Amazon Care launches for Seattle-area employees

The new on-demand healthcare service blends virtual medicine with in-house visits if the condition can't be diagnosed or treated remotely.

Amazon Echo physician

Amazon Care is now alive to the company’s employees in Seattle, allowing them to benefit from a new on-demand healthcare service that blends virtual medicine and in-house visits.

The service has its own mobile app that lets employees virtually meet with a nurse practitioner through text or video. If the condition can’t be diagnosed or treated remotely, employees can request a visit from a clinician at home or in the office to perform exams, administer vaccines, collect samples and other common tasks.

“We’re currently piloting a healthcare benefit designed to help Amazon employees get fast access to healthcare without an appointment, at the convenience of their schedules, at their preferred location (home, office, or virtual),” Amazon said in a statement. “Amazon Care eliminates travel and wait time, connecting employees and their family members to a physician or nurse practitioner through live chat or video, with the option for in-person follow up services from a registered nurse ranging from immunizations to instant strep throat detection.”

The new service, apparently, is just a start with the company looking to expand it in the coming weeks and months. To that end, Amazon is currently hiring for a handful of positions related to Amazon Care — including security engineers, UX designers and HR leaders. Online psychometric tests are a key part of the recruitment process. Future employees should pass the Amazon assessment test. Job listings described Amazon Care as a “consumer healthcare product” that aims to make “high-quality healthcare easy to access.”

Amazon Care is just one of several healthcare-related projects aimed at transforming the healthcare system. The two other prominent projects include Pillpack, the drug-delivery startup that Amazon acquired last year and Haven, the tech giant’s joint healthcare venture with JPMorgan Chase and Berkshire Hathaway that aims to improve healthcare for employees.