USA: Leaked documents reveal patient safety issues at Amazon’s One Medical

Patient safety issues have increased since One Medical shifted care to a call centre staffed by contractors, employees say

Since Amazon acquired the primary care service One Medical, elderly patients have been routed to a call centre — staffed partly by contractors with limited training — that failed on more than a dozen occasions to seek immediate attention for callers with urgent symptoms, according to internal documents seen by The Washington Post.

When one patient reported a “blood clot, pain and swelling,” call centre staff scheduled an appointment rather than escalating the matter for medical evaluation, according to a note in an internal incident tracking spreadsheet dated 19 February.

Over the following two days, clinical staffers flagged four more call-centre errors involving elderly patients with urgent complaints, including stomach pain and blood in stool, a spike in blood pressure, an insect bite and sudden rib pain, according to the internal spreadsheet.

The call-centre incidents were among dozens flagged by doctors, nurses and assistants at One Medical Seniors between 19 February and 18 March in the documents, a year after Amazon acquired the primary-care service.

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Source: The Washington Post, 15 June 2024