Amazon Care is providing app-based care to another company's employees for the first time.  

Insider's Blake Dodge reported this week that the tech colossus is working with Precor, a Washington-based fitness equipment company that was acquired by Peloton in early April.  

According to Dodge, Amazon will be paid based on how many people are using the app.

Amazon Care representatives did not respond to requests for comment.  

WHY IT MATTERS

Amazon rattled the windows of the virtual care industry earlier this year when it confirmed it would be expanding its app-based primary and urgent care services into all 50 states.

The services were initially only available to the company's employees in the Seattle area.

Over the past year, that availability has expanded – first to Washington employees, then to other employers in Washington. Soon they will be obtainable throughout the country. 

Dodge reports that Amazon Care is currently only available to Precor's 385 Washington-based employees, out of 800 total.  

"Grabbing its first customer is a big milestone for Amazon Care," Dodge observed.  

THE LARGER TREND  

Several companies have been widening their app-based care footprint amidst the pandemic, with many specialty prescription apps, for instance, are expanding into other services to take advantage of the telehealth "gold rush."

But Amazon also has the advantage of being incredibly well resourced – meaning it may be able to more easily navigate state-by-state telehealth regulations that could hinder smaller organizations' efforts.  

ON THE RECORD  

"We are excited about this partnership with Amazon Care as it is an additional extension of service that we believe will make it easier for our employees and their families to receive the care they require so that small things don't become big things," said Christopher "Skip" Wilson, Precor's director of brand and communications, in a statement to Insider.

Kat Jercich is senior editor of Healthcare IT News.
Twitter: @kjercich
Email: kjercich@himss.org
Healthcare IT News is a HIMSS Media publication.