According to a Nov. 15 article from Reuters by Jeffrey Dastin, Amazon has reached a deal to sell virtual medical services to Hilton, the American multinational hospitality company, in the U.S.
The article states that Amazon did not disclose financial terms of its agreement with Hilton.
That said, “The world’s biggest online retailer has looked to sign up employers to Amazon Care, its on-demand health offering that lets users message or video-chat clinicians and receive home visits in some cities. Amazon piloted the service for its employees around Seattle in 2019, and this summer it started marketing Care nationwide to other companies.”
In September, we reported that Amazon Care announced that it was is expanding its healthcare services to 20 cities: Philadelphia; Chicago; Boston; Dallas; Atlanta; Denver; Detroit; Houston; Indianapolis; Kansas City, Missouri; Los Angeles; Miami; Minneapolis; Nashville, Tennessee; New York; Phoenix; Pittsburgh; San Francisco; San Jose, California; and St. Louis. Although, the locations are subject to change.
Further, “The deal with Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc, which Reuters is first to report, marks Amazon Care's first hospitality customer and only its second disclosed client after fitness equipment maker Precor. It shows how the company is seeking to disrupt the healthcare industry with a tried-and-true playbook.”
According to Kristen Helton, director of Amazon Care, "Attracting and retaining talent is so critical for businesses right now.” She added that employers' pandemic safety concerns and recruiting needs during a labor shortage have contributed to demand.
Dastin reports that Helton said that Hilton will pay for workers' access to care and for a portion of the visit expenses. Text chats via Amazon Care will be free to the hotel chain's employees, while provider video or home visits cost a small fee.
Regarding artificial intelligence (AI), Helton was quoted again in the article saying that “We will have clinicians in the loop for a period of time until we can actually trust that AI and those technology solutions are taking care of the patient in the way that is best.”
Dastin concluded that Helton insisted that the human connection remains important while Amazon looks to technology to reduce providers' post-care work and lower costs.
