Medical Visits for $29? Dr. Amazon Will See You Now!

I recall when urgent care offices proliferated and were often housed within pharmacy chains.  This latter arrangement was symbiotic in that the pharmacy provided a convenient venue for patients who then purchased their new prescriptions in the pharmacy.  And a patient entering the pharmacy for a medical visit is likely to make unrelated purchases while strolling the aisles.

These sites are generally staffed by nurse practitioners (NPs).  I have worked with these excellent professionals for many years now,. Beyond urgent care settings, NPs also work in hospitals and many other venues caring for patients with complex medical issues.

When the urgent care option came onto the scene, there was stiff pushback from doctors who railed that the quality of care would be below par.  “Nurse practitioners are not doctors,” they warned.  My suspicion then was that doctors had unspoken concerns unrelated to medical quality.  The reason that NP-directed clinics spread widely is because the market demanded greater patient access which was not available in physicians' offices.  Patients wanted to be seen on weekends or in the evenings, for example.  Ironically, with the passage of time, practicing physicians started hiring NPs to join their practices to decompress their swamped schedules.  No murmuring about NP quality anymore.  I barely know a medical practice these days that is not staffed with NPs.  Many of them would hire another on the spot if a new hire were available.

Frustrated patient calling his doctor for an appointment.

(Actually, Alexander Graham Bell speaking long distance in 1892!)

On the day that I am crafting this post, I received an email advertisement from Amazon hawking their new medical product.  Here are some of the features.

• 24/7 access to an NP or a physician.
• May connect via messaging at $29 or via a video encounter at $49.
• Prescriptions sent to the patient’s pharmacy or delivered to the home via Amazon Pharmacy
• Dozens of health conditions covered.

The market has spoken   Access to care has become among the public’s highest priorities.  Conventional medical practices cannot meet the demand and market space was created for the emergence of new care options.  Even today, with an explosion of NPs on the scene, patients gripe about how difficult or impossible it is to arrange a timely visit with their doctors.  Often when they call for an appointment, they are directed to see an NP in an urgent care setting.  What irony!

When artificial intelligence becomes embedded in the medical profession, further disruption will occur.  Will it be possible to receive quality medical care without a human involved?  Before you opine that this is ridiculous, what would you have said 10 years ago on the notion of a car or truck operating on the road without a human driver behind the wheel?   One thing we all should have learned by now is that what we think is impossible may very well be achievable.

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