Amazon has a playbook for reinventing businesses that it enters, for better or for worse.
By Robert S. Huckman and Bradley Staats
Amazon’s recent announcement of its deal to buy One Medical for $3.9 billion generated a wave of speculation on how the tech giant might transform primary care in the United States. Will it build a health care system that is as easy to access as Amazon’s website — one that offers products and services at the click of the button? Maybe it could employ artificial intelligence that can combine a wide array of individual patients’ data to help them identify and regularly receive the services, medicines, foods, and other supplies they need to recover from an illness or to stay healthy. Or use smart devices that would nudge people to take their medications or exercise.
Although the “Whither health care?” question is fascinating to ponder, it is the wrong one to ask. No one — not even Amazon — knows the answer to it.
Given the complexity of health care in the United States, any meaningful change will take time. As innovative as Amazon is with respect to creating seamless customer experiences, leveraging data, and developing new technologies, the most critical aspect of its playbook for entering new businesses is that it expects its work to take time. In fact, Amazon’s founder Jeff Bezos has famously and repeatedly noted this need for patience throughout the company’s history. (Disclosure: One of us, Robert Huckman, owns a modest number of Amazon shares.)
So what does this playbook look like and what does it imply for how Amazon might be thinking about the value of the One Medical acquisition? We see three key components.