So much for Amazon's One Medical
Since Amazon acquired the primary-care service One Medical, elderly patients have been routed to a call center — staffed partly by contractors with limited training — that failed on more than a dozen occasions to seek immediate attention for callers with urgent symptoms, according to internal documents seen by The Washington Post.
When one patient reported a “blood clot, pain, and swelling,” call center staff scheduled an appointment rather than escalating the matter for medical evaluation, according to a note in an internal incident tracking spreadsheet dated Feb. 19.
Over the following two days, clinical staffers flagged four more call-center errors involving elderly patients with urgent complaints, including stomach pain and blood in stool, a spike in blood pressure, an insect bite, and sudden rib pain, according to the internal spreadsheet.
The call-center incidents were among dozens flagged by doctors, nurses, and assistants at One Medical Seniors between Feb. 19 and March 18 in the documents, a year after Amazon acquired the primary-care service. One Medical began routing elderly patients to the call center in Tempe, Ariz., staffed partly by newly hired contractors with limited training and little to no medical experience, according to internal documents seen by The Post and interviews with four current and former One Medical workers.
Since Amazon formally acquired One Medical in February 2023 in a $3.9 billion deal, the company has alarmed patients and employees by eliminating free rides, shortening appointments, and laying off staff. Now evidence of potentially life-threatening situations at the Tempe call center is raising fresh concern that Amazon’s frugal approach to health care may be imperiling patient safety.
One Medical
Prime member benefit: Get 24/7 virtual care with One Medical membership
$9.00$9.00/mo
Amazon Prime One Medical clearly states on its website it is "Virtual Care"
They no longer have a brick-and-mortar practice, It is all virtual care
Amazon-owned One Medical has confirmed that it is closing several of its offices in a move intended to cut costs, with offices in New York, New York, Minneapolis, Minnesota, and St. Petersburg, Florida set to shutter their doors by the end of February. The move comes less than a week after parent company Amazon said it would be cutting more than 100 jobs at One Medical and Amazon Pharmacy. Roughly 115 positions may be eliminated within the healthcare division in a bid to decrease One Medical's operating losses. Seeking Alpha reported that the job cuts could amount to several hundred as part of a company-wide effort to save $100 million this year.
Amazon acquired One Medical last year and offered the announcement of the acquisition in July 2022. The deal was valued at $3.9 billion. Amazon had agreed to acquire One Medical in July 2022.
The deal was another example of a company outside of traditional healthcare provided by hospitals and physician practices making inroads into the primary care market.
While the realization of healthcare is seen as a competitive threat to traditional hospital and physician services, these deals have not always run smoothly. Experts have said there is a learning curve to healthcare and its low operating margins.
It becomes obvious that the corporate model does not work well, and profit motives fly in the face of quality of care. Corporate models such as HCA (Health Care of America) were founded by physician Dr. Thomas Frist, Sr. also a U.S. Senator who emphasized quality over profits.
A critical key to corporate medicine success is real physician leadership, not just titles such as Medical Director.
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