Going by the market size, the two best possible opportunities are:
1) Hospitals: The total sales of this avenue amounted to $718.4 billion and hence hospitals represent the largest possible market opportunity for American Well. The advantages of tying up with hospitals is that it will be able to access a large number of patients in the waiting area through its Online kiosks, thereby decreasing the waiting time of a patient before he gets his first consultation. Also, patients themselves might be confused regarding the nature of their ailment and whether it requires a PCP or a specialist and other such doubts. These can more effectively be addressed by the online kiosks. The kiosk will also lead to better communication between patients and doctors.
However, one serious drawback to this opportunity is the fact that hospitals might be apprehensive of losing out patients to American Well. Introducing online kiosks might encourage the patients to consult physicians online rather than visiting hospitals, or in some cases convince the patients that a physical examination by a doctor is not necessary. Thus the patients in the waiting area might never come back except for surgeries or emergencies. Hence it will be difficult to convince hospitals to install online kiosks in their premises.
2) Retail Clinics: The retail clinics are headed by Nursing Practitioners, who have approximately 600 million patient visits each year. Thus the market size represents a sizeable opportunity for American Well. Introducing online kiosks at retail centers could turn out to be a win-win situation for both American Well and retail clinics since this move might improve the perception of retail clinics as a legitimate and effective delivery centre of healthcare. The NPs too can have access to physicians’ advice in case of any doubts or queries about a patient. This will also reduce costs to health insurance companies as the patients will be more