Amazon to just walk away… and they haven’t. Amazon previously acquired boutique primary care provider One Medical for $3.9 billion, it has sought to develop at-home medical diagnostics, and (earlier this week) it made a bid for home health services provider Signify Health.
History tells us that Amazon will eventually get healthcare right. When they do, consumers will be the big winners. Big Healthcare… not so much.
Author’s note: This is not a sponsored post. I am the author of this article and it expresses my own opinions. I am not, nor is my company, receiving compensation for it.
About Shelly Palmer
Shelly Palmer is the Professor of Advanced Media in Residence at Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and CEO of The Palmer Group, a consulting practice that helps Fortune 500 companies with AI strategy, implementation and governance, as well as technology, media and marketing. Named one of LinkedIn’s Top Voices in Technology, he is a bestselling author, covers tech and business for Fox 5’s Good Day New York, is a regular commentator on CNN, and writes the popular daily business blog Think About This. Follow @shellypalmer or visit shellypalmer.com.