
Amazon
This list would not be complete without Amazon, of course. While Amazon has teamed up with JP Morgan Chase and Berkshire Hathaway to create Haven and reform health care for its own employees, the e-commerce giant is also using its resources to transform the health care industry overall. Recent examples include partnering with Novartis to streamline the production and delivery of pharmaceuticals; giving Alexa the ability to help patients manage their pharmacy benefits; and the launch of Amazon Care, a virtual clinic for its Seattle-based employees.
According to the company, "Amazon Care eliminates travel and wait time, connecting employees and their family members to a physician or nurse practitioner through live chat or video, with the option for in-person follow up services from a registered nurse ranging from immunizations to instant strep throat detection."

Check out some of the key disruptions in the health care industry that have unfolded over the past year.

Walmart
Walmart is working hard to bring down health care costs for its employees, notably through its Centers of Excellence program and more recent imaging program to prevent misdagnoses earlier in the process.
But the company is also expanding its own footprint in the health care sector.This year saw the opening of the first Walmart Health, offering a wider array of services found at current Walmart clinics, including hearing and vision tests and counseling. If the pilot is successful, the company will move forward with the clinics in other locations. And to staff these initiatives? Well, it's not looking very far. This fall, the company announced it would pay for its employees to earn college degrees in certain health and wellness majors.

Haven
If the health care system could be fixed overnight, surely someone would have hit upon the solution by now. Thus, it's no surprise that Amazon & Co.'s new health care venture hasn't made a huge splash just yet. Aside from the official announcement of a name and a mission earlier this year, the company rolled out new (but not particularly groundbreaking) health care plans for some Amazon and JP Morgan employees this fall. It's a small step, but we can probably expect to see the momentum build over time.

GoodRx
GoodRx has been chugging along for years, helping consumers find the best price for their prescription drugs and break free of their PBM's negotiated rates. This year, the company expanded its services to include virtual care with the acquisition of HeyDoctor.
"When we started GoodRx, we had a very simple mission, which was to try to bring affordable and convenient health care to Americans," said Doug Hirsch, co-chief executive and co-founder of GoodRx. "As we got deeper and deeper into this, we realized that we're only solving with prescriptions about 10 percent of the cost of health care."
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Civica Rx
Civica Rx is still a relative newcomer to the health care field, founded just under two years ago to combat the shortage of generic drugs in hospitals. The partnership rolled out its two antibiotic drugs in spring, the start of 14 total it intends to produce this year for its member hospitals.

CVS
With its merger with Aetna finally official, CVS has spent the last year doubling down on the retail health sector. It opened three "HealthHubs" earlier this year, with a plan to open 1,5000 by 2021. These clinics will offer not only typical primary care services, but push the envelope further with urgent care and even sleep apnea screening.
CVS and Aetna are also jumping on the social determinants of health bandwagon, launching pilot projects in Florida, Kentucky and Louisiana to assist members with accessing social care providers in their communities.

Walgreens
Not to be left behind in the retail health revolution, Walgreens has been taking a more incremental approach, built largely around partnerships. Its most recent, announced in November, is partnering with UnitedHealth to open of Medicare services centers, intended to facilitate seniors' access to prescription drugs and other health services.
Other initiatives over the past year have included partnering with Laboratory Corp. of America to open medical testing locations in its stores; partnering with Microsoft to streamline data and allow for greater collaboration; and primary care clinics aimed at seniors developed in partnership with Humana.

Google doesn't really want to change the way your health care is delivered, but it does want to revolutionize the way your health care data is used, transmitted and stored. The company's Project Nightingale, which launched last year, represents what the Wall Street Journal terms the "biggest effort yet by a Silicon Valley giant to gain a toehold in the health-care industry through the handling of patients' medical data."
Another step deeper into the data mines? The company's acquisition of Fitbit in November, which will give it a trove of user-generated health and fitness metrics.

Okay, Facebook doesn't really belong on this list. While the social media giant really, really wants to break into the health care market, its attempts have thus far fallen rather flat.
Facvebook tried to purchase FitBit earlier this fall but was outbid by Google. Which is probably for the best, because users are still a little bit concerned about their data privacy in the social media giant's hands. In November, Facebook unveiled a tool that will encourage users to get preventative care and screenings, but it hasn't exactly made a splash with users.
Advertisement

Amazon
This list would not be complete without Amazon, of course. While Amazon has teamed up with JP Morgan Chase and Berkshire Hathaway to create Haven and reform health care for its own employees, the e-commerce giant is also using its resources to transform the health care industry overall. Recent examples include partnering with Novartis to streamline the production and delivery of pharmaceuticals; giving Alexa the ability to help patients manage their pharmacy benefits; and the launch of Amazon Care, a virtual clinic for its Seattle-based employees.
According to the company, "Amazon Care eliminates travel and wait time, connecting employees and their family members to a physician or nurse practitioner through live chat or video, with the option for in-person follow up services from a registered nurse ranging from immunizations to instant strep throat detection."

Check out some of the key disruptions in the health care industry that have unfolded over the past year.

Walmart
Walmart is working hard to bring down health care costs for its employees, notably through its Centers of Excellence program and more recent imaging program to prevent misdagnoses earlier in the process.
But the company is also expanding its own footprint in the health care sector.This year saw the opening of the first Walmart Health, offering a wider array of services found at current Walmart clinics, including hearing and vision tests and counseling. If the pilot is successful, the company will move forward with the clinics in other locations. And to staff these initiatives? Well, it's not looking very far. This fall, the company announced it would pay for its employees to earn college degrees in certain health and wellness majors.

Haven
If the health care system could be fixed overnight, surely someone would have hit upon the solution by now. Thus, it's no surprise that Amazon & Co.'s new health care venture hasn't made a huge splash just yet. Aside from the official announcement of a name and a mission earlier this year, the company rolled out new (but not particularly groundbreaking) health care plans for some Amazon and JP Morgan employees this fall. It's a small step, but we can probably expect to see the momentum build over time.

GoodRx
GoodRx has been chugging along for years, helping consumers find the best price for their prescription drugs and break free of their PBM's negotiated rates. This year, the company expanded its services to include virtual care with the acquisition of HeyDoctor.
"When we started GoodRx, we had a very simple mission, which was to try to bring affordable and convenient health care to Americans," said Doug Hirsch, co-chief executive and co-founder of GoodRx. "As we got deeper and deeper into this, we realized that we're only solving with prescriptions about 10 percent of the cost of health care."
Advertisement

Civica Rx
Civica Rx is still a relative newcomer to the health care field, founded just under two years ago to combat the shortage of generic drugs in hospitals. The partnership rolled out its two antibiotic drugs in spring, the start of 14 total it intends to produce this year for its member hospitals.

CVS
With its merger with Aetna finally official, CVS has spent the last year doubling down on the retail health sector. It opened three "HealthHubs" earlier this year, with a plan to open 1,5000 by 2021. These clinics will offer not only typical primary care services, but push the envelope further with urgent care and even sleep apnea screening.
CVS and Aetna are also jumping on the social determinants of health bandwagon, launching pilot projects in Florida, Kentucky and Louisiana to assist members with accessing social care providers in their communities.

Walgreens
Not to be left behind in the retail health revolution, Walgreens has been taking a more incremental approach, built largely around partnerships. Its most recent, announced in November, is partnering with UnitedHealth to open of Medicare services centers, intended to facilitate seniors' access to prescription drugs and other health services.
Other initiatives over the past year have included partnering with Laboratory Corp. of America to open medical testing locations in its stores; partnering with Microsoft to streamline data and allow for greater collaboration; and primary care clinics aimed at seniors developed in partnership with Humana.

Google doesn't really want to change the way your health care is delivered, but it does want to revolutionize the way your health care data is used, transmitted and stored. The company's Project Nightingale, which launched last year, represents what the Wall Street Journal terms the "biggest effort yet by a Silicon Valley giant to gain a toehold in the health-care industry through the handling of patients' medical data."
Another step deeper into the data mines? The company's acquisition of Fitbit in November, which will give it a trove of user-generated health and fitness metrics.

Okay, Facebook doesn't really belong on this list. While the social media giant really, really wants to break into the health care market, its attempts have thus far fallen rather flat.
Facvebook tried to purchase FitBit earlier this fall but was outbid by Google. Which is probably for the best, because users are still a little bit concerned about their data privacy in the social media giant's hands. In November, Facebook unveiled a tool that will encourage users to get preventative care and screenings, but it hasn't exactly made a splash with users.
Advertisement

Amazon
This list would not be complete without Amazon, of course. While Amazon has teamed up with JP Morgan Chase and Berkshire Hathaway to create Haven and reform health care for its own employees, the e-commerce giant is also using its resources to transform the health care industry overall. Recent examples include partnering with Novartis to streamline the production and delivery of pharmaceuticals; giving Alexa the ability to help patients manage their pharmacy benefits; and the launch of Amazon Care, a virtual clinic for its Seattle-based employees.
According to the company, "Amazon Care eliminates travel and wait time, connecting employees and their family members to a physician or nurse practitioner through live chat or video, with the option for in-person follow up services from a registered nurse ranging from immunizations to instant strep throat detection."
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Emily Payne

Emily Payne is director, content analytics for ALM's Business & Finance Markets and former managing editor for BenefitsPRO. A Wisconsin native, she has spent the past decade writing and editing for various athletic and fitness publications. She holds an English degree and Business certificate from the University of Wisconsin.