by
Gus Iversen, Editor in Chief | November 29, 2017
From the November 2017 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine
Amazon ramps up interest in health care
From its relatively humble beginnings as an Internet book store to its global dominance as a one-stop shop for virtually everything, it’s long been evident that Amazon and its CEO Jeff Bezos are always looking for growth opportunities.
This summer, the company set up “1492,” a secret “skunk works” lab aimed at assessing health care opportunities from EMR to telemedicine while focusing both on hardware and software, according to July reports. Meanwhile, health care providers have already been looking at ways to use Alexa, the Amazon-built intelligent personal assistant, for things such as recordkeeping and transcription.
Health IT and voice recognition software aside, industry murmurs suggest Amazon may also be planning to stake a claim in the pharmaceutical industry.
According to various news outlets, inside sources have hinted that the yes-or-no decision to start selling prescription drugs online could come before Thanksgiving. The suddenly larger retail footprint provided by Amazon’s acquisition of Whole Foods earlier this year could make an easier fit for a brick-and-mortar pharmacy move, as well.
The move into health care was hinted at when Bezos spoke with Walter Isaacson, president of the Aspen Institute, at the Vanity Fair New Establishment Summit in October 2016.
“I think health care is going to be one of those industries that is elevated and made better by machine learning and artificial intelligence,” Bezos told the crowd, adding, “And I actually think Echo and Alexa do have a role to play in that.”
