If you struggle with remembering to take your pills every day, Amazon Alexa can now remind you to take them.
Amazon announced that it has partnered with Giant Eagle Pharmacy locations to provide its customers the option to create medication reminders that will prompt participants to take their medicine at a particular time of the day, or even request prescription refills. Amazon is using Omnicell medication management tools to implement the new feature.
“We believe this new Alexa feature will help simplify the way people manage their medication by removing the need to continuously think about what medications they’ve taken that day or what they need to take,” wrote Rachel Jiang, head of Alexa Health & Wellness, in Tuesday’s announcement. “We want to make it easy for people to get the information they need and to manage their healthcare needs at home while maintaining the privacy and security of their information, and hope this feature is a step toward that vision.”
Giant Eagle customers have access to these new features beginning today and can set the service up by enabling the Giant Eagle Pharmacy skill and linking their Amazon Alexa account. After set-up, customers can give Alexa commands like “Alexa, manage my medication” or ask, “Alexa, what medication am I supposed to take right now?”
“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,” said Jim Tsipakis, Giant Eagle Senior Vice President of Pharmacy, in the announcement. “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.”
Digital Trends reached out to Amazon to find out if the company plans to roll out this feature to partner with other pharmacies beyond Giant Eagle and Amazon pointed to a sentence within Tuesday’s announcement.
“We’ll learn a lot from this initial launch and we’ll continue to evolve the experience and expect to expand to additional pharmacies next year.”
Since health information is extremely personal and private, Amazon said it added multiple layers of verification within the medication management features. After Alexa recognizes your voice, you’ll then be asked for a personal passcode you create during the setup process for further identity verification. Amazon said that interactions with the medication reminder skill are redacted in the Alexa app.
Amazon also offers other health care skills, including a daily health tip in partnership with Cigna Health Today, and the ability to schedule an urgent care appointment with Swedish Health, or check blood sugar results with Livongo.
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