Amazon has launched a virtual health clinic, dubbed Amazon Care, for employees and their families living in Seattle.
The pilot program, which offers a combination of telemedicine and home visits, marks the most recent step the Seattle-based tech giant has taken into the healthcare sector.
Amazon Care is marketed as a benefit being piloted for company employees enrolled in an Amazon health insurance plan, according to a company website. Employees will be able to reach physicians or nurses for urgent care, preventive health consults and sexual health services, such as testing for sexually transmitted infections.
Employees will be able to chat with clinicians via a messaging app, video consultations and home visits. Employees can also request for a courier to deliver their prescriptions to their home or office.
The pilot is only available to employees and their families in the Seattle area. However, there are more than 53,500 Amazon employees living in the Seattle region, according to the Seattle Times.
Amazon Care is part of a growing trend of tech giants building up health services for their employees.
Last year, Amazon teamed up with Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan Chase—dubbed Haven—that they said would leverage their combined scale and expertise to develop technology solutions to provide employees and their families "simplified, high-quality and transparent healthcare at a reasonable cost."
Apple has also revealed plans to open health clinics for its employees and their families near the company's headquarters in California. The clinics, operating under the name AC Wellness Network, will provide a "concierge-like healthcare experience," according to the clinics' website.
Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
