Case Analysis: American Well

Companys Background: American Well is an online care company, founded in 2006 by two brothers Ido
Schoenberg and Roy Schoenberg. The company was formed in an attempt to introduce a significant
change in the health care delivery system and improve the way patients interact with physicians.
American Well is to use the internet and telephone to connect physicians and patients within minutes in
real time. American Well invested $70 million to create a sophisticated technology platform that
enabled physicians and patients to communicate via phone, video conference, live online chat and also
asynchronous communication such as leaving a voice or email message.
Objective: To develop and promote online and telephonic healthcare system, which will enable patients
to get medical treatment through a real time interface with the physicians as well as specialists and to
establish themselves as a market leader in the same.
Strengths:
Significant reduction in time and efforts that patients have to spend to get treated for a
particular medical ailment.
First Mover Advantage as American Well is the first company to come up with the idea of online
health care.
Provides easier access to healthcare for rural population, which otherwise does not have
sufficient access to such facilities.
Reduction in costs for patients as well as for insurance companies of upto $3.36 per patient per
month.
Provides a valuable platform for all players in the healthcare process including patients, doctors,
healthcare insurance companies.

Weakness:
Lack of hands-on physical examination which may create skepticism in the minds of patients
regarding the effectiveness of the medical treatment

Opportunities:
To enter into new customer segments such as hospitals, retail clinics, and pharmacies.
Expenditure on healthcare is 17.6% of GDP which highlights high opportunities of growth in the
healthcare sector.
To include specialists in the patient-physician chain, which is their next service concept called
Team edition
To expand into international markets.
American Well can also extend its business model to provide services such as legal advice,
accounting services, and religious counselling.
Threats:
Security threats as hacking can result in compromising of the confidentiality of patient
information and medical records.

The Direction Dilemma and recommendations ahead.
The directors have the option to retain the Insurance Companies as their primary customers or move
towards the other segments of the healthcare system such as hospital, pharmaceuticals etc. However,
focusing on these other segments would lead to loss of revenues for the insurers and hence they should
avoid this option.
They should also expand into foreign markets such as Australia, Germany, U.K. etc as there is a huge
customer base which can be tapped. However to achieve this, they might have to change the
organizational structure of American Wells and further they would also need to set up proper systems to
comply with local regulatory norms present in the foreign countries.
Although they have the capability to enter into other online intermediary markets such as legal and
accounting services, we feel that they should currently focus on the opportunities in the core healthcare
delivery sector so as to capture a higher share in the value chain through initiatives such as the Team
Edition.