Update: Amazon’s Path to Viability in Primary Care Continues to Be a Rough One

As JUCM News readers know, Amazon has been trying for years (and by every method imaginable) to break into the healthcare marketplace, both virtually and in the brick-and-mortar space. Their most recent attempt to offer urgent care- and primary care-like services  in person started last August with spending $3.9 billion for 1Life Healthcare, including One Medical’s 125 locations. We still say “attempt” at this point because the Federal Trade Commission is taking a hard look at the deal, to the extent that they’ve brought in outside economists to help them determine whether it breaches antitrust standards, according to a report from Seeking Alpha. Amazon itself may have been hedging their bets a bit with the 1Life Healthcare move; since revealing their intent to buy the company they’ve also announced the launch of Amazon Clinic—which puts them squarely back in the online healthcare market.