Amazon.com Inc. reportedly is hiring a health privacy expert for “new initiative.”

CNBC reported that the Seattle online giant is looking to hire an expert in a set of health privacy regulations known as HIPAA, according to a new job listing.

Speculation has been rife over the past months that the Internet behemoth is planning an entry that could shake up the sector, Bloomberg reported. So far Amazon has made no clear move to do so, and hasn’t commented publicly on its intentions.

To be sure, the prospect of Amazon’s potentially entering some part of the drug business, such as distribution or retail, probably played into the recent CVS-Aetna tie-up.

The addition of a health insurer lessens CVS’s reliance on front-of-the-store sales at its retail pharmacies -- products like toothpaste and shampoo that already face some competition from Amazon.

(Newsmax wire services and Reuters and Bloomberg contributed to this report).