Amazon Launches Virtual Health Clinic for Seattle Employees



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A new benefit for Amazon employees in the Seattle area is a virtual medical clinic that also offers in-person health services.

The pilot program, called Amazon Care, provides a mobile app that provides employees with access to virtual and in-person health services from the Washington-based Oasis Medical Group.

The services offered by Oasis Medical include a video visit in the app with a clinician for advice, answers, diagnoses, treatment or recommendations, as well as a text conversation in the app with a clinician for health advice and answers.

In addition, if a video service provider recommends it, a homecare nurse may perform an assessment, testing, or treatment in person at the employee's home, in a room on the Amazon campus, or in another location. in the Seattle service area.

"Oasis Medical's clinicians are all trained in primary care and emergency care," according to the Amazon Care website. "You will see the name and license of the Oasis Medical clinician at the beginning of each interaction. Mobile Care Nurses and Care Messengers traveling to your home or office will wear the Amazon Care uniform and will present an Oasis Medical badge for identification upon arrival. "

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A package from Amazon.com Inc. is placed in a bin before being placed on a delivery vehicle at the Joseph Curseen Jr. and Thomas Morris Jr. Processing and Distribution Center of the United States Postal Service (USPS) in Washington, USA, Tuesday, December 12, 2017. The USPS announced that it was planning to deliver more than 15 billion total mail during the holiday season with Sunday delivery operations extended in some areas, with more than six million packages sent every Sunday in December. Photographer: Andrew Harrer / Bloomberg

Andrew Harrer / Bloomberg

Although Oasis Medical deals with urgent emergency care needs, general health issues, preventive care consultations, sexual health and traveler health, they do not provide emergency medical services.

"During a video visit, it is possible that you are prescribed medications consistent with our current range of services," says the Amazon website. "Many prescriptions can be delivered to you (by a care letter) within two hours. Others can be sent to your favorite pharmacy to be recovered. "

To be eligible for the Seattle-based program, adult employees and their dependents must be enrolled in an Amazon-sponsored health plan – other than Kaiser Permanente – and have a mobile device with the same system. running Android 6.0 or iOS 12.0 minimum.

"We use location-aware technology when you use the Amazon Care mobile app to determine if you're in our available service area," the website advises. "You can disable location access through your mobile device settings, but this will prevent you from using Amazon Care."

Amazon Care services are currently available Monday through Friday from 8:00 am to 9:00 pm. and Saturday and Sunday from 8am to 6pm "We are working to increase our hours of service," notes the website.

Last year, Amazon formed a new venture with Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan Chase, called Haven, to tackle the problem of rising health care costs. Haven's mission is to focus on the health needs of the 1.2 million employees of Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and J. Morgan.

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