Amazon has been looking into healthcare space for awhile, including pharmacy benefit manager. The trouble is, healthcare space is extremely regulated and entry barrier is very high. It takes inordinate amount of industry knowledge to get your foot in the door and the only realistic way to enter is through acquisitions
Even then, Amazon is completely dwarfed compared to all the players in the sector; pharma, hospital systems, chain pharmacies, indie pharmacies, long term care facilities, drug distributors, health insurance, TPAs, PSAOs, medical instrument makers, DME makers, all with their own agendas.
Regarding the pharmacy missing drug interaction problem cited in the article. It isn't due to lack of sophisticated system or lack of data. Far from it. Healthcare entities sit on colossal amount of data. The issue is fragmentation and lack of centralized mechanism that prevents effective communication and sharing of data. That's a regulatory and policy problems, not innovation problem.
Believe me, I want this problem fixed too, but Amazon isn't going to be the one to solve it.
Even then, Amazon is completely dwarfed compared to all the players in the sector; pharma, hospital systems, chain pharmacies, indie pharmacies, long term care facilities, drug distributors, health insurance, TPAs, PSAOs, medical instrument makers, DME makers, all with their own agendas.
Regarding the pharmacy missing drug interaction problem cited in the article. It isn't due to lack of sophisticated system or lack of data. Far from it. Healthcare entities sit on colossal amount of data. The issue is fragmentation and lack of centralized mechanism that prevents effective communication and sharing of data. That's a regulatory and policy problems, not innovation problem.
Believe me, I want this problem fixed too, but Amazon isn't going to be the one to solve it.