Amazon just became another company’s healthcare provider

Hello,

Welcome to Insider Healthcare. I'm Blake Dodge, and today in healthcare news:

• Amazon Care has its first client;
• Startups are betting on a new Medicare program;
• Vida Health grabs $110 million from General Atlantic and other investors.

If you're new to this newsletter, sign up here. Comments, tips about big tech-in-healthcare? Email me at [email protected] or tweet @dodgeblake.

Amazon just signed its first employer client for its medical-care business

• Amazon's new healthcare business just found its first client, Precor, a fitness company.
• Called Amazon Care, the service provides in-person and virtual medical care.
• It has a lot to prove in the digital health space, but getting the first customer on board is a big milestone.

Get the scoop>>

Healthcare upstarts such as Clover, Iora, and Oak Street are betting on a new Medicare program that promises to be a 'huge' revenue opportunity. But profiting from the program won't be easy.

• Startups are signing up for the latest cost-cutting experiment for Medicare patients.
• The companies will be paid fixed fees to manage people's care.
• The idea is to move away from fee-for-service, but the startups have their work cut out for them.

Read our analysis >>

See the pitch deck that earned a former Google exec $110 million toward her vision for the hardest kind of healthcare

• Vida Health, a new kind of chronic care startup, just raised $110 million.
• It blends mental healthcare with physical healthcare, treating patients with a single app.
• We got an exclusive look at the pitch deck, which compares Vida to competitors like Omada.

See the presentation>>

More stories we're reading:

• CVS has joined its rivals Cigna, Humana, and Optum in funding digital-health startups. CEO Karen Lynch told us the $100 million VC arm will help it spot new ideas and acquisition targets. (Insider)
• The US is backing a waiver for vaccine patents, aiming to increase global production (Bloomberg)
• If people give you trouble about not wearing a mask outside, just ignore them (Insider)
• The US birth rate plummets (The Wall Street Journal)
• We just got our first evidence that Moderna's coronavirus booster shot works to fight variants (Insider)

- Blake