Englewood Cliffs, NJ. – CNBC recently reported on a new Goldman Sach’s 30 page study on Amazon’s potential in the healthcare prescription drug market. With Amazon’s already lightning fast delivery platform, this new report signals various ways the online giant could get it’s start and allow people to someday even conduct a virtual appointment with their doctor through their Amazon Echo device.
Here are some of the key insights that caught our eye and were found in the report as reported by CNBC:
· To gain immediate access to patient data and open the ability to cross sell products, Amazon has the ability to partner with a pharmacy benefits manger in the early stages.
· Price transparency could come as a result of Amazon’s involvement in the $560 billion prescription drug market.
· Amazon could involve themselves through several different aspects: a full online pharmacy – a retail and online pharmacy – an integrated pharmacy benefits manager and online pharmacy or be a new conduit to deliver drug distribution to pharmacies.
Earlier this year, CNBC also reported how hospitals are searching high and low for ways to integrate the Echo Dot and Amazon’s secret health tech-team called 1492 working on medical records and virtual doc visits.
Why This Matters –
All three initiatives signal Amazon is here and ready to play in the healthcare market, as if we all didn’t see that coming. But what is interesting is how the company plans to ramp up opportunities to integrate voice and artificial intelligence into the mix. With so many expectations changing in the consumer market on things like faster delivery, virtual needs, etc., it will be interesting to see how Amazon and Google compete for speed to market on many of these possible new voice features and how these developments will continue to change the healthcare landscape. It will be exciting to watch what opportunities these new platforms in healthcare will open up for brands and marketing teams in the pharmaceutical world. Only time will tell!
