Well, Amazon shut down Amazon Care. You called it Dr. Bricker. In addition to the demographic issue you mentioned, it seems like the viability of the digital/virtual-first model in general is questionable.
Another great video Dr Bricker!! -- this is how the ACO that I work for came to fruition - we targeted the medicare population >65 yoa and still managed to save medicare beaucoup bucks....and then covid came. Really appreciate all the education you provide - esp on how insurance plans work - the details that we never get in medical school nor residency....i wander why ?
Im not convinced based upon this alone. A stronger argument would be based on analyzing Amazon Care’s actual business model and arguing why it’s a poor fit for companies with older employees. I think it’ll be a poor fit because it’s abilities are with primary care. It’s sales pitch must be, “hire us and we’ll save you primary care costs, and we’ll save you money on specialist visits downstream.” But primary care costs are relatively small to begin with, and why would Amazon Care’s providers be any better at reducing referrals than whoever is doing it for an employer now? They’d arguably be worse at it because the incumbent insurance company can get rid of PCPs who refer too much. Every company is trying to reduce healthcare costs right now, not add on a service, unless that service pays for itself and then some. I’m not convinced that Amazon Care can do that.
Great video, thanks for creating it. I am trying to learn more about Amazon Care and I am happy to see a countervailing opinion. Your point about customer age is well-made. And while younger people may be lower utilizers of healthcare, many of them are already in the Amazon ecosystem. (If it is to believed that 82% of American households have Prime memberships, then this is almost certainly true.) Amazon may not be trying to boil the ocean here but instead get a young cohort of healthy people who are already familiar with the brand “hooked” by providing more and more services under the Prime umbrella. (No comment whether this is good or bad.) I think about my many years as an Apple customer: I can’t ever imagine owning an Android now that I have an iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch. The inertia is too great - I am likely a customer for life.
Great points! However, I'm sure they know all of this which is why companies like Amazon Care cherry pick which clients they take on. Behind the scenes, they are managing and mitigating their large pool of risk while also managing the per unit cost of healthcare administration. The business model won't accept all companies and offer them the same rates regardless of claims history; this just isn't possible when managing any level of grouped risk. Clients will be assessed and weighted according to their risk level and projected healthcare spend, factoring in those mentioned profile characteristics ( i.e. age, industry, historical healthcare spend, etc.).
@@ahealthcarez I have a digital health app idea (telehealth delivered by auxiliary staff) that I have been working on, please may I reach out to you for advice regarding this on LinkedIn?
I agree with your conclusion but disagree on the reason why. As you mentioned manufacturing workers are among the late age population, also prone to injury. Amazon has a major supply chain operation. The benefit is that it has a bunch of young rich SWE employees who can pay into this program with low utilization and balance out the warehouse employee cost. Implement an opt out program and now almost every employee is paying into preventative care. The problem is trying to scale this into a market that does not reimburse for virtual visits, and trying to compete in a crowded and highly regulated space as an outsider.
Great video. Would be nice to read the details of their business model for this expansion. Not sure if age is the primary metric Amazon is using to decide on their expansion plans. It might be 1 consideration but so many other factors can come into play such as contracted rates with the doctors in their network, a good care management model, automation (which is right up their ally), medication discounts, transportation for patients, are just a few. Seems they've made some good headway on services such as medications and door to door/remote medical services. Would be difficult to think the 2nd largest company in the world didn't hire the best and brightest in the business to analyze, interpret and extrapolate the data prior to making the move, although still a possibility. Capitation rates could play a huge role factor, if that's the space they plan to go into. Will be interesting to see where this goes. Thanks for the amazing video Dr. Bricker.
Amazon has the perfect foundation to rapidly distribute benefits across America. As an RN Case Manager working with Plans and large Management Service Organizations and Medical Groups (IPA’s) I see that our ACA expanded benefits and more people have insurance. The problem is we still don’t have effective rapid deployment and management of benefits, plus this is compounded by the fact that we don’t have enough practices that have evolved and can be part of virtual care with basics like Telehealth and online scheduling. When Amazon solves this and perhaps purchases a telecommunications company and combines this with AWS for all these practices in the dark ages of fax machines and dependence on staff answering phones to schedule visits. I completely hope that Amazon or some similar company advances our failing USA health system.
Because they don’t keep their members long enough to make the benefits of preventive care pay off. The average commercial member is only with the same insurer about 3 years.
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Well, Amazon shut down Amazon Care. You called it Dr. Bricker. In addition to the demographic issue you mentioned, it seems like the viability of the digital/virtual-first model in general is questionable.
Thank you for watching and sharing your thoughts.
Another great video Dr Bricker!! -- this is how the ACO that I work for came to fruition - we targeted the medicare population >65 yoa and still managed to save medicare beaucoup bucks....and then covid came.
Really appreciate all the education you provide - esp on how insurance plans work - the details that we never get in medical school nor residency....i wander why ?
Thank you for watching and for your kind words.
Thank you, Dr Bricker!
Thank you for watching!
Im not convinced based upon this alone. A stronger argument would be based on analyzing Amazon Care’s actual business model and arguing why it’s a poor fit for companies with older employees. I think it’ll be a poor fit because it’s abilities are with primary care. It’s sales pitch must be, “hire us and we’ll save you primary care costs, and we’ll save you money on specialist visits downstream.” But primary care costs are relatively small to begin with, and why would Amazon Care’s providers be any better at reducing referrals than whoever is doing it for an employer now? They’d arguably be worse at it because the incumbent insurance company can get rid of PCPs who refer too much. Every company is trying to reduce healthcare costs right now, not add on a service, unless that service pays for itself and then some. I’m not convinced that Amazon Care can do that.
Thank you for watching and for sharing your thoughts.
Great video, thanks for creating it. I am trying to learn more about Amazon Care and I am happy to see a countervailing opinion.
Your point about customer age is well-made. And while younger people may be lower utilizers of healthcare, many of them are already in the Amazon ecosystem. (If it is to believed that 82% of American households have Prime memberships, then this is almost certainly true.) Amazon may not be trying to boil the ocean here but instead get a young cohort of healthy people who are already familiar with the brand “hooked” by providing more and more services under the Prime umbrella. (No comment whether this is good or bad.) I think about my many years as an Apple customer: I can’t ever imagine owning an Android now that I have an iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch. The inertia is too great - I am likely a customer for life.
Thank you for watching and for your comment.
Great points! However, I'm sure they know all of this which is why companies like Amazon Care cherry pick which clients they take on. Behind the scenes, they are managing and mitigating their large pool of risk while also managing the per unit cost of healthcare administration. The business model won't accept all companies and offer them the same rates regardless of claims history; this just isn't possible when managing any level of grouped risk. Clients will be assessed and weighted according to their risk level and projected healthcare spend, factoring in those mentioned profile characteristics ( i.e. age, industry, historical healthcare spend, etc.).
Great insight. Thank you for sharing.
You got it right seemingly.
Thank you for watching and for your comment. At least for now…
@@ahealthcarez I have a digital health app idea (telehealth delivered by auxiliary staff) that I have been working on, please may I reach out to you for advice regarding this on LinkedIn?
How good does it feel to say told you do? Lol
Not very. 😉 Hope this is just part of a broader Amazon healthcare pivot. Thank you for watching.
I agree with your conclusion but disagree on the reason why. As you mentioned manufacturing workers are among the late age population, also prone to injury. Amazon has a major supply chain operation. The benefit is that it has a bunch of young rich SWE employees who can pay into this program with low utilization and balance out the warehouse employee cost. Implement an opt out program and now almost every employee is paying into preventative care. The problem is trying to scale this into a market that does not reimburse for virtual visits, and trying to compete in a crowded and highly regulated space as an outsider.
Thank you for your great comment.
Another excellent presentation
Thank you for watching and for your encouragement.
Great video. Would be nice to read the details of their business model for this expansion. Not sure if age is the primary metric Amazon is using to decide on their expansion plans. It might be 1 consideration but so many other factors can come into play such as contracted rates with the doctors in their network, a good care management model, automation (which is right up their ally), medication discounts, transportation for patients, are just a few. Seems they've made some good headway on services such as medications and door to door/remote medical services. Would be difficult to think the 2nd largest company in the world didn't hire the best and brightest in the business to analyze, interpret and extrapolate the data prior to making the move, although still a possibility. Capitation rates could play a huge role factor, if that's the space they plan to go into. Will be interesting to see where this goes.
Thanks for the amazing video Dr. Bricker.
Thank you for your detailed comment. Appreciate you watching.
Amazon has the perfect foundation to rapidly distribute benefits across America. As an RN Case Manager working with Plans and large Management Service Organizations and Medical Groups (IPA’s) I see that our ACA expanded benefits and more people have insurance. The problem is we still don’t have effective rapid deployment and management of benefits, plus this is compounded by the fact that we don’t have enough practices that have evolved and can be part of virtual care with basics like Telehealth and online scheduling. When Amazon solves this and perhaps purchases a telecommunications company and combines this with AWS for all these practices in the dark ages of fax machines and dependence on staff answering phones to schedule visits. I completely hope that Amazon or some similar company advances our failing USA health system.
Thank you for sharing your point of view.
Dr Bricker foresaw the tea leaves!
Wish things had turned out different. Could have pivoted and not shut the whole thing down.
Yes that would have been a better outcome. Do you think the one medical deal had anything to do with this?
I wish I had the energy of this 45-year-old doctor.
Thank you for watching. 👍
You are the Alon Levy of Healthcare.
I've often wondered: why do healthcare companies not focus on prevention?
They should. Thank you for watching and for your comment.
Because they don’t keep their members long enough to make the benefits of preventive care pay off. The average commercial member is only with the same insurer about 3 years.
Enjoy your videos and content!
Thank you for watching and for your feedback.