Amazon will no longer support Alexa third-party HIPAA-enabled skills. It allows patients to share HIPAA-protected health information with hospitals and health insurance companies through the voice-based Alexa platform.
Company announced a HIPAA-compliant data transfer capability in 2019 and announced six Alexa Skills built by healthcare providers and other stakeholders. This includes My Children’s Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS), Livongo Blood Sugar Lookup, Swedish Health Connect, Cigna Health Today, and Atrium. Health and Express scripts.
Each skill is designed to help members, patients and caregivers manage their care at home with voice commands.
In an email to Skill users dated December 5, Amazon stated that on December 9, Amazon would “throw” a user’s Skill and delete protected health information associated with the user’s Skill in accordance with the Alexa deletion policy. . Voicebot.aiwho broke the story in the first place.
An Amazon spokesperson said MobiHealthNews In an email, he said, “We regularly review our experiences to make sure we are investing in services that delight our customers. We continue to invest heavily in developing healthcare experiences with developers.”
the bigger trend
The tech and retail giant has released a lot of healthcare news this year.
In November, the tech giant announced Amazon Clinic is a virtual healthcare service that offers care for 20 common conditions, including hair loss, heartburn, acne, dandruff, and seasonal allergies.
The Amazon Clinic announcement comes three months after the company confirmed it would be closing. Amazon Care, a service for employers, will be shut down at the end of the year.
In July, Amazon announced plans to acquire a hybrid primary care provider One Medical was acquired for approximately $3.9 billion in cash, a transaction that has yet to close.
As of September, the Federal Trade Commission Transaction review. One Medical’s parent companies, 1Life Healthcare and Amazon, have received requests from the FTC for more information about the acquisition, according to Securities and Exchange Commission filings.
Amazon uses the Alexa voice assistant for other healthcare and support services. In September 2021, announced Alexa Together, a subscription service that allows caregivers to support and remotely monitor elderly family members at home. It builds on the previous Care Hub functionality.
Amazon too last year expanded its Alexa smart properties for senior living communities and healthcare systems. This offering will enable these providers to use voice assistants at scale within their facilities.
