Congress remains in session on Capitol Hill this week.

Healthcare Dive informs us that

Amazon has bought tech startup Health Navigator in its first major health-related acquisition since the Seattle-based retailer purchased PillPack last year, the company confirmed to Healthcare Dive.  Health Navigator, which provides online symptom checking, clinical documentation support and triage tools to route patients to the correct site of care, will be folded into Amazon’s virtual medical clinic Amazon Care.

Amazon Care currently (at least for now) is an employee benefits program for Seattle area based Amazon employees. Amazon’s HQ is in located that fair city.

Speaking of virtual care, Health Data Management reports on CVS’s Health’s Minute Clinic’s Video Visit option.  A Video Visit “costs $59 and is for patients ages two years and up who are seeking treatment for a minor illness, injury or skin conditions.” It’s available in most States and accepts FSA and HSA payments (and credit cards generally), not not insurance coverage “at this time.” Here is a link to the Video Visit FAQs.

Kaiser Health News discusses a new pharma payment model nicknamed Netflix pricing. The model “mimic[s] that media-streaming service ― call for capped costs or flat-rate subscriptions for cheap access to the drugs [particularly drugs that cure major illnesses such as Hepatitis C].”  Washington State is using such a contract to purchase from “AbbVie buys a package of services that includes outreach and testing to identify patients as well as the drugs to treat them.”  Patient advocates are objecting to the fact that the State is refusing to release details on the pricing model.

The FEHBlog head about this model at the HCP=LAN conference last week. Drug pricing is complicated by the fact that the price that Medicaid pays for a prescription drug sets the floor for other deals with the exception of Medicare Part D plans.