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posted by hubie on Saturday July 30 2022, @09:49AM   Printer-friendly
from the what's-the-affiliate-program-going-to-look-like-for-this? dept.

Amazon to buy One Medical, which runs 180+ medical offices throughout the US:

When Amazon launched Amazon Care to its employees in 2019, the goal was to test the product before rolling it out nationwide. After that rollout happened earlier this year, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy told Insider that the expansion would "fundamentally" change the health care game by dramatically enhancing the medical-care process. He predicted that patients in the future would be so used to telehealth and other new conveniences that they'll think that things like long wait times and delays between in-person visits commonly experienced today are actually "insane."

Now, The Wall Street Journal reports, Amazon has gone one step closer to that future by agreeing to a $3.9 billion deal to purchase One Medical, a company that operates a network of health clinics. With this move, Amazon will expand the number of patients it serves by gaining access to "a practice that operates more than 180 medical offices in 25 US markets and works with more than 8,000 companies to provide health benefits to employees, including with in-person and virtual care."

Echoing Jassy's enthusiasm, Neil Lindsay, Amazon Health Services' senior vice president, told WSJ that the company thinks "health care is high on the list of experiences that need reinvention." Purchasing One Medical is a way for Amazon to break further into the $4 trillion health care industry at a time when Amazon's revenue is down and costs are up.

[...] After the deal is done, One Medical chief executive Amir Dan Rubin "will remain CEO." In a news release to One Medical investors, Rubin expressed a lot of enthusiasm for the deal.

"The opportunity to transform health care and improve outcomes by combining One Medical's human-centered and technology-powered model and exceptional team with Amazon's customer obsession, history of invention, and willingness to invest in the long-term is so exciting," Rubin says. "There is an immense opportunity to make the health care experience more accessible, affordable, and even enjoyable for patients, providers, and payers."

[...] It has not been a total success story, though. Almost half a billion of Amazon's investment in One Medical is paying off the company's debt.

One Medical also recently came under fire in 2021 during a Congressional investigation into how it administered COVID-19 vaccines when they first became available in December 2020.

[...] Rubin was leading the company at the time. He has been CEO of One Medical since 2017 and has previously held executive roles for decades at health care companies, including a recent stint at UnitedHealth Group.

Congress' recent investigation into One Medical's untimely delivery of vaccines to vulnerable communities is not mentioned in the joint press release from Amazon and One Medical. Instead, Lindsay expresses full confidence in how One Medical handles delivery of patient care, saying Amazon will benefit from One Medical's "human-centered and technology-powered approach to health care," which Amazon believes "can and will help more people get better care, when and how they need it."


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  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by Rosco P. Coltrane on Saturday July 30 2022, @10:31AM (7 children)

    by Rosco P. Coltrane (4757) on Saturday July 30 2022, @10:31AM (#1263883)

    Amazon will expand the number of patients it monetizes

    There, FTFY.

    • (Score: 2) by looorg on Saturday July 30 2022, @11:47AM

      by looorg (578) on Saturday July 30 2022, @11:47AM (#1263893)

      > There is an immense opportunity to make the health care experience more accessible, affordable, and even enjoyable for patients, providers, and payers.

      I guess they included that in the enjoyment of paying for your enjoyable visit to the One Amazon Medical service center or the telemedicin-facetime/zoom-appointment you just experienced. Apparently they are also enjoying it. Not sure how affordable it will be tho. But if they are enjoying it I'm not sure me and my wallet would.

      So what will you get for your Amazon Prime subscription? Faster service and/or delivery of medication?

      So anyone ever been to One Medical and can share the experience of the future of medicine? Is everything else "insane"?

    • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 30 2022, @01:40PM (3 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 30 2022, @01:40PM (#1263898)

      And Walmart is headed in the same general direction, for example see this from last year,
      https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/tech/walmart-to-acquire-telehealth-company-memd-as-amazon-care-signs-first-customer [fiercehealthcare.com]

      Will retail eventually take over healthcare? It could go that way, here's another article from just pre-Covid,
      https://hbr.org/2019/10/can-big-box-retailers-provide-local-health-care [hbr.org]

      • (Score: 2) by looorg on Saturday July 30 2022, @04:04PM (2 children)

        by looorg (578) on Saturday July 30 2022, @04:04PM (#1263916)

        I guess if you have a pharmacy (or drugstore) that is filling you prescriptions then it's also handy to have a little area with a screen where you can describe all that ails you to the MD so he can prescribe more drugs (and possibly tests) for your problems.

        Doesn't Walmart etc already have those devices where you can check your blood pressure etc in the store? If so this would just be an extension of that, find some more devices that can do some tests and then have a call-center of failed MD:s that sit there and write prescriptions for things.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 30 2022, @04:19PM (1 child)

          by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 30 2022, @04:19PM (#1263920)

          Right, so Walmart can add arbitrary health services in-store, since they already have pharmacy and other related departments (like an optician) in the superstore near me. Similar for Target (with CVS pharmacy in-store). Also a couple of the regional grocery chains that we have here--Wegmans does a land-office business, there are often lines for prescription pickup and that's with three registers staffed in the pharmacy area.

          Amazon doesn't have that kind of store so they buy a pre-existing health care network. Amazon does have Whole Foods but the one around here doesn't have a pharmacy.

          • (Score: 2) by looorg on Saturday July 30 2022, @04:30PM

            by looorg (578) on Saturday July 30 2022, @04:30PM (#1263921)

            Until they can get Alexa (or whatever bot) thru medical school I guess that will be the next best thing for them. I guess we can make a qualified guess then what is coming to Whole Foods in the near future, or in a building just right next door.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 31 2022, @12:27AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 31 2022, @12:27AM (#1263990)

      Few things will be more regrettable than giving these people this kind of power

    • (Score: 2) by PiMuNu on Monday August 01 2022, @08:40AM

      by PiMuNu (3823) on Monday August 01 2022, @08:40AM (#1264200)

      You, quite literally, are now the product.

  • (Score: 2) by ElizabethGreene on Saturday July 30 2022, @04:18PM (2 children)

    by ElizabethGreene (6748) Subscriber Badge on Saturday July 30 2022, @04:18PM (#1263919) Journal

    Hey Alexa, what is this rash?

    • (Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 30 2022, @09:52PM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 30 2022, @09:52PM (#1263973)

      Hey Alexa, what is this rash?

      Its monkey pox.

      Please note that now Amazon Prime will start shipping Vaseline to you. It will auto-ship every month so that you will never run out.

      • (Score: 2) by HammeredGlass on Sunday July 31 2022, @05:54PM

        by HammeredGlass (12241) on Sunday July 31 2022, @05:54PM (#1264102)

        Social distancing not necessary as this disease falls on the victim hierarchy with an ignore flag set by the admin.

  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by Barenflimski on Saturday July 30 2022, @04:41PM (2 children)

    by Barenflimski (6836) on Saturday July 30 2022, @04:41PM (#1263923)

    Digitized medicine came with the promises of "Never losing your records! Streamlined Healthcare! Less calls between Doctors!"

    What I've seen in the last 5 years with our local system becoming digitized is less eyes on the problem.

    With this system, the next Doctor looks at the records and says, "Well, test X was already done, and these were the results, so I'm not going to try anything else." Back in my day, when you went to 3 doctors, they all took 3 routes to figure out whatever ailed you. If one missed, and there was an issue, it was likely one of the other two found it. Now that doesn't happen. You get one chance. You think Doctors read emails and notes any more than your work cohorts? TL:DR.... Call me. No one talks with this system as it is discouraged because it costs money.

    Pre-conceived ideas. Ever taken a Vicoden not exactly how the label said to? Now these records follow you forever. The medical system treats you either as a person with a drug problem, or a person without. There is no nuance. There is one flag. There is no one to appeal to. It doesn't matter how many years ago that might have been. Once that flag is flipped, there are a whole host of treatments you are now denied.

    Ever had an issue with Anxiety or Depression? These things are listed at the very top of your chart now for every doctor to see. These things change how the Doctors treat you going forward.

    The list goes on.

    About the only thing I've seen that is actually useful is that you can find your X-Ray's and MRI's in one place and they are stored so you can track your ailments across time.

    Last thing I want is Amazon, or any private company, compiling everything they hoover up about you, and tacking it to a record that is labeled "Medical."

    Independent Doctors with independent ideas who do an independent review are important if you want good healthcare.

    • (Score: 1) by zion-fueled on Saturday July 30 2022, @10:59PM

      by zion-fueled (8646) on Saturday July 30 2022, @10:59PM (#1263981)

      Those exist? It's been an infernal machine as long as I've been alive. Even Seinfeld made fun of something getting written into your chart. I fly with no medical records and that taking 3 routes to figure out anything must have been long long before my time. These days you have to tell the dr where to look.

      Actually, I did find one dr willing to test a theory but the insurance wouldn't cover the imaging.

    • (Score: 1) by aafcac on Sunday July 31 2022, @11:02PM

      by aafcac (17646) on Sunday July 31 2022, @11:02PM (#1264140)

      There's a few issues, one of them is that with digital files you can't easily add things to the chart that weren't intended to be there. So, on the one hand you don't get those blunt doctor's notes and drawings that could show up in the past, but on the other hand, it's really quick to create graphs to demonstrate things like that this wasn't a short period of hypertension.

  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by stretch611 on Saturday July 30 2022, @05:47PM (1 child)

    by stretch611 (6199) on Saturday July 30 2022, @05:47PM (#1263937)

    A year ago, One Medical bought IORA primary care. I am/was a patient of IORA.

    Now with Amazon acquiring One Medical it is time to change providers. No f-ing way I ever want amazon in control of anything.

    Amazon is like the Blob... All it does is gobble up more and more and anything it grabs turns into more of the same blob. It doesn't add anything innovative, it just gets so massive that you can avoid it until your stuck with it. Every part of it just turns into the same sh*t.

    --
    Now with 5 covid vaccine shots/boosters altering my DNA :P
    • (Score: 2) by NotSanguine on Sunday July 31 2022, @02:29AM

      Amazon is like the Blob... All it does is gobble up more and more and anything it grabs turns into more of the same blob

      I hate to break it to you, but consolidation in the healthcare services sector has been going on for decades.

      I live in a large city and while there certainly are some solo practitioners, the vast majority are part of large healthcare/hospital conglomerates. And they are just as much "blobs" as Amazon is, at least in the healthcare industry.

      While Amazon is definitely sleazy and creepy, the consolidation of the industry was well on its way long before Amazon got involved.

      tl;dr: That ship has sailed, my friend. And more's the pity.

      --
      No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
  • (Score: 1, Flamebait) by r1348 on Saturday July 30 2022, @07:17PM (5 children)

    by r1348 (5988) on Saturday July 30 2022, @07:17PM (#1263950)

    Americans realizing that private health care is up for the highest bidder.

    You live in the world you voted for.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 30 2022, @08:17PM (3 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 30 2022, @08:17PM (#1263956)

      Sadly (for me), I didn't vote for private health care, and neither did my state, but we've got it anyway.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 30 2022, @09:10PM (2 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 30 2022, @09:10PM (#1263963)

        Fuck Reagan

        • (Score: 3, Informative) by stretch611 on Saturday July 30 2022, @09:45PM (1 child)

          by stretch611 (6199) on Saturday July 30 2022, @09:45PM (#1263970)

          Actually, Fuck Nixon... When healthcare was good in the USA, Nixon signed the first bill designed to screw people with insurance... The HMO act.

          The Health Maintenance Organization Act, also known as the HMO Act, is a U.S. federal law enacted under President Richard Nixon on December 29th, 1973. The act is stated in bill S. 14 of Public Law 93-222 and defines qualifications for HMOs. The act is meant to promote and encourage the development of HMOs, as well as set standards for the HMOs.

          --
          Now with 5 covid vaccine shots/boosters altering my DNA :P
          • (Score: 4, Informative) by RS3 on Sunday July 31 2022, @01:25AM

            by RS3 (6367) on Sunday July 31 2022, @01:25AM (#1263995)

            No love nor hate for Nixon or anyone, but I remember what HMOs were supposed to be about, and how they started out. The concept was to make it easier and to encourage checkups, generally more attention to health, nutrition, exercise, etc. All to save money in the long run because the longer you have a disease before it's caught and treated, the more expensive it is, not to mention the human suffering. But of course, for-profit insurance companies, and for-profit or non-profit healthcare providers will always find a way to maximize their incomes, because that's what they do, regardless of what they say.

    • (Score: 1) by aafcac on Sunday July 31 2022, @11:22PM

      by aafcac (17646) on Sunday July 31 2022, @11:22PM (#1264141)

      I didn't vote for it, I voted for the politicians that were promising a public option and to address the issues. Voting for the party that was refusing to do anything at all wasn't likely to lead to a better situation. What we need more than anything else is to get all these folks that don't contribute to positive health outcomes out of the process. Other countries have proven that insurance companies aren't need for high quality health care.

  • (Score: 2, Insightful) by zion-fueled on Saturday July 30 2022, @10:53PM (12 children)

    by zion-fueled (8646) on Saturday July 30 2022, @10:53PM (#1263980)

    Some a-la-carte would be nice if that is what they are going to do. Order up a blood test and have results and then prescription for under $250. You can already get stuff done at labcorp. Run your thoughts through a doc using zoom and pop goes the weasel.

    Has medicine been a turn-key experience for everyone? Because I've had to do 90% of the work myself insurance or not. The goal of most professionals has been to throw out something to get you out of the office on things that are more complex and not immediately life threatening.

    They're also very light on negative effects or trade-offs with any procedure. Like this drug will provide temporary relief and long term complications or you'll never be the same after this surgery, etc.

    Under socialized medicine, just add more bureaucracy and some we-own-your-body god complex.

    • (Score: 4, Interesting) by RedGreen on Saturday July 30 2022, @11:44PM (11 children)

      by RedGreen (888) on Saturday July 30 2022, @11:44PM (#1263985)

      "Under socialized medicine, just add more bureaucracy and some we-own-your-body god complex."

      BS what you will experience is doctors and people in the system who care about helping you not the money the procedure will put in their pockets. No such own your body garbage, the bureaucracy is much less than some god damn parasite corporation deciding whether you get treatment it is the doctor who does that based on the facts in front of him, not the money to be made off it or ability to pay. Now there can and will be waiting times for the procedures as the governments will never fund enough of the needs for them. It is far from a perfect system in my countries socialized method of doing it, but unlike the USA where my Aunt lived most of her life and went bankrupt at least three times I know of due to medical bills, we get the treatment without the burden of the cost. I know when they did the heart procedure that saved my life going on five years ago I did not have to worry about paying a single cent while in the hospital, when I got out I only had to pay partial costs of the medication due to being covered under again that bad old bogey man government socialized insurance method. I will take this system any day over the parasite corporation system.

      --
      "I modded down, down, down, and the flames went higher." -- Sven Olsen
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 31 2022, @03:04AM (8 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 31 2022, @03:04AM (#1264011)

        While I certainly hope it eventually works that way here (USA), I fear that we will wind up with something like "socialism with American characteristics" which might not be so good. /s

        Yes, I'm stealing the phrase, "socialism with Chinese characteristics".

        • (Score: 2) by RedGreen on Sunday July 31 2022, @05:45AM (7 children)

          by RedGreen (888) on Sunday July 31 2022, @05:45AM (#1264019)

          "socialism with American characteristics"

          You already have it, it is called Medicare. For the corporations it is called defense contracts, there are instances all over your system, the banks sub-prime fiasco too big to fail BS, not to proud to suck on the government tit then, the car makers same idea when they needed as with all the other businesses sucking on them at all times. They just have the rube common people convinced it is bad as there is no benefit for the parasite corporation in it. The dumb fucks keep failing for all that BS they peddle to you as bad for the country.

          --
          "I modded down, down, down, and the flames went higher." -- Sven Olsen
          • (Score: 2) by unauthorized on Sunday July 31 2022, @01:09PM (6 children)

            by unauthorized (3776) on Sunday July 31 2022, @01:09PM (#1264058)

            Please stop propagating this stupid meme. Socialism is not when the "government does stuff", it is perfectly in line with right-wing economics (including liberalism) to have government spending. Socialism is when the means of production are owned by society as opposed to privately owned. The government giving free money to the bourgeois neo-aristoracy is typical of advanced capitalism.

            • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 31 2022, @03:27PM (3 children)

              by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 31 2022, @03:27PM (#1264077)

              > Socialism is when the means of production are owned by society as opposed to privately owned.

              And here's the problem when it comes to healthcare, can you imagine a surgeon, with an ego as big as a planet*, agreeing to work for a collective?

              * It takes a lot of balls & brass to cut into another person and expect that they will be better after the experience. Surgeons (imo) are among the worst pricks out there, and some of my mates actually go so far as to suggest the worst personalities make for the best results after an operation.

              • (Score: 2) by unauthorized on Sunday July 31 2022, @11:46PM (2 children)

                by unauthorized (3776) on Sunday July 31 2022, @11:46PM (#1264143)

                I don't need to imagine it, socialist governments have always had medical workers and on average provide measurably better healthcare compared to capitalist regimes of similar levels of economic development. Cuba has a collectivized medical system and more trained medical professionals than any other country on the planet.

                • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 01 2022, @02:39AM

                  by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 01 2022, @02:39AM (#1264168)

                  Is it still that good in Cuba, or have things run downhill since the USSR stopped funding them?

                • (Score: 0, Troll) by zion-fueled on Monday August 01 2022, @02:28PM

                  by zion-fueled (8646) on Monday August 01 2022, @02:28PM (#1264240)

                  Cuba has a "vaccine" for lung cancer too. They don't tell you its 3 bullets. They pimp out their DRs like slaves to other countries. Tourists have to bring them aspirin. I can see touting something like Canada or France but no, just no.

                  Then you have China and you can watch some youtubes of people who lived there and see how well their medical system works. Socialized medicine just hides the bill.

            • (Score: 1, Redundant) by RedGreen on Sunday July 31 2022, @03:41PM

              by RedGreen (888) on Sunday July 31 2022, @03:41PM (#1264078)

              "Please stop propagating this stupid meme. Socialism is not when the "government does stuff", it is perfectly in line with right-wing economics (including liberalism) to have government spending. Socialism is when the means of production are owned by society as opposed to privately owned. The government giving free money to the bourgeois neo-aristoracy is typical of advanced capitalism."

              Please learn your terms. Communism is when the means of production is owned by the government, Socialism is exactly that when the governerment or the people themselves does things that are shared with society they are closely related. But a socialist system does not necessarily have the government owning the means of production like the communism does. The last part giving the cash and the political corruption that it results from is called a Kleptocracy or crony capitalism. From the Wackypaedia.

              "Communism (from Latin communis, 'common, universal')[1][2] is a far-left[3][4][5] philosophical, social, political, and economic ideology and movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, namely a socioeconomic order based on the idea of common ownership of the means of production, distribution, and exchange—allocating products to everyone in the society."

              "Socialism (/'soʊʃəlɪsm/) is a left-wing to far-left[1][2] economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership[3][4][5][6] of the means of production[6][7][8][9][10][11][12] as opposed to private ownership."

              "Kleptocracy (from Greek κλέπτης kléptēs, "thief", κλέπτω kléptō, "I steal", and -κρατία -kratía from κράτος krátos, "power, rule") is a government whose corrupt leaders (kleptocrats) use political power to expropriate the wealth of the people and land they govern, typically by embezzling or misappropriating government funds at the expense of the wider population.[1][2] Thievocracy means literally the rule by thievery and is a term used synonymously to kleptocracy.[3][4] One feature of political-based socioeconomic thievery is that there is often no public announcement explaining or apologizing for misappropriations, nor any legal charges or punishment levied against the offenders."

              "Crony capitalism, sometimes called cronyism, is an economic system in which businesses thrive not as a result of free enterprise, but rather as a return on money amassed through collusion between a business class and the political class. This is often achieved by the manipulation of relationships with state power by business interests rather than unfettered competition in obtaining permits, government grants, tax breaks, or other forms of state intervention[1][2] over resources where business interests exercise undue influence over the state's deployment of public goods, for example, mining concessions for primary commodities or contracts for public works."

              --
              "I modded down, down, down, and the flames went higher." -- Sven Olsen
            • (Score: 2) by HammeredGlass on Sunday July 31 2022, @06:04PM

              by HammeredGlass (12241) on Sunday July 31 2022, @06:04PM (#1264106)

              If govt power is reduced, it doesn't matter who controls it or who sticks their had out, they will get no leg up and no hand out. Equality at its finest.

      • (Score: 1) by zion-fueled on Monday August 01 2022, @02:23PM (1 child)

        by zion-fueled (8646) on Monday August 01 2022, @02:23PM (#1264238)

        I've used socialized medicine before and bills aren't the only factor in medical care. You are really glossing over wait times and doctors steering you away from procedures not because of money but due to availability. Medical care is a scarce resource and you're paying through your taxes or directly. In the US you can at least skip out on the bill. They'll still do your heart procedure.

        What is "bankruptcy" anyway. It's just a dismissal of your debts and the blocking of credit for a few years. They didn't come and shake your aunt upside down for the nickels in her pockets.

        • (Score: 2) by RedGreen on Monday August 01 2022, @03:20PM

          by RedGreen (888) on Monday August 01 2022, @03:20PM (#1264257)

          "You are really glossing over wait times and doctors steering you away from procedures not because of money but due to availability. "

          And you deliberately distort what I clearly said, the system is far from perfect because the government never funds enough for quick access nor can/should they. As all the whining bitches waiting for self caused procedures for the vast majority of them due to their life style, can if they want to pay for access go to the good old USA and get reamed for the privilege.. Then they can whine some more about how much it costs them and how hard done by they are. Seems to be all the fashion these days, everybody being the victim of some vast conspiracy to keep them down, with never the slightest mention of personal responsibility for their own situation.. Me they had no choice my useless life style had me in emergency situation I was going to die without it so no wait at all. Well if you do not count the 22 days spent getting me stable to safely do the procedure as waiting, I certainly do not count it as such.

          --
          "I modded down, down, down, and the flames went higher." -- Sven Olsen
  • (Score: 0, Troll) by soylentwhores on Monday August 01 2022, @06:36PM

    by soylentwhores (17871) on Monday August 01 2022, @06:36PM (#1264312)
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