On Thursday, Amazon Web Services introduced Amazon Connect Health, an AI agent-powered platform designed to automate repetitive administrative tasks for healthcare organizations. These tasks include appointment scheduling, documentation, and patient verification. The platform is HIPAA eligible and integrates with electronic health record (EHR) software. AWS noted that it is already working with EHR providers, data integrators, and patient engagement companies.

This launch represents AWS's continued expansion into the $5 trillion U.S. healthcare industry. Previous initiatives include Amazon Comprehend Medical, a HIPAA-eligible natural language processor launched in 2018 for analyzing unstructured medical data, and Amazon HealthLake, a HIPAA-eligible FHIR infrastructure launched in 2021 for organizing health data. The company also launched HealthOmics, a bioinformatics workflow, in 2022. However, Amazon Connect Health marks its first major product offering AI agents—software that performs complex tasks autonomously—within a fully regulatory-compliant platform.

The platform works alongside existing clinical software to manage administrative workflows, such as medical history reviews, medical coding, and clinical documentation. Currently available features include patient verification and ambient documentation. Appointment scheduling and patient insights are in preview, with medical coding and additional capabilities scheduled for release later.

Pricing is set at $99 per user per month for up to 600 monthly encounters. AWS highlighted that most primary care physicians typically have around 300 encounters per month.

Beyond its cloud division, Amazon has made significant investments in healthcare. This includes the acquisition of online pharmacy PillPack in 2018 for approximately $1 billion and primary care provider One Medical in 2022 for $3.9 billion. Elements of these acquisitions have been integrated into Amazon's broader retail operations, enabling services like same-day prescription delivery and same-day virtual pediatric visits.

The focus of Amazon Connect Health—using AI to alleviate administrative burdens—has been a goal for startups well before the current AI surge. For instance, Regard, founded in 2017, uses AI to assist with clinical documentation and data review to reduce burnout. Another startup, Notable, also founded in 2017, automates intake and scheduling processes.

Recently, larger AI firms have also entered this space. In January, OpenAI released ChatGPT Health, a consumer-facing health question chatbot that is not HIPAA compliant. Just one week later, Anthropic announced Claude for Healthcare. Similar to OpenAI’s enterprise offerings, Claude for Healthcare is built for HIPAA compliance and provides tools for both medical professionals and consumers, aligning more closely with the professional focus of Amazon Connect Health.