Amazon acquires membership-based primary care company One Medical for $3.9 billion

Amazon is buying membership-based primary care company One Medical for $3.9 billion.

One Medical currently has locations in 16 major metro areas with several more in the works. The company sells $199 annual memberships patients and also works with companies who provide the service as a perk to employees. One Medical touts its 24/7 on-demand care, easy appointment bookings, and customer service as its advantage in the primary care market.

“We think health care is high on the list of experiences that need reinvention. Booking an appointment, waiting weeks or even months to be seen, taking time off work, driving to a clinic, finding a parking spot, waiting in the waiting room then the exam room for what is too often a rushed few minutes with a doctor, then making another trip to a pharmacy – we see lots of opportunity to both improve the quality of the experience and give people back valuable time in their days,” said Neil Lindsay, SVP of Amazon Health Services, in a statement. “We love inventing to make what should be easy easier and we want to be one of the companies that helps dramatically improve the health care experience over the next several years.”

Amazon has a previous agreement with Teledoc to provide telehealth services through its Echo devices.

Amazon will acquire One Medical for $18 per share in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $3.9 billion, including One Medical’s net debt. On completion, Amir Dan Rubin will remain as CEO of One Medical.

“The opportunity to transform health care and improve outcomes by combining One Medical’s human-centered and technology-powered model and exceptional team with Amazon’s customer obsession, history of invention, and willingness to invest in the long-term is so exciting,” said Rubin, in a statement. “There is an immense opportunity to make the health care experience more accessible, affordable, and even enjoyable for patients, providers, and payers. We look forward to innovating and expanding access to quality healthcare services, together.”