A One Medical clinic location is pictured in Emeryville, California on February 16, 2024.
Loren Elliott | The Washington Post | Getty Images
For the higher a part of a decade, Amazon has been attempting to carve it’s way into the U.S. health-care market, through billions of dollars price of acquisitions, big-name hires and high-profile partnerships. It has been a slog at times, and the corporate’s long-term strategy hasn’t at all times been clear.
Following a series of executive departures, Amazon is now restructuring its health business, telling CNBC that Amazon Health Services can be divided into six latest units, with a goal of making an easier structure.
As a part of the hassle, the corporate has tapped quite a few longtime Amazon leaders and elevated some One Medical executives to oversee the divisions. Neil Lindsay, senior vp of Amazon Health Services told CNBC in an interview that the corporate has been working on the overhaul for the past several months.
“Our leadership team has been focused on simplifying our structure to maneuver faster and proceed to innovate effectively,” Lindsay said in a video chat. “Certainly one of the issues we’re trying to resolve is the fragmented experience for patients and customers that is common in healthcare.”
Amazon said it hasn’t conducted broad layoffs as a part of the changes.
The reorganization comes after Amazon lost several senior health leaders in recent months. Dr. Vin Gupta, who joined in 2020 and served as chief medical officer of Amazon Pharmacy, left in February, followed by Trent Green, whose last day as CEO of Amazon’s primary care chain One Medical was in April.
Aaron Martin, vp of health care at Amazon, announced internally last month that he plans to depart his role. Dr. Sunita Mishra, Amazon’s chief medical officer, also departed in May.Â
Mishra and Martin’s departures haven’t been previously reported, and neither responded to requests for comment. Amazon doesn’t plan on naming a brand new CEO of One Medical following Green’s departure.
Martin, who lives in Nashville, Tennessee, said in a memo to staffers that he’ll remain at Amazon “for some time” to assist with the transition.
“I then plan to take some day without work this summer and hang around with my wife and my kids, finally get a canopy band getting in Nashville, after which possibly do something latest,” Martin wrote within the memo, which was shared with CNBC.
Ambitious efforts
Amazon has for years been on a mission to crack the multitrillion-dollar U.S. health-care industry, which is notoriously complex and inefficient.
While it had long served providers and others in health care with its cloud-based technology, Amazon’s first big splash directly into the market got here in 2018 with the the acquisition of online pharmacy PillPack for about $750 million. Two years later, it launched its own offering called Amazon Pharmacy.
The corporate then bought One Medical for $3.9 billion in 2023, amongst its largest acquisitions ever, giving Amazon access to a series of brick-and-mortar primary care clinics and a strong membership base.
There have been some major setbacks. The corporate shuttered its telehealth service, Amazon Care, in 2022. That got here a yr after it disbanded Haven, the joint health-care enterprise between Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan Chase. The announcement of Haven in 2018 sent shockwaves through the medical world, pushing down shares of health-care firms on fears about how the combined muscle of leaders in technology and finance could wring costs out of the system.
Within the areas where Amazon continues to operate, competition is fierce and, within the case of primary care, margins are very slim.
PillPack founders TJ Parker and Elliot Cohen, who left Amazon in 2022, recently launched a brand new health-care marketplace called General Medicine that can compete with Amazon. Mishra confirmed to STAT News that she advised the nascent startup. Amazon declined to comment on whether Mishra’s involvement with General Medicine was related to her departure.Â
Lindsay characterised the recent departures as a part of the natural evolution of Amazon’s health business. He added that there is “no shortage of depth of talent” inside his organization.
“We’re a fast-evolving organization because the chance is so big,” Lindsay said.
Under its latest structure, Amazon Health Services can be focused across the six groups, or what the corporate calls “pillars.”Â
- One Medical Clinical Care Delivery, led by Dr. Andrew Diamond
- One Medical Clinical Operations and Performance, led by Suzanne Hansen
- AHS Strategic Growth and Network Development, led by John Singerling
- AHS Store, Tech and Marketing, led by Prakash Bulusu
- AHS Compliance, led by Kim Otte
- AHS Pharmacy Services, led by John Love
Amazon declined to share financial figures for its health business, but Lindsay said it’s seeing “very strong growth” across the offerings.
One Medical went public in 2020, and it was still losing money when it was bought by Amazon. At the top of 2022 in its last quarter as a standalone entity, it reported a net lack of $101.1 million on revenue of $272.4 million.
Since joining Amazon, One Medical has been working to open latest offices in states including Recent Jersey, Recent York and Ohio.Â
Amazon said in January of 2024 that its pharmacy business “doubled the number of shoppers” it served up to now yr, though it didn’t share specific figures. The corporate is opening pharmacies in 20 latest cities this yr, and about 45% of U.S. customers can be eligible for same-day medication delivery.
“If we will make one thing a bit of bit easier for plenty of people, we’ll save them plenty of time, plenty of money, and a few lives,” Lindsay said. “And if we stack these changes up over time, it’ll feel like a reinvention.”
WATCH: Amazon Pharmacy VP: Attempting to make it easier for patients to get medication
