CommonSpirit Health's Virginia Mason Franciscan Health and Amazon's One Medical have inked a deal to allow CommonSpirit's specialists to provide care to Amazon's primary care patients, according to a Nov. 9 release from the health system.
Here are five things ASCs need to know:
1. Virginia Mason will be One Medical's referral partner for eight clinics and will give members in the Seattle area access to more than 2,000 specialists from the hospital.
2. Amazon became a new force in the push to employ physicians when it purchased One Medical in February for $3.9 billion. The acquisition gave Amazon access to more than 200 brick-and-mortar physicians offices and around 815,000 One Medical members.
3. One Medical offers unlimited on-demand virtual visits and online appointments at primary care offices for $199 a year. On Nov. 8, Amazon extended its service to Prime members for $9 a month.
4. Many ASC leaders are concerned about the influx of retailer providers into the healthcare industry.
"Companies like Optum, Amazon Health, CVS, Walgreens and even Walmart are directly competing for the shrinking pool of physician candidates with the advantage of not having to worry too much about fair market value due to them not coming to any acute care businesses," Eric Eskioglu, MD, executive vice president and chief medical and scientific officer of Charlotte, N.C.-based Novant Health, told Becker's in March. "We are in for continued disruption."
5. A February Forbes report said that with the finalization of the One Medical deal, independent physicians should be prepared for "an entirely new dynamic" when it comes to prospective buyers, adding that the new market will include unconventional buyers, such as larger retail companies.