Amazon is moving into the medicine adherence space by adding new functionality to Amazon Alexa.
Non-adherence is well documented, with greater than 30% of patients with long term conditions failing to take their medicines correctly. This can result in possible hospital admission or deterioration.
Amazon said they have introduced the functionality after noticing a trend of how Amazon Alexa is being used by many of its customers “After receiving a number of stories and reviews from customers, we noticed a trend: many customers were using Alexa to remind them to take medications on a regular basis. Some customers shared feedback to improve the reminders feature for this use case—for example, by adding more time frames like “twice a day”.”
In result Amazon is introducing new features that allow their customers to set medication reminders by using their pharmacy prescription information, and to request prescription refills—all by simply asking Alexa.
Amazon has teamed up with Omnicell to launch this experience, and the new Alexa capabilities will be available to Giant Eagle Pharmacy customers, in the US. Giant Eagle is a multi-format food, fuel, and pharmacy retailer.
The company said “These medication management features use multiple layers of verification to ensure that only you are able to access your prescription information via Alexa.”
“Alexa will first recognise you by your voice, then ask you for the personal passcode you created during the set up process. If the voice profile or personal passcode does not match with the account, information will not be relayed. Additionally, just as is the case with previously introduced Alexa healthcare skills, interactions with this skill are also redacted in the Alexa app to maintain privacy.”
Jim Tsipakis, Giant Eagle Senior Vice President of Pharmacy “We’re thrilled to help our Giant Eagle Pharmacy patients more easily integrate prescription management into their everyday lives with the introduction of the Giant Eagle Pharmacy skill.”
“We’re passionate about making care as accessible as possible for our patients, and this unique collaboration with Amazon has enabled us to utilize voice technology to do just that.”
