Remember when a few years ago Amazon announced it would revolutionize healthcare, partnering with heavyweights Berkshire Hathaway and J.P. Morgan? The idea was to experiment with their own employees and eventually roll out some high-tech-enabled platform to other employers. Using big data, AI algorithms, and various telehealth services, Amazon promised to improve primary and urgent care, while Alexa played the role of the naughty nurse. At the time, the very idea sent healthcare stocks on a tumble. In this year’s slapdown of tech stocks, that aura of invincibility around the e-commerce giant has worn off a bit. The stock is down more than a third in 2022. Its $1 billion flop in Middle Earth may represent the peak (maybe) of crappy content at all costs. But a bigger owie has to be its decision to shut down the cornerstone of its efforts to corner the healthcare market, Amazon Care.
Apparently, it’s not as easy to get other companies’ employees to pee in bottles, so Amazon opted to buy itself an existing solution with the $3.9 billion acquisition of One Medical earlier this year. One Medical is a “human-centered, technology-powered national primary care organization on a mission to make quality care more affordable, accessible, and enjoyable through a seamless combination of in-person, digital, and virtual care services that are convenient to where people work, shop, and live.” You could pretty much copy and paste that description for many of the value-based AI healthcare startups that have emerged in recent years, especially with a focus on