Amazon has been found to take a leap into healthcare section by getting primary-care provider One Medical, as announced by the company on Thursday.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Amazon is buying primary-care provider One Medical for $3.9 billion
- It is considered as Amazon’s biggest acquisitions ever
- Amazon is also building its own medical operation known as Amazon Care
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It would be purchasing the health-clinic operator for $18 per share in a deal that values One Medical at $3.9 billion. This basically ranks among Amazon's biggest acquisitions it would be beating only by its purchase of MGM Studios for $8.5 billion and its purchase of Whole Foods for $13.7 billion.
Well, One Medical guarantees to take-away some of the drudgery out of getting seen by a doctor by providing a variety of medical services to customers who would pay $199 each year. It would be available for 24/7, on-demand virtual care, and members would be able to use the company's app in order to make same-day or next-day appointments for in-person visits. It even looks after some seniors within the US Medicare program, once it has acquired the eldercare pioneer Iora Health.
By the end of March, One Medical had operated around 188 locations across the US and had served around 767,000 members, according to a quarterly filing.
As per a statement by Neil Lindsay, senior vice president of Amazon Health Services 'We have assumed that health care would be high on the list of experiences that would require reinvention.' He even added that 'We had looked upon a lot of chances to both improve the quality of the experience and provide people back valuable time in their days.'
It was not the first foray for Amazon in healthcare. Previously, the company had acquired mail-order pharmacy PillPack in 2018 for around $750 million. Well, it has been building its own medical operation known as Amazon Care, that provides virtual consultations and at-home visits from doctors.
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