Amazon Is Showing Interest In the Healthcare Industry

The possibility of Amazon’s expansion into healthcare has some industry insiders worried.

“I get asked all the time what Amazon is doing,” said Tom Rodgers, managing director of McKesson Ventures. “Everyone in the supply chain is nervous. It’s a low-level paranoia that Amazon will drive down profitability.”

Amazon recently hired Missy Krasner, former Vice President and Managing Director of the Healthcare and Life Sciences groups at Box. That move fueled much of the recent speculation.

The companies that would be threatened—or potentially bolstered via M&A and/or partnerships with Amazon—by the online giant’s entry into the healthcare field are early-stage companies and include consumer health tools like Zocdoc and GoodRx, Rodgers said, adding that Amazon will likely position itself as the “partner of choice” to help consumers navigate healthcare.

Rodgers believes that Amazon will begin its foray into the healthcare supply chain by developing strategic partnerships with companies in the field and building its own internal tools. This might pave the way for Amazon to get into other areas of health care, including pharmaceutical distribution.

“I wouldn’t be surprised to see them partner with a pharmacy home delivery company first and let them deal with the regulation and operating burden,” Rodgers said. “Only after they prove they can deliver demand, then [Amazon can] make their own investments.”

Read more on Tom Rodgers’s predictions about Amazon entering the healthcare industry:

  1. Amazon Is Showing Interest in Health Care, and It’s Making Industry Players ‘Nervous,’ Says Investor (CNBC)
  2. Supply chain leaders worried about potential market entry of Amazon (Becker’s Hospital Review)
  3. Amazon Is Preparing to Take Over the Healthcare Space (Investopedia)
  4. Healthcare Insiders Nervous about Amazon.com (AMZN) Entry (Stock News)
  5. CONFIRMED: Amazon going all-in with Big Pharma, plans to launch online pharmaceutical sales to earn billions in drug profits (Natural News)