Dr. Stephanie Long (right), MD, of One Medical Group, takes the blood pressure of Danielle Greene (left), who is 20 weeks pregnant, during a prenatal appointment on Thursday, February 4, 2016 in San Francisco, California.
Lea Suzuki | San Francisco Chronicle | fake images
Amazon on Wednesday launched an AI-powered healthcare assistant for members of its One Medical primary care chain, joining companies like OpenAI and Anthropic, which recently launched similar features.
The tool, called Health AI, uses large language models from Amazon's Bedrock service to answer questions and provide members with personalized advice based on their medical records, lab results and current medications.
It can also help manage medications and book appointments with the user's One Medical provider.
The tool pulls answers from a variety of sources, including proprietary and licensed data, insights verified by medical experts, and, in some cases, publicly available data, Amazon said.
Health AI appears in the app of One Medical, the healthcare company that Amazon acquired for $3.9 billion in 2023. One Medical runs brick-and-mortar clinics and also offers some telehealth services to members who pay between $99 and $199 a year for their services.
Amazon said Health AI is not intended to provide diagnosis or treatment, and should not replace a visit to the doctor. The tool is “programmed with clinical protocols” that identify when symptoms or conditions require referral to a provider or an in-person visit, the company said.
Conversations with Health AI are also not added to a patient's medical records, Amazon said.
The company began testing Health AI among a subset of One Medical members last spring before rolling out the tool more broadly.
Other AI vendors have also jumped into the lucrative healthcare market.
Earlier this month, OpenAI launched ChatGPT Health, a feature within its chatbot that allows users to upload medical records and receive personalized advice. Anthropic launched its Claude for Healthcare feature shortly after.
Amazon said Health AI is easier for patients to use because it doesn't require them to upload documents or connect to external apps, and is “more actionable” compared to other offerings.
“Bottom line: Other AI health chatbots provide general health information,” Neil Lindsay, senior vice president of Amazon Health Services, told CNBC in a statement. “One Medical's Health's AI assistant knows your health history, can take action based on a patient's request, and keeps your trusted providers in the lead. It's the difference between getting answers and getting care.”
Amazon has delved deeper into healthcare over the past decade. In addition to acquiring One Medical, Amazon also bought online pharmacy PillPack for around $750 million in 2018. Two years later, it launched its own offering called Amazon Pharmacy.
The company said Health AI can direct users to One Medical and Amazon Pharmacy services “where useful,” but protected health information is not used to market or advertise general merchandise from its broader web store.
