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Medicine Businesses

Amazon Rolls Out Its Virtual Health Clinic Nationwide (cnbc.com) 32

Posted by msmash from the closer-look dept.
Amazon is rolling out its virtual health clinic service nationwide, the company announced Tuesday. From a report: The e-retailer launched the service, called Amazon Clinic, last November, touting it as a virtual platform for users to connect with health-care providers to treat common conditions like sinus infections, acne, and migraines. Users select their condition, choose a provider, then answer a brief questionnaire. Depending on where they live, users can choose to connect with a clinician over video or text message. Amazon does not provide the telemedicine services itself, but instead provides Amazon Clinic as a platform to connect telemedicine partners with patients. Current partners include Curai Health, Hello Alpha, SteadyMD and Wheel.

With Tuesday's announcement, users in all 50 states and Washington, D.C., can access Amazon Clinic via video visits. Due to regulatory issues, message-based chat on Amazon Clinic is only available in 34 states. Nworah Ayogu, the chief medical officer and general manager of Amazon Clinic, told CNBC in an interview that the company vets the quality of each provider and their internal operations to determine "they have stood up as a provider group." The e-commerce giant also makes sure the provider groups are staffed across all 50 states "to be able to deliver care in a timely response," Ayogu added.
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Amazon Rolls Out Its Virtual Health Clinic Nationwide More

Amazon Rolls Out Its Virtual Health Clinic Nationwide

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  • "You've got leprosy, goodbye."

  • Want to get lots of spam if you have: "sinus infections, acne, and migraines" then use this Amazon service.

  • Another data and money grab (Score:3, Informative)

    by macbass ( 868593 ) on Tuesday August 01, 2023 @10:33AM (#63731336)
    From the story "Prescriptions can be filled at any pharmacy, including Amazon’s own online pharmacy, which handles fulfillment and delivery." Nothing was said about privacy and security of info. Given Amazon's record of scooping up as much of your data and money as possible, I'd bet that HIPPA is loosely adhered to. No, thanks, I'll stick with real and local providers.

    • Re:Another data and money grab (Score:4, Informative)

      by awwshit ( 6214476 ) on Tuesday August 01, 2023 @11:06AM (#63731388)

      HIPPA does not apply when you sign a contract saying they can share your info. You need to read the fine print.

      No way I'm voluntarily sharing my medical history with Amazon.

      • HIPPA does not apply when you sign a contract saying they can share your info

        That's very much secondary to the fact that HIPPA doesn't exist :-)

        HIPAA, on the other hand...

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by mjwx ( 966435 )

        HIPPA does not apply when you sign a contract saying they can share your info. You need to read the fine print.

        No way I'm voluntarily sharing my medical history with Amazon.

        Wow... This is why I'm glad I don't live there. GDPR applies regardless of how many sneaky ways you try to get me to agree that it doesn't. GDPR is by far, far less severe than sensitive data like medical information. I can't give up my statutory rights, especially not to fine print and a shrink wrap "I agree to the terms and conditions" checkbox.

    • Scooping up data to be used internally at Amazon would be minimally affected by HIPAA. Amazon sharing that data with 3rd parties is definitely governed by HIPAA rules. I would guess the main reason Amazon is launching this is they do not have to deal with HIPAA to get the data from 3rd parties that they are going to mine. As such, Amazon will probably go to great lengths to secure for themselves.
    • We know the routine. Do whatever and non-apologize later. Sorry not sorry, pinky swear never do it again. Changes were made and stuff. Okay then are we done with the this unpleasantness? You consumers are so daft! Adorbs. Back to datamining! Join our community and like us. We all love it.

    • Why the ever-living Fuck didn't Amazon just buy Walgreen's instead of Whole Foods? WF is now a poorly run pile of shit under Amazon ownership. But Walgreen's has always been a poorly run pile of shit that would likely get better under Amazon ownership. If for no other reason, they could adopt just-walk-out cashierless stores like they already do with the small handful of Amazon Go stores. It would make Walgreen's shoppable again. And as an added bonus they'd get a pharmacy and health clinic already built-in

  • The sad thing (Score:3)

    by Slashythenkilly ( 7027842 ) on Tuesday August 01, 2023 @11:45AM (#63731482)
    People will sign up and use this because of the affordability it will offer. In a few years time when they find out about all the gross violations that have occurred. The federal government will step in at some point during the class action lawsiit but it will be too late. Amazon has learned very well how to write contracts, admit no wrong doing, and defend itself with an army of lawyers, while changing only the bare minimums to comply with the current law in order to keep operating.
    • Imagine, civilized, developed countries have universal insurance and/or public insurance so people aren't shoved to depend on parasitic for-profits for healthcare.

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by mjwx ( 966435 )

        Imagine, civilized, developed countries have universal insurance and/or public insurance so people aren't shoved to depend on parasitic for-profits for healthcare.

        Even when there is a private system, the law still applies to the companies involved and at the first hint (not a class action lawsuit, but the very first minor violation of the law) they'll be fined, do it again and they'll be fined into oblivion.

        This is why American companies have such a hard on about trying to make you hate the GDPR, they know that it works and it will screw them.

  • Blue Cross Blue Shield has been promoting virtual visits for years.

    But oh noes, it's Amazon, eek! Stuff might be ... er, reasonably priced, have a usable UI, and you might be able to get refunds when appropriate. Can't have that!

  • Isn't there some kind of national health hotline that people can call? Every country I've lived in so far has had one. They're free & you get to speak to a triage nurse who can then pass you on to a doctor if necessary. You can then make an appointment with your doctor or go to the hospital directly depending on how urgent the condition is. Or you can just book an appointment with your doctor online or over the phone. Why are Amazon getting involved in citizens' healthcare?
  • ...Virtually fix my Stickler Syndrome? If not, I'm not interested.

  • boutique (Score:3)

    by groobly ( 6155920 ) on Tuesday August 01, 2023 @12:42PM (#63731636)

    This is part of the trend toward boutique medicine: places that don't take insurance. It is the wave of the future. Something like 50% of providers no longer accept Medicare, much less Medicaid (=Medi-Cal). Here in Norcal it often takes 4 months to get appt as a new patient with a PCP, and 2-3 months for an appt with a specialist, whom you can only see AFTER you get a referral from a PCP.

    Another business model is you pay say $200/month to be a member of this practice, and when you want to see the doc, you see the doc or talk on the phone. No paperwork, no wait, you get what you pay for.

    Meanwhile, the Amazon model works just as perfectly well to talk to a doc in India or Syria, as to talk to a Syrian or Indian immigrant doc in the US. If you don't have to wait, it's a superior service. Only government interference prevents it.

    • It's the wave of the future in countries that don't have universal health coverage ... most of the developed world laughs at the way that the US overcomplicates things.

    • And isn't it sad that this is often a real money saver? $200/month is a lot less than most insurance programs, and they'll often just give you the drugs the doctor prescribes, or charge cost for them, which is a major cost saver. Same deal with tests. And the profit to the provider is that they don't have to hire a legion of billing agents. I have a family member who's a professional medical coder. As in she gets in the documents from the doctors, and assigns the codes and does the stuff necessary to g

  • The service is run by AI and actually diagnoses correctly because it has much more knowledge at its fingertips than a human doctor. And next step, have a medical robot operate so we can almost create factory productionline like healthcare, so no more waiting. Yes it might make a mistake once in a while, but probably far less than most humans.

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