Amazon purchases digital firm Health Navigator

Amazon has purchased Health Navigator, a firm that describes itself as a clinical content partner and provides technology and services to digital health companies.

The news was first reported by CNBC, though a purchase price was not revealed. The acquisition marks another major step for the e-commerce retailer into the healthcare space. Amazon acquired PillPack, an online pharmacy, last year for an estimated $1 billion.

Health Navigator will become part of Amazon Care, the company’s primary care platform targeted to employees that launched in September.

Some of Health Navigator’s client partners include Microsoft, academic health system Rush, telehealth company MD Live and more, according to its website. The company’s platform includes a range of tools that can be used for AI, symptom checker, health bot, consumer engagement and develop other telehealth application.

“The service eliminates travel and wait time, connecting employees and their family members to a physician or nurse practitioner through live chat or video, with the option for in-person follow up services from a registered nurse ranging from immunizations to instant strep throat detection,” an Amazon spokesperson told CNBC.

Health Navigator, which confirmed the sale to CNBC, only has about a dozen employees, the publication said.

Amy Baxter

Amy joined TriMed Media as a Senior Writer for HealthExec after covering home care for three years. When not writing about all things healthcare, she fulfills her lifelong dream of becoming a pirate by sailing in regattas and enjoying rum. Fun fact: she sailed 333 miles across Lake Michigan in the Chicago Yacht Club "Race to Mackinac."

Around the web

If the Trump administration continues taking a laissez-faire stance toward AI—including AI used in healthcare—why not let the states go it alone on regulating the technology? 

Boston Scientific has announced another significant M&A deal, scooping up an Israeli medtech company focused on RDN technology. 

Harvard’s David A. Rosman, MD, MBA, explains how moving imaging outside of hospitals could save billions of dollars for U.S. healthcare.