Amazon’s One Medical Ramps Up Its Expansion In Primary Care

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Amazon’s One Medical membership-based primary care unit that provides on-demand 24/7 access to telehealth services and offers in-person care continues to report steady growth.

Having recently added two new health system partners and leveraged the Amazon Prime membership model, One Medical is connecting with employers and the roughly one-third of consumers who do not have a primary care doctor.

Below are three ways One Medical is extending its reach.

1. Forging More Employer Relationships

So far, more than 8,500 employers have engaged with One Medical’s services throughout the 20 regions the company now serves nationally. And just last week, news came that One Medical will serve as the primary care provider for the Health Transformation Alliance, a cooperative of nearly 60 employers including Coca-Cola, American Express, Marriott, Boeing and J.P. Morgan.

Takeaway

Amazon hopes to build momentum for lower-priced, primary care services that offer convenient access and give employers more choices to help manage health care benefits for their employees.

2. Building Health System Partnerships

New Jersey-based Hackensack Meridian Health and CommonSpirit’s Virginia Mason Franciscan Health recently became the latest health systems to partner with One Medical, bringing the company’s number of health system partners to 12. Virginia Mason will become One Medical’s specialty referral partner for its eight primary care clinics in the Seattle area. Meanwhile, One Medical plans to enter New Jersey this year, building new clinics in partnership with Hackensack Meridian Health. One Medical will manage and staff the clinics, which will become part of Hackensack’s clinically integrated network. The first clinic is slated to open by the end of 2024 at a location to be determined.

Takeaway

Some health care executives believe One Medical is taking a wise approach by partnering with health systems on specialty referrals and working with a company that has a digital-first, consumer-centric mindset.

“This new offering from Amazon is smart and certainly supports the way we all need to think about delivering better services,” Jeffrey Sturman, senior vice president and chief digital officer at Memorial Healthcare System in Hollywood, Florida, recently told Becker’s Health IT.

3. Extending the Prime Membership Model to Medical Care

Earlier this month, Amazon stated that it would begin offering a One Medical Prime membership for $9 per month or $99 per year — $100 less than the standard One Medical membership fee. Prime members also can add up to five additional memberships, each for $6 per month or $66 per year. In-office visits to One Medical Clinics are not included in the membership fee. Amazon also is leveraging its pharmacy business to provide greater convenience to members. Amazon’s RxPass will deliver prescriptions to customers’ homes for $5 per month. In addition, Amazon has developed a new feature to make it easier for consumers to use manufacturer discounts on branded medications by integrating coupons into the checkout process.

Takeaway

The long-anticipated move by Amazon to come up with a Prime membership model for health care services appears to be taking shape. With an estimated 167 million Amazon Prime members in the U.S., this could be a significant source of new patients for One Medical and its partners. How effectively One Medical manages these patient relationships and consumer expectations will go a long way toward determining the long-term scope and reach of its operations.

 

Source: American Hospital Association

Medical Office’s New Twist Is Flex Space

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Medical office is beloved by commercial real estate investors, operators, and owners because tenants typically stay for years and have good revenue and credit, allowing rent increases over time.

The medical business never really slacks, and demand is constant. Just ask Amazon why it’s expanding efforts in broadening virtual and physical medical clinics.

According to Shawn Janus, national director of healthcare services in the U.S. at Colliers, there’s a new trend of medical coworking, like a cross between medical and flex office types.

“Medical coworking spaces are shared work environments designed specifically for healthcare professionals, including doctors, entrepreneurs, therapists, and researchers,” James wrote. “These spaces provide a flexible alternative to traditional clinical settings, enabling practitioners to rent office or clinical space on-demand, often equipped with state-of-the-art facilities and medical equipment.”

He mentions a number of companies — ShareMD Suites, Clinicube, and MedCoShare — that offer such space for medical practitioners. Optix, a software vendor for coworking spaces in general, mentions Lina and Wellshare,

The market factors that make the approach potentially attractive are the negatives that independent practitioners face. Starting a practice is expensive. So is expanding one into a new geographic area. There are the costs of equipment and buildout, nursing staff management, appointment and billing management, cleaning, maintenance, and the price of real estate in a desirable location with easy access to parking. If a coworking space is doing billing, it may already be credentialed with insurance companies, a process that could otherwise take months before being able to request payment.

Instead of one business having to underwrite the total cost, a medical coworking facility can amortize the expenses across multiple practitioners. Optix says that thet ype of practitioner who might find a medical coworking space useful includes family doctors and general practitioners, but also mental health therapists, acupuncturists, dieticians, and others. Clearly, the type of tenant a space looks to attract will affect the layout of the space and necessary equipment and facilities.

“Most medical coworking spaces have multiple rooms specifically designed to fit a wide variety of practitioner needs, including therapy rooms, medical rooms, and cosmetic rooms, all under one roof,” they write.

Practitioners get a number of benefits from the arrangement including  affordable space, networking and referral opportunities, more time with patients and less with operations and independence and flexibility.

There is a considerable amount of expense and operational effort necessary in running a medical coworking space, so the decision to invest in the property type is a significant one.

 

Source: GlobeSt.

Nashville-Based HCA Healthcare To Invest $5.3 Billion To Help Build Market Share

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Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA Healthcare may be coy about giving guidance for 2024 but it has big plans for the next few years as it seeks to build its market share to 29% by 2030.

To help do that, the 183-hospital system is investing $5.3 billion in already approved projects. That figure came out of the company’s investor day Nov. 9.

Included in the $5.3 billion figure, HCA has 62 approved outpatient projects to build freestanding emergency centers and ASCs, totaling $1 billion, and has an additional 200 projects under consideration. HCA is aiming to grow its freestanding ER footprint by 36% over the next two years.

In addition to those investments, the for-profit system expects to drive growth through cost savings and improved benchmarking where facilities can share best practices to improve outcomes and reduce variable costs.

“All in all, management expects $600 million to $800 million of savings over the next five years,” Ben Hendrix, analyst at RBC, said in a research note. “Those savings can help HCA drive EBITDA growth toward the higher end of its targeted 4% to 6% over the next few years.”

HCA is also investing heavily to address labor shortages, building its Galen College of Nursing from five to 20 campuses, according to the research note. An additional 10 campuses are expected to open by 2026, increasing nursing enrollment from 13,000 to 29,000.

HCA, which reported operating income of $1.63 billion for the third quarter on revenue of $16.2 billion, expects its targeted EBITDA growth of the next few years will be met in 2024.

“While our planning process for 2024 is not complete, we currently believe that our 2024 expectations will fall within the targeted ranges above,” HCA CEO Sam Hazen said in a statement ahead of its investor day.

 

Source: Becker’s Hospital Review