Amazon is changing the way business is done here in the US and Globally. Amazon started with selling books, then expanded to being online retail selling food, organic groceries, and millions of products. Amazon added online services for Bushiness which includes Web Hosting, Storage of Data all over the World, provide Digital Marketing to help targeting potential customers with a specific product being sold.

Amazon Web Services( AWS) can provide management and development tools, Business Analytics, Application Integration, Mobile Services with online payment as well for various businesses.

Amazon is entering Healthcare sector very strongly in just about every related service. Using ( AWS) can help collaboration. Amazon can accelerate Digital Transformation among Healthcare Providers, Insurers.So,When Amazon uses its ( AWS) platform which can potentially lower cost for data storage Electronic Medical Records, facilitating what I call Cloud Collaboration for improving care delivery as with all elements of care needed including management of payment of different services.

Leading disruptive changes to cut the massive $ 3.3 Trillion Dollars spent annually on Healthcare and also secure a niche in the Healthcare Business Market. Amazon does not only want to go to Pharmacy Business, but already Amazon teamed up with Billionaire Warren Buffet and JPMorgan Chase to develop a lower cost Healthcare system for their employees. Using Direct Contracting and Medical Tourism to cut down cost. Using technology and improve communication with various clients/consumers in simple language. For example, if an employee has elevated cholesterol, high blood pressure or pre- diabetic state , then emails will be sent to those employees with educational material about diet, exercise and weight control. Encourage Wellness and Disease Prevention because if uncontrolled early, this would lead to health problems to employees and financial loss to employers. So, early intervention would lead to preventing expensive procedures and hospitalizations and save big.

Amazon also started entering the Business of supplying Medical Equipments and other Medical Supplies to Hospitals to cut Hospital operational costs for which supplies consume about 40% of their budget and with diminishing revenues with less reimbursements. Additionally, Amazon will even help hospitals sell old or used equipments as this will help hospitals survive financially and getting business in both directions.

This move has caused immediate drop in the stocks of other long time Healthcare supply chain giants such as Cardinal Health and others. Amazon fast successive moves in Healthcare Business has caused a surge in Mergers and Acquisitions to be able to compete in the market by lowering cost and thus retain patients!

For example, planned CVS -Atena Merger where CVS will buy Atena for $ 77 Billion dollars. Also San Francisco-based Dignity Health and Colorado-based Catholic Health Initiatives signed a definitive agreement to merge and form a nonprofit health system of 139 hospitals. UnitedHealth’s Optum division announced plans to buy DaVita Medical Group with its nearly 300 medical clinics plus urgent care and outpatient surgery centers

Albertsons with $83 billion in annual sales and 4,900 locations across the country. will buy Rite Aid with more expected Mergers and Acquisitions to follow in 2018!

Amazon is going to take advantage of its strong IT infrastructure and use various Population Health Data to help Predictive Modeling Algorithms to be used in every related service or product needed or used. Some observers see this fierce competition will benefit the Consumer being the end user with lowering the cost and improving transparency as ultimately any business not just in healthcare arena would be Consumer- based, Internet- based and with Mobile platform giving Amazon the leading edge thus far.

Amazon also recently announced that it has a deal on providing Smartphones thus would be competing with Apple and other long time providers for smartphones. Since Amazon is already shipping food,books and retail goods, thus,Amazon expanding into Shipping and Delivery Business for same-day delivery and competitive pricing since Amazon proved success doing so.

So, basically Amazon could be the one stop shop for everything you need. But,some expressed concern that this will lead to monopoly and so many small and medium sized retailers will be pushed out of Business as they would not be able to survive. Even big retailers like Walmart with recently reported losses with Holiday Sales due to Amazon online competition. It would be very interesting to watch all events unfold and its impact on various Businesses and ultimately the Consumers.

• Dr Adel Eldin,MD, FACC, FACP
• Board Certified Cardiologist
• President, Clinical Appeals Services
• www.appealsspecialists.com
• Founder, CEO
• www.brooksvillecardiology.com
• Affordable Quality Healthcare Program
• Founder, CEO
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• Wesley Chapel , Florida
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