Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) Cares For Its Employees: Amazon Takesover A Startup – Health Navigator For Employee Healthcare

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) has announced the takeover of a second startup – Health Navigator for its employees’ healthcare. The platform of Health Navigator is established for integration into health services such as medical call centers and telemedicine. It helps to standardize the work process with patients. Health Navigator platform has the natural language tools to facilitate the filing of care recommendations and health complaints.

Health Navigator established in 2014

David Thompson, an emergency medicine physician, established Health Navigator in 2014. He is also a faculty member in Chicago at a North Western Memorial Hospital. Health Navigator helps digital health companies with triage and symptom checking tools online to direct the patients to the right care. As part of the pilot care program, Amazon would gift Health Navigator to its employees. Around 50,000 to 650,000 Amazon employees would benefit from the telemedicine program.

Health Navigator will be part of the Amazon Care Group introduced in September 2019. Amazon Care serves as the medical benefit for its employees. It offers medical care to Amazon employees via a video chat and facilitates home visits depending on the need. Following the sell-off plans, Health Navigator would not renew the contracts of its customers.

Reduces the need to travel for healthcare

According to an email communiqué to CNBC from Amazon, the virtual health care program minimizes the need for travel. It facilitates a link between a nurse practitioner or a physician and family members or employees of Amazon via live video chat. It may schedule in-person visits of a nurse for services like instant strep throat detection to immunizations. The employees of Amazon would get fast-paced healthcare without a need to request appointments.

Health Navigator is a small company and employs a dozen people. Amazon has also required PillPack, a health-related company, in 2018 for $750 million to focus on the pharmacy market online. PillPack has reported 50 job openings on its websites. However, Amazon faces a challenge from existing players in the competitive market to poach their employees or access the data of patients. Nader Kabbani, the vice president, would lead PillPack, which will be combined with the consumables team of Amazon. The company is competing with pharmacy benefit managers, drug distributors, and drug store chains.

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