Technology giant Amazon is expanding a program aimed to help consumers navigate their insurance benefits.
Amazon announced on Tuesday it was partnering with virtual therapy provider Talkspace on its Health Condition Programs. Amazon, which first announced the program in January, allows its users to input information about their insurance plan and potentially identify covered services such as Talkspace's virtual therapy.
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If an individual's insurance covers Talkspace or an affiliated service and they're interested, Amazon will send that person to the third-party's website to complete the enrollment process. Talkspace CEO Dr. Jon Cohen said the company will pay a small fee for each referral from Amazon. The partnership with Amazon had been in the works for nine months, he said.
Talkspace is the only the second company to sign on with Amazon's Health Conditions Programs following chronic care management-focused digital health company Omada Health in January. An Amazon spokesperson said the company will expand the program but didn't outline how many partners it plans to add.
The addition of Talkspace by Amazon is the company’s latest in a series of adjustments for its healthcare business this year. The company consolidated its healthcare businesses in June and rebranded as Amazon One Medical. Amazon acquired the primary care company One Medical for $3.2 billion in February 2023.
Talkspace has been on a push to differentiate in a growingly crowded virtual mental health space. Like other digital health companies, the company has shifted away from targeting individual patients and toward enterprise clients. The move is the latest example of how Talkspace has evolved, Cohen said.
"We're not a [direct-to-]consumer brand anymore," Cohen said. "We're an insurance fee-for-service, covered lives brand."
