• by Les Luchter , February 22, 2023

Wednesday morning visitors to Amazon were greeted with a letter from chief executive officer Andy Jassy announcing the addition of subscription primary care provider One Medical to the retailer’s roster of services – along with a “limited time” annual membership for $144, 28% off the provider’s usual $199 price. The same deal was also being offered to visitors to One Medical’s website.

Amazon’s takeover of One Medical was completed a day after the Federal Trade Commission said it would not immediately challenge the deal, though its “investigation of Amazon’s acquisition of One Medical continues,” according to FTC spokesman Douglas Farrar, as quoted in a CNN story. “                         

Amazon CEO Jassy positioned One Medical, which offers 24/7 online services, as well as office visits in many cities, as part of Amazon’s mission “to radically improve the health care experience.”

That mission has been on a tear in recent months, with November’s addition of Amazon Clinic, which offers online medical advice and treatment for over 20 conditions, and last month’s launch of RxPass, which offers prescription meds for common condition sat a flat $5 per month. They joined the three-year-old Amazon Pharmacy,  which fills prescriptions with no delivery fees, and PillPack, designed to help people who take multiple medications by sorting them by date and time. The latter was acquired by Amazon in 2018 for $1 billion.

Amazon’s healthcare journey hasn’t been without its pitfalls, though. In 2021, Haven -- a three-year-old healthcare joint venture with Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan Chase -- shut town. And this past August, a month after the $3.9 billion One Medical deal was first announced, the retail giant closed its four-year-old Amazon Care, which had provided telehealth services and, in some markets, home visits.

In a statement, Amir Dan Rubin, chief executive officer of One Medical, praised Amazon for its “long-term orientation, history of invention, and passion for reimagining a better future.”

One Medical operates more than 200 medical offices in 26 markets in the U.S.

Amir Dan Rubin will remain One Medical’s chief executive officer and will report to Neil Lindsay, chief of Amazon Health Services.

On Tuesday, in its last standalone earnings report, 1Life Healthcare, which brands itself as One Medical, reported 2022 revenues of $1.046 billion, a 68% increase over 2021. It said it now serves 836,000 patients.