Amazon feeds its ‘inquisitive appetite’ in healthcare sector with Signify bid
Amazon looks set to continue its push into healthcare with a bid for Signify Health, which provides in-home health evaluations, in a move long predicted by analysts.
The Big Tech firm, competing with rival bidders UnitedHealth Group, CVS Health and Option Care Health, has offered the second highest figure for the company, according to Bloomberg.
The Jeff Bezos-owned company last month bought One Medical for $3.9bn (£3.3bn).
Analyst at investment insights firm Third Bridge, George Congdon, rejected the idea that the One Medical deal would be “the end” of “Amazon’s inquisitive appetite in the healthcare space.”
Speaking to City PM, Congdon said the shift towards the healthcare sector works well with Amazon’s “incredible logistical and distribution abilities” and the transition over to telemedicine that has been documented over the last two decades.
However, Amazon in the past has been accused of leveraging consumer data from across its suite of offerings and with the regulatory lines “significantly more stringent in healthcare”, the company will need to “devote attention” to patient privacy, he added.
One thing to watch, Congdon continued, will be how Amazon will leverage its Alexa devices in its healthcare efforts.
Many prior technology initiatives have failed because they fail to understand “the economic complexities of the industry”, managing director of healthcare at investment research group Edison, Soo Romanoff told City PM, citing Google Health and Haven, the Amazon, JP Morgan and Berkshire Hathaway backed healthcare venture which disbanded in 2021).
Both the acquisition and bid have been for healthcare firms “on the provider side – a trend that has been happening for some time now” including among private equity firms, Romanoff added.