SEATTLE—Vision care will not be part of a broad expansion of Amazon Care services announced last week by Amazon, but the tech giant hasn’t ruled it out for the future, Vision Monday has learned. Amazon announced on Feb. 8 that it is expanding in-person care services to more than 20 new cities in 2022, bringing more care options to Amazon Care’s growing customer base. A company spokesperson told VM, “Eyecare is not currently one of the services that can be accessed through Amazon Care. While we don’t speculate on future plans, we are always listening to our customers and looking for ways to better serve them and their needs to improve health care for more people across the country.”

Amazon Care launched in September 2019 to bring “the most patient-centric health care to customers when and where they need it,” according to a statement by Amazon. The hybrid service combines virtual care and in-person services to a growing number of organizations looking for convenient, comprehensive, high-quality health care solutions, the company said. Service offerings range from on-demand primary care to chronic care management. 
 
“Patients are tired of a health care system that doesn't put them first. Our patient-centric service is changing that, one visit at a time,” said Kristen Helton, director of Amazon Care. “We’ve brought our on-demand urgent and primary care services to patients nationwide. As we grow the service, we’ll continue to work with our customers to address their needs."
 
Amazon said that Amazon Care is on track to rapidly expand in-person care locations throughout 2022, including locations in major metropolitan areas such as San Francisco, Miami, Chicago, and New York City. The service is already available in Seattle, Baltimore, Boston, Dallas, Austin, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and Arlington, Va.