Hospitals must partner with retail disruptors like Amazon and CVS, AHA says

Hospitals must partner with retail disruptors like Amazon and CVS, AHA says unknown

To compete with healthcare disruptors like Amazon and CVS, hospitals must partner with them and other Big Tech companies and boost convenience, access and virtual care, the American Hospital Association said in a Feb. 9 report.

By 2030, nontraditional players will control an estimated 30 percent of the primary care market, according to a Bain & Co. analysis cited in the report.

To compete with retail disruptors, the AHA recommended that healthcare providers consider these questions:

1. "Do we have an omnichannel presence that provides the convenience, access, transparency, pricing and other information and services that patients want?"

2. "Are there partnership opportunities with any of the big five companies [Amazon, CVS, UnitedHealth Group and its Optum and UnitedHealthcare subsidiaries, Walgreens and Walmart] transforming primary care?"

3. "How can we leverage our strength in established trust and rapport with existing patients to use our outpatient, clinic and virtual services for routine and nonemergent care?"

4. "How can we partner with Big Tech firms [such as Apple and Google parent company Alphabet] around research, data sharing, etc., to improve care?"