Feb. 22 (UPI) — Amazon confirmed Wednesday it has closed a multi-billion-dollar deal to acquire membership-based primary care provider One Medical.
“Today, we’re excited to announce that One Medical has joined Amazon and our mission to make it dramatically easier for customers to get what they need to stay healthy,” the company said in a statement, while also announcing limited-time discounts for new subscribers.
“With One Medical, customers can connect with clinicians 24/7 via video chat or messaging if that’s most convenient. Or, customers can choose to make an appointment the same day or within days to visit any of One Medical’s offices in many U.S. cities.”
The deal for the San Francisco-based health provider is reportedly worth $3.9 billion.
This comes as Amazon continues to overhaul the healthcare side of its business, looking to gain a larger foothold in the industry.
Late last month it introduced a new add-on to its Prime subscription allowing users to pay a flat rate to have prescription drugs delivered. The $5 monthly fee gives existing members access to generic medication for around 80 conditions.
In August, the tech giant confirmed it was shutting down its Amazon Care digital healthcare service in December. The service ended on the last day of 2022.
“At Amazon, we’re trying to improve the healthcare experience for customers. We started by building Amazon Pharmacy, with a broad selection of medications sent to you with reliable, free delivery,” the company said Wednesday, before again touting the benefits of its monthly RxPass drug subscription service.
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy took over the company in July 2021 and has made expanding its reach into the healthcare sector one of his priorities. The deal was first proposed the same month Jassy took the helm.
Amazon is now able to tap into One Medical’s over 200 brick-and-mortar locations, which are spaced across 26 markets, covering 815,000 members.
“If you fast forward 10 years from now, people are not going to believe how primary care was administered,” Jassy said in a statement.
“For decades, you called your doctor, made an appointment three or four weeks out, drove 15-20 minutes to the doctor, parked your car, signed in and waited several minutes in reception, eventually were placed in an exam room, where you waited another 10-15 minutes before the doctor came in, saw you for 5 to 10 minutes and prescribed medicine, and then you drove 20 minutes to the pharmacy to pick it up-and that’s if you didn’t have to then go see a specialist for additional evaluation, where the process repeated and could take even longer for an appointment.”
A deadline for the Federal Trade Commission to challenge the acquisition expired Tuesday, with the FTC choosing to let the deal move forward after months of review.