NOW COMETH HEALTHCARE to AMAZON
William A Cooper, MD, MBA
PRIMO Health Partners! Real partners in your healthcare!
Like many of you, I'm watching with excitement, intrigue and anticipation the arrival (or expansion) of Amazon into healthcare.
I have no doubt that a company that began as an online bookstore and evolved to dominate the online retail market, has the capability to make a major impact on healthcare. The question remains how and where will Amazon make a difference.
I won't guess what Amazon is up to. But I know enough about business to recognize that companies like Amazon understand the fundamental basis for their success is the actualization of their core competence. Their journey began with a disruption of the traditional bookstore supply chain offering easy online purchasing options. This has now expanded to just about everything from "A to Z".
Fundamentally, Amazon has made its dominance and perfection of supply chain logistics seem easy but I am convinced the ONE thing at the CORE of its success is its responsiveness to the NEEDS OF ITS CUSTOMERS and in some instances even its competitors. Don't believe me, go on Amazon and have any major Wal-Mart brand delivered to your door by sunset.
The idea of "responsiveness to the needs of customers", a fairly simple concept, but difficult to execute by some has been exploited with success by others. Not only has it worked for Amazon but also other well-known businesses in many industries. For example, UBER gave us the option to customize our "taxi" experience. Netflix made the trip to Blockbuster irrelevant, and busted Blockbuster. AirBnb is transforming the "all-booked up" hotel industry by expanding exponentially the availability of housing anywhere in the world.
So what does all this mean for Amazon's expansion into healthcare?
As I am sure they are, Amazon would be wise to pay particular attention to the needs of healthcare consumers. Its recent acquisition of PillPack is signaling that it is doing just that; paying attention to consumer frustration with the price, quality and ease of use of pharmaceuticals.
It isn't hard to figure out what consumers want: high quality, low cost, safe, effective AND accessible healthcare.
I can imagine the day will come when Amazon's virtual voice assistant Alexa becomes the home-based medical assistant for chronic disease management. Amazon won't have to invest heavily in new technology, like it has done in other retail areas, it will only need to exploit this and other existing capabilities for a "virtual" transformation of telehealth.
Amazon should also examine in detail the "who" among healthcare consumers. In addition to the lay consumer, third party and government payors are consumers. In particular, Amazon will hit a grand slam if it pays particular attention to the needs of those who can have the greatest impact on a healthcare revolution, physicians, nurses and allied health providers.
What can Amazon do to facilitate the provision of unprecedented healthcare services? A lot! But they will have to pay me for the details. LOL! I wait with excited anticipation!
Ambassador U.S.Department of Health And Human Services/ Health Services Corps Wash D.C.
5 年Medication reduction cost and delivery if provided by amazon would be a vital options for many.
CEO/Medical Director of Stand Up Family Medicine LLC
5 年I feel our healthcare system can use all the help it can get. Let me tell you what I see from working at Walmart health. People have been neglecting their health due to cost, lack of available options, and not being able to get cost effective medications they could afford. Uncontrolled DM, HTN urgency, severe depression, chronic pain, Renal Failure , the list is endless. They knew their health was declining but they needed to pay rent instead, so they just lived with it Now they finally have a quality, affordable and available option at Walmart Health in Dallas, GA. They are getting medications they can afford and we are finding new affordable ways to get their health back on track. If Amazon can do the same, I am all for it. This is all about the people in this country getting better healthcare period. If we can all learn from each other and work towards a better system let's do it! Isn't that what we all want in the first place? That is why I am rolling my sleeves up and working hard at getting this model to work, because it is making a difference in our community. I am just trying to help in making it happen.
360 Chairman
5 年Terence J. Gorman, I thought this would interest you.
EMS/EMT\NREMT
5 年Sound like Tele-med to me.? I think Amazon has great ideas to break into an industry. But is short-sighted on the scale of implementation. We saw this a couple of years ago when they wanted to enter the personal lines insurance market. Did not work out too well for them.?
360 Chairman
5 年Your thoughts on Walmart's Primary Care Centers?