Amazon acquires telemedicine startup Health Navigator

Amazon acquires telemedicine startup Health Navigator

Amazon continues to advance the healthcare field by acquiring a startup called Health Navigator, which provides technologies and services to digital health companies.

CNBC contacted the e-commerce giant who confirmed the acquisition and announced that Heath Navigator would become part of the company's recently created Amazon Care Group. Amazon Care offers medical benefits to company employees through telemedicine, but home visits are also available when additional care is needed.

An Amazon spokesperson provided more details about Amazon Care to CNBC in an email, stating:

"This service eliminates travel and waiting times by connecting employees and their family members with a doctor or nurse practitioner via live chat or video, with the option of in-person follow-up by a registered nurse who it ranges from vaccination to instant throat throat detection. "

Health Navigator

Health Navigator currently has a dozen employees, making Amazon's second healthcare acquisition much smaller than when it bought PillPack last year for $ 753 million. The company has already made a significant investment in PillPack, but entry to the market has been difficult for Amazon because other industry players have prevented it from gaining access. to patient data or to try to hire your employees.

David Thompson, CEO of Health Navigator, founded the company in 2014 and is already well known in the medical industry for developing the Schmitt-Thompson protocols. These protocols have become the standard way for nurses and other hospital personnel to guide patients to the right place, usually through call centers.

In its work with technology partners such as Microsoft and other healthcare companies, Health Navigator provides a number of services, such as symptom verification tools to facilitate remote diagnosis, and helps patients determine whether to stay home, see a doctor or a doctor. directly to the emergency room.

Neither Amazon nor Health Navigator have made an official announcement about the acquisition, but we will likely hear more when the newly acquired company becomes part of Amazon Care.

We also present the best telemedicine software of 2019