Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Amazon Wants You To Be Its Patient, Buying One Medical In $3.9B Deal
CNBC: Amazon To Buy Primary Health-Care Provider One Medical For Roughly $3.9 Billion
Amazon is acquiring One Medical for $18 a share, an all-cash deal that values the primary health-care provider at roughly $3.9 billion, the companies said Thursday. The deal deepens Amazon’s presence in health care, which Neil Lindsay, senior vice president of Amazon Health Services, said is “high on the list of experiences that need reinvention.” (Palmer, 7/21)
On the ins and outs of this deal and why it happened —
Stat: 5 Burning Questions About Amazon's $3.9 Billion Acquisition Of One Medical
With its acquisition of One Medical, Amazon is setting its sights squarely on shaking up primary care. (Ravindranath, Ross and Herman, 7/21)
Axios: Dr. Amazon Will See You Now
Amazon's latest move to further entrench itself in health care will stoke heated competition by other major retailers to capture new customers by delivering primary care. ... Amazon will face plenty of regulatory hurdles and some challenges in gaining consumer trust. But it's positioned to capitalize on its ability to cater to consumers' whims, as well as patients' frustration with the status quo. (Reed, 7/21)
Bloomberg: Amazon Gets ‘Whole Foods of Primary Care’ With One Medical Deal
“This puts Amazon much further up the list” of entities trying to assemble vertically integrated health care businesses at a multi-billion-dollar scale, said Lisa Bielamowicz, president of consultancy Gist Healthcare. “If I’m Optum or I’m CVS-Aetna, I’m looking at this and saying, ‘these guys are serious and they’re starting to put their own pieces together in a way that will create a unified product.” (Tozzi and Day, 7/21)
Yahoo Finance: One Medical: Why Amazon's Acquiring This Health Care Company For $3.9 Billion
One Medical's $199 annual subscription offers 24/7 access to telehealth services, same-day appointments, and an app. The company had 188 U.S. locations and more than 750,000 members, as of a May filing. The company's focus is on primary care and boasts virtually no wait times, and in its IPO filing expressed interest in moving into behavioral health. The Carlyle Group has been one of One Medical's key investors, and is reportedly set to exit after Amazon's acquisition. (Garfinkle, 7/21)
The deal's impact on medical data privacy is worrying some —
San Francisco Chronicle: Amazon Bought One Medical. People Are Worried About Their Privacy
Amazon’s $3.9 billion acquisition San Francisco’s One Medical swiftly raised privacy concerns about what the online retail giant might have planned with the health care company’s medical data. (Echeverria, 7/21)
