Amazon-Owned One Medical Celebrates Grand Opening In Darien

DARIEN, CT — One Medical, a membership-based hybrid virtual and in-office primary care organization and a subsidiary of tech giant Amazon, held a grand opening ribbon-cutting ceremony Wednesday for its new location in Darien Commons at 104 Heights Road.

The office originally opened in June and marked One Medical's first Connecticut location. Since then, another location opened in New Canaan and an outpost is planned for Westport some time next year.

In collaboration with Hartford HealthCare, One Medical offers seamless access and coordination across primary and specialty care services.

Patients can receive preventative and everyday health visits, full lab services, chronic illness management and mental health support in Darien.

One Medical offers consumer memberships for $199 per year. One Medical also works with employers who can cover the membership fees as a benefit for their workforce.

The membership includes around-the-clock virtual care services through the One Medical mobile app, which also allows patients to book same and next-day appointments. One Medical says most major insurance plans are accepted for in-person care.

"We are so thrilled to be here in Darien," said President and CEO of One Medical Amir Rubin during Wednesday's ribbon-cutting. "At Hartford HealthCare and at One Medical, we're about delivering better health, better care, better outcomes and better value... The patient has enough to worry about being sick, so what we want is to make this experience as frictionless as possible."

Amazon acquired San Francisco-based One Medical for $3.9 billion in February. One Medical currently operates over 200 locations across more than 20 U.S. markets.

Last week, Amazon announced plans to expand its virtual health care marketplace Amazon Clinic to all 50 states.

Locally in Connecticut, CEO of Hartford HealthCare Jeffrey Flaks said "this is just the beginning" in the quest to deliver quality and accessible health care.

"This type of partnership is built on the notion of bringing more primary care here, more ways to introduce people to different models of health care and it's meant to drive down the cost of health care by using primary care as the front door and by coordinating care in the most efficient way possible," Flaks said Wednesday.

"The partnership with Amazon Health and the power of Amazon Health and what we've created with Hartford HealthCare, one plus one is going to equal five, and this is the first important step forward. It's really the on-ramp to so many more incredible things that are already on the drawing boards of what can be and what will make health care better," he added.

Ron Englert, the east regional medical director for One Medical, said there's been a lack of primary care in the Darien, Fairfield County Area. He noted that many people who moved out of New York City and into the suburbs during COVID-19 have been waiting for something like One Medical to open up.

"We've been seeing a lot of our patients from New York and a lot of our patients from all over the area who are now here and they're ready for us," he said.

Darien First Selectman Monica McNally was in attendance at Wednesday's ribbon-cutting ceremony.

"When I looked at this business model, I thought this was an innovative approach to providing quality health care for our community, especially since this is a really growing area of our community," McNally told Patch. "I'm really excited they chose Darien."

One Medical in Darien is currently open Monday and Wednesday from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. The New Canaan office is located at 22 Pine St.

One Medical members can easily book appointments at any of its offices through the One Medical app, even while traveling to another city where One Medical has offices.

For more on the One Medical and the Darien location, click here.