Alexa new skills in the field of smart health

April 10, 2019

The giant is turning more and more to the lucrative health market and seeks to make itself indispensable to health professionals and their patients. A Los Angeles hospital has launched a pilot equipping 100 rooms of the Echo enclosure allowing patients to control television with Alexa smart health or to call nurses.

At the end of 2018, Amazon launched Amazon Comprehend Medical, a new service for healthcare professionals using machine learning to analyze patients’ medical records and save them time in decision-making. In June 2018, he disbursed about $ 1 billion to buy the start-up PillPack.

THE AMAZON OFFENSIVE IN HEALTH

Amazon continues its offensive in health and wants to use Alexa to become indispensable with health professionals and their patients. The company founded by Jeff Bezos announced Thursday, April 4, 2019 to allow developers to invent new skills for his voice assistant in the field of health in accordance with the HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act).

Post-operative follow-up, appointments, personalized advice … Amazon’s voice assistant has new skills in the field of health. The global giant has announced that US companies that wish can ask him to develop new skills for Alexa through which health data can be exchanged. A way for the firm AMAZON to continue its offensive in the health sector.

This law imposes strict rules on healthcare institutions to ensure the protection of patient data and to ensure that it can only be shared between patients and healthcare professionals or institutions. Medical diagnoses and prescriptions must not be accessible to third parties. Amazon now offers companies who want to request permission to develop a new Alexa skill through which this medical data can be exchanged.

SIX NEW UNVEILED COMPETENCIES for Alexa smart health

For now six American companies have seized this opportunity and have developed their applications on Alexa.

The Boston Children’s Hospital has developed an application for children who have recently had heart surgery. Parents and hospital staff can use Alexa to keep themselves informed about the child’s health and progress as a result of the operation (activity level and pain) and to receive information about their postoperative appointments.

The American insurance company Cigna offers a pilot to some of its customers. You can track your health information, receive advice, have daily tips on health and well-being.

Health start-up Livongo Health offers its patients access via Alexa to their latest blood sugar levels, a more comprehensive curve and personalized advice.

Express Scripts, a medical prescription company, offers its customers to check the status of a prescription sent by email and ask Alexa to notify them when prescriptions are shipped.

The Providence St. Joseph Health Group, which operates several hospitals in the United States, is asking Alexa to be the nearest health center and make an appointment the same day. The Carolinas Healthcare network has developed a similar application.