Amazon to acquire medical clinic in $39 billion deal

While individual patient records are generally protected under federal health privacy laws, the big data expertise that fuels Amazon’s success can be powerful in health care — for predicting costs, targeting interventions, and developing products and treatments. said Dr. Aaron Neinstein, a digital health expert at UC San Francisco and a member of a federal advisory committee on the matter.

One Medical went public in 2020 at $22.07 per share. After hitting a high of $58.70 last year, the stock closed Wednesday at $10.18. The unprofitable company fell short of Wall Street’s recent expectations amid a broader decline for healthcare startups.

“We look forward to innovating and expanding access to quality healthcare together,” said One Medical CEO Amir Dan Rubin, who will remain in his post after the deal closes. The deal is subject to approval by regulators and One Medical shareholders.

Amazon’s healthcare ambitions date back more than two decades. In 1999, Amazon invested in Drugstore.com, a darling of the dot-com bubble, and Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s founder and then CEO, served on Drugstore.com’s board.

But over the past half-decade, Amazon has leaned on its own vision for healthcare. 2018 saw the launch of Haven, a partnership with JP Morgan and Berkshire Hathaway. These companies, three of the nation’s largest employers, set out to explore new ways to provide health care to their workers. The amorphous effort garnered a lot of attention, but stalled and officially ended last year.

Amazon moved into the $560 billion prescription drug industry when it spent 753 million dollars in 2018 to buy startup PillPack, an online pharmacy that focuses on recurring monthly medications. It later launched Amazon Pharmacy, which, like PillPack, delivers drugs and integrates discounts for customers with Prime membership.