As reported by Becker’s Hospital Review, a recent poll revealed that 35.8 percent of consumers would use an Amazon health insurance plan. It was a simple study – 1,000 Amazon customers were poised the question – but the poll clearly shows the frustration our patients have with the current healthcare model.
So why does a fairly robust percentage of people trust “Amazon healthcare” when it doesn’t even exist?
My take is that most consumers view Amazon as efficient, cost effective and easy to use. Amazon is platform that allows for pure interaction between the consumer and vendors. And if you think about it, that’s really an interesting concept for consumers (patients) and vendors (hospitals/doctors) interacting with healthcare. Consider just some of the opportunities this model could present almost immediately…
Amazon contracts across state line for providers (doctors and hospitals) and facilitates the transaction (office visit, chemical peel, elective surgery)
Consumers have the ability to view user ratings and the actual price of the care (visit, procedure, surgery) prior to visit
Online real-time visits through an app for UTIs, strep throat, bronchitis, and other common conditions, followed with;
Antibiotics to treat these issues delivered next day to the patient’s door
No billing fees, no TPAs, no bad debt for providers
Expanding this concept even further, an “Amazonized” health insurance company could grow bigger and broader. With the firm’s proven ability to effectively “connect” two parties in a transaction, their expansion in the healthcare industry is limitless. I can envision the creation of a process that would allow for providers to rent excess capacity in MRI and surgical centers, further lessening the need for more bricks-and-mortar, further increasing efficiency of the system.
"Amazonized" healthcare? Why not.
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