Amazon Diagnostics’ COVID-19 testing lab in Hebron, Kentucky[Image courtesy of Amazon]
Amazon’s anti-friction focus will find many opportunities in healthcare.Here we go again.
That was my first thought when reading the news that Seattle-based Amazon (Nasdaq:AMZN) plans to buy One Medical for nearly $4 billion.
The deal immediately brought to mind Amazon’s $13.7 billion acquisition of Whole Foods, which to this day remains Amazon’s largest purchase. The retail business is a different industry than healthcare, but there are plenty of similarities that the medical device and pharmaceutical industries ought to consider.
For one, Amazon’s retail efforts have always focused on customer convenience, from the early days of online book buying to the patented one-click “buy now” button and fee-generating Prime memberships, which topped 200 million subscribers last y…