Clash of the titans
The scoop came last week that Amazon Care has its first enterprise contract with Precor, a Washington state subsidiary of Peloton. Amazon Care will provide Precor employees virtual primary and urgent care access, plus home visits down the line. Not to be outdone, Walmart shared its intent to move further into the D2C digital health market via acquisition of telehealth provider MeMD. Seems we cannot go a week without a significant flare up in the platform wars, this time pitting the US’ two largest companies against an already crowded field. We’re excited to see if either—or both—of these Big Retail giants can flip the normal script in healthcare by showing that bigger can be better for consumers as patients.
Headlines
Digital-Health Startups Are Booming—Their Customers Are Overwhelmed
Why consolidation is inevitable in the employer market The Wall Street Journal | (Tweet)
Medicare Direct Contracting Could Be A Huge Opportunity For Clover, Oak Street
Will primary care startups go boom or bust in the new program? Business Insider | (Tweet)
The Next Vaccination Push
SCAN Health Plan has partnered with startup MedArrive to deliver vaccines to patients’ homes Axios | (Tweet)
Boost Mobile Now Offers Telemedicine
A perk for new Boost Unlimited customers: free virtual care provided by K Health MobiHealthNews | (Tweet)
Lilly Inks Smart Insulin Pen Deals
Ensures compatibility with Roche, Dexcom, Glooko, and myDiabby diabetes platforms Fierce Biotech | (Tweet)
SoftBank-Backed Alto Is in Talks to Merge With Gores SPAC
Alto Pharmacy considers following in Hims & Hers’ footsteps Bloomberg | (Tweet)
Recent Funding
- Health benefits manager and port co Collective Health lands $280M
- Vida Health, which offers app-based programs to manage health conditions, nabs $110M
- Florence raises $80M to build out remote clinical trial tech
- Mental health provider marketplace Headway snags $70M
- Vim, which builds digital infrastructure for payers and providers, secures $60M
- Vori Health, an integrated care platform for MSK, adds $45M
- Little Otter, a mental health app for children and families, launches with $4.2M