Amazon Care to add mental health services

Amazon plans to add behavioral health services to its Amazon Care offering as well as a partnership with digital mental health company Ginger.

The service hasn’t launched yet, according to reporting by Insider. But a live website provides some details: Amazon Care’s primary care providers can help with “a range of common behavioral health concerns.” They can also refer patients to in-network professionals for acute to moderate needs.

Ginger will serve as an add-on service for employers purchasing Amazon Care.

‍”Employees with access to the optional add-on can get behavioral healthcare on demand, 24/7, with Ginger. Health information is shared between Amazon Care and Ginger so employees get the best care possible,” the website reads. “Ginger connects employees to a behavioral health coach in seconds, and a licensed therapist or psychiatrist in days.”

A spokesperson for Ginger declined to comment, and Amazon did not respond to a request for comment. 

THE LARGER TREND

The Amazon Care service initially launched as a virtual clinic for its own employees, but the service has since expanded to outside employers across the country. In February, Amazon reported it would add in-person care in more than 20 new cities this year, including New York, San Francisco, Chicago and Miami.

But the tech and retail giant has plenty of ambitions in the healthcare space. Last month, Amazon announced it had signed a definitive agreement to acquire hybrid primary care provider One Medical in an all-cash deal worth approximately $3.9 billion.

“Having a physical footprint with brick and mortar really helps expand their continuum of care,” Sanjula Jain, senior vice president for market strategy and chief research officer at Trilliant Health, said on HIMSS TV. “Now being truly in the primary care space makes their earlier investments make a lot more sense. Now there’s a way to actually integrate that into the care delivery process.”

Ginger was founded in 2011 by entrepreneurs and data scientists at the MIT Media Lab. In October 2021, Ginger completed its merger with stress, sleep and meditation app Headspace, to form Headspace Health. Before the deal, the virtual mental health company had scooped up $100 million in a Series E funding round.