International

Amazon Care pilot launches for Seattle employees

Amazon is to launch a new virtual primary care service for its Seattle based employees called Amazon Care.

Amazon Care is set to pilot in the City before building and scaling the offering elsewhere. It’s a mobile application that allows access to virtual and in-person healthcare services from Oasis Medical.

It provides in-app video consultations with a doctor, nurse practitioner, or registered nurse for advice, answers, diagnoses, treatment, or referrals.

Also included in Amazon Care is text chat that connects employees to a clinician in moments for health advice and answers. The app also supports medication management, prescriptions and if required face-to-face calls either at the office or home.

The company said “A Mobile Care nurse may collect lab samples, perform some onsite testing (such as strep tests), administer common vaccines, or perform physical examinations.”

Amazon Care has been launched to address acute urgent care needs, preventative care consults, travel and sexual health and general healthcare questions. The services are only available on weekdays from 8AM to 9PM, and weekends from 8AM to 6PM.

The pilot project comes after the retail giant increasingly develops into the healthcare space, with the recent acquisition of PillPack an online pharmacy. It also follows the recent partnership between the NHS and Amazon Alexa, to provide healthcare information through the voice assistant.