Google Cloud and Amwell announced that they have entered into a multi-year, strategic partnership to deliver telehealth solutions across the global healthcare ecosystem. Together, the companies will endeavor to expand access to virtual care, improve patient and clinician experiences. With over a decade of experience, Amwell powers telehealth solutions for over 2,000 hospitals and 55 health plan partners with over 36,000 employers, covering over 80 million lives.
Google Cloud will invest $100 million into Amwell to evolve and scale its telehealth portfolio to serve the needs of providers, insurers, and patients within current and new markets. Google Cloud’s investment will be a concurrent private placement at a purchase price that will be the same as the price to the public in Amwell’s IPO and will be contingent upon the closing of its IPO.
The pandemic has resulted in historic telehealth utilization, making it a priority and, in many cases, a preference for patients, providers, and health plans. With this partnership, Google Cloud and Amwell see an opportunity to improve patient and clinician telehealth experiences through technologies that can automate waiting room and checkout; provide automated language translation services; advance population health by making it easier for more patients to receive care; and assist payers and providers in routine tasks, by intelligently triaging cases and reducing clinician burnout.
“This is a critical partnership for the healthcare industry and has the potential to dramatically transform the telehealth space through the use of modern cloud technologies,” said Thomas Kurian, CEO of Google Cloud. “We are thrilled that together we can bring groundbreaking digital health solutions to so many providers, patients, and health plans across the globe. Our joint work will drive innovation in health in a new and powerful way.”
Both companies will engage in a strategic technology collaboration to bring the best of their technologies to enrich the telehealth experience, including focus on development work using Google Cloud artificial-intelligence and machine-learning technologies to assist patients and front-line workers with intake, inquiries, and triage; natural language and translation services for non-native speakers; G Suite tools like Meet to improve collaboration among healthcare staff and with their patients; and sophisticated data analytics tools to aid in remote home health monitoring by providers and insurers.
