Google Cloud is investing $100 million in telehealth company Amwell, with the joint goals of expanding access to virtual care, improving patient and clinician experiences, and leveraging the companies’ capabilities to deliver new, differentiated healthcare solutions across the continuum of care, according to officials in an Aug. 25 announcement.
Company leaders pointed out that the pandemic “has resulted in historic telehealth utilization, making it a priority and, in many cases, a preference for patients, providers, and health plans.” With this partnership, Google Cloud and Amwell see an opportunity to improve patient and clinician telehealth experiences through technologies that can automate waiting room and checkout; provide automated language translation services; advance population health by making it easier for more patients to receive care; and assist payers and providers in routine tasks, by intelligently triaging cases and reducing clinician burnout, they added.
Indeed, the volume of telehealth visits within provider organizations has surged across the U.S. over the course of the pandemic, ranging from hundreds a visit per day up to thousands in certain instances during the peak of COVID-19. Meanwhile, in the first quarter of 2020 alone, telehealth companies raised nearly $250 billion in investments, leaders at the Washington, D.C.-based Advisory Board pointed out in a recent webinar.
Google Cloud’s Aashima Gupta, the company’s director of global healthcare solutions, told CNBC that she expects to see continued usage of telehealth because of “more favorable reimbursement coverage and consumers looking into this as a viable option.”
Via this partnership, Google Cloud is selecting Amwell as its preferred global telehealth platform partner, and Amwell selects Google Cloud as its preferred global cloud platform partner and will migrate its video performance capabilities onto Google Cloud's cloud platform for both new and existing customers around the globe. The CNBC report noted that Amwell by selecting Google Cloud, it will move parts of its business from Amazon Web Services, which it currently uses.
Other key elements of the collaboration include:
Google Cloud will invest $100 million into Amwell to evolve and scale its telehealth portfolio to serve the needs of providers, insurers, and patients within current and new markets. Google Cloud's investment will be a concurrent private placement at a purchase price that will be the same as the price to the public in Amwell's IPO and will be contingent upon the closing of its IPO.
Both companies will engage in a strategic technology collaboration, aiming to bring the best of their technologies to enrich the telehealth experience, including focus on development work using Google Cloud artificial-intelligence and machine-learning technologies to assist patients and front-line workers with intake, inquiries, and triage; natural language and translation services for non-native speakers; G Suite tools like Meet to improve collaboration among healthcare staff and with their patients; and sophisticated data analytics tools to aid in remote home health monitoring by providers and insurers.
“We chose Google Cloud as our strategic partner because of their phenomenal people, superior products, and open approach to partnering," said Ido Schoenberg, M.D., chairman and CEO of Amwell. "Together, we will be able to offer an incredible array of integrated capabilities and help millions of people around the world access better care. Our collaborative work could literally democratize healthcare."
