After two senators wrote a letter to the retail giant expressing concerns over the potential use of private health data shared with its virtual care services, reports say the Amazon Clinic expansion to all 50 states could be delayed up to three weeks.
Amazon Clinic, with subscription-based telehealth services in 33 states, appears to be holding off on a promotional campaign announcing its nationwide expansion that was reportedly planned to launch today because of a letter asking about the telemedicine platform's patient privacy protections from Senators Peter Welch, D-Vermont, and Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts.
WHY IT MATTERS
Politico reported this past Friday that Amazon was set to announce that Amazon Clinic would be available to patients in all 50 states today, but that promotional campaign was pushed back to July 19.
According to the report, an email source said Sens. Warren and Welch asked Amazon executives earlier this month about patient health data privacy and expressed concerns that the platform’s new healthcare service is putting users’ private health data at risk.
In their letter, the lawmakers cited a recent Washington Post investigation that highlighted how Amazon Clinic users must sign away the rights to large amounts of private health data to use the services.
"We are concerned that Amazon’s online health platform, Amazon Clinic, may be harvesting consumer health data from patients," the Warren and Welch wrote to Andy Jassy, Amazon president and CEO, on June 16.
They said customers who decline HIPAA consent on the website are prevented from completing their patient registration with Amazon Clinic and are redirected to a third-party provider information page.
"Notably, the HIPAA Privacy Rule prohibits conditioning care on an authorization to disclose patient information," they said, asking Amazon to provide information and itemized lists on what data is being collected, how it's used and if it's used to promote or sell any other Amazon products or services.
They requested a detailed response to their concerns from Amazon by June 30.
A spokesperson for Amazon Clinic told The Hill that there was no delay caused by "external inquiry," and that the company is preparing its response to the legislators' letter, according to Monday's report.
THE LARGER TREND
Beginning in 2019, Amazon provided app-based and asynchronous telehealth services through Amazon Care, and then employer-sponsored hybrid primary and urgent care services as Care Medical.
Last year, it purchased the subscription-based One Medical for $3.9B, which provides both in-office and virtual care visits, and then shut down Amazon Care and Care Medical at the close of 2022.
"As we take our learnings from Amazon Care, we will continue to invent, learn from our customers and industry partners and hold ourselves to the highest standards as we further help reimagine the future of healthcare," said Neil Lindsay, senior vice president of Amazon Health Services, in an email to media last August.
The Amazon Clinic website offers a menu of ailments to find a treatment – from acne and urinary tract infections to birth control and emergency contraception – for adults ages 18-64. Amazon launched the virtual care service to allow customers to choose access to third-party licensed clinicians from SteadyMD, HeathTap and others in November.
ON THE RECORD
"Amazon Clinic customers deserve to fully understand why Amazon is collecting their healthcare data and what the company is doing with it," the senators said in their letter. "Congress is also evaluating legislative efforts to protect health data in the context of emerging technologies."
Andrea Fox is senior editor of Healthcare IT News.
Email: afox@himss.org
Healthcare IT News is a HIMSS Media publication.