Telehealth specialist American Well launched an online marketplace that CEO Roy Schoenberg boldly likened to Amazon.com.
Called Exchange, the offering is intended to connect payers, caregivers and patients in new ways that enable providers to combine care services into telehealth products, American Well said, pointing to programs treating patients with chronic conditions such as diabetes and hypertension as examples that can be delivered and paid for via the Exchange.
“We want to do for healthcare what Amazon did for book stores initially, and online retail, ultimately, which is to establish a national platform on which online healthcare runs,” Schoenberg said in a statement.
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To that end, American Well also announced that the Cleveland Clinic, Nemours Children’s Health System, both of which are already using American Well, are two of the early participants in the Exchange.
Cleveland Clinic will offer video consults with a clinician to diagnose and treat common urgent care conditions, while Nemours will offer telehealth access to its board-certified pediatricians. The services at both systems will be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
“This platform is not just about connecting consumers to more doctors,” Schoenberg said. “Rather, we can connect consumers with the best provider brands across the United States as part of a national, virtual healthcare system.”
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