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Amazon has announced that its voice assistant smartspeaker, Alexa, is now HIPAA compliant and can serve as your own health care valet.
For starters, the retail and computer giant is partnering with six companies to develop programs that may contain protected prescription information, make doctor appointments, track the blood sugar and find the nearest emergency care center.
This includes a program from the Livongo Digital Health Society, a member of the FierceMedTech Fierce 15 2017 Promotion, which allows members to request their latest blood sugar reading, identify trends and receive "Healthy Nudges" customized according to their blood pressure. .
"We believe that voice technology will be instrumental in helping our members better manage their chronic diseases and overall health," Livongo President Jennifer Schneider said in a statement. "Speaking and listening are natural channels of communication, and voice capabilities also allow us to reach people who prefer other modes of communication."
"By providing consistent health information while our Members are preparing their meals or about to exercise, Livongo can more effectively lead to positive behavior change," Schneider added.
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Amazon's invitation program currently includes entities covered by HIPAA and their business partners, such as suppliers, payers and drug benefit managers, as well as digital health coaches, and the company is considering to open the program to other developers, according to Rachel Jiang, Amazon's head at Amazon Health & Wellness.
Express Scripts members, for example, will be able to check the shipping status of their prescription drugs, while some Cigna customers will be able to keep pace with their goals of improving their health and promoting their well-being. be.
At the same time, the Boston Children's Hospital has developed a program for parents and caregivers of convalescent children, giving them access to exit instructions, informing health care teams of progress and receiving information about children. postoperative appointments.
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"We believe this is just one example of how voice technology can extend the care and support of our patients beyond the four walls of the hospital," said John Brownstein, director of the innovation at Boston Children.
In addition, two other major health care systems, Providence St. Joseph Health and Atrium Health, are now allowing Alexa to search for local emergency centers and make an appointment on the same day.
With more than 100 million Alexa devices sold to date, Amazon's relocation may be making waves as more and more consumer-centric technology companies are eager to comply with HIPAA's privacy standards. transmission of protected health information.
Slack, for example, revealed in February that its enterprise document download systems were now certified, as it strove to bring its broader services into compliance.
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