Amazon’s recent announcement of its deal to buy One Medical for $3.9 billion generated a wave of speculation on how the tech giant might transform primary care in the United States. Will it build a health care system that is as easy to access as Amazon’s website — one that offers products and services at the click of the button? Maybe it could employ artificial intelligence that can combine a wide array of individual patients’ data to help them identify and regularly receive the services, medicines, foods, and other supplies they need to recover from an illness or to stay healthy. Or use smart devices that would nudge people to take their medications or exercise.
How Will Amazon Approach U.S. Primary Care?
It’s likely to apply its standard three-part playbook to transforming an industry.
August 03, 2022
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Summary.
Amazon has a playbook for reinventing businesses that it enters. It includes simplifying processes, experimenting to determine which new approaches work best, and continuously recombining its existing assets to come up with a better way to do things. It is likely to use this same approach in trying to transform primary care in the United States. This means that its $3.9 billion acquisition of One Medical marks the beginning, not the end, of its efforts.
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Accelerate your career with Harvard ManageMentor®. HBR Learning’s online leadership training helps you hone your skills with courses like Sharpening Your Business Acumen. Earn badges to share on LinkedIn and your resume. Access more than 40 courses trusted by Fortune 500 companies.
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