Alexa Is Now HIPAA-Compliant. It’s a Game-Changer.

Charles Gaddy, director of mHealth at Atrium Health

“Alexa, what is rotator cuff tendinitis?”

“Alexa, where’s the nearest urgent care center?”

“Alexa, what’s my glucose level?”

Amazon’s voice assistant can now answer all these questions through the new HIPAA-compliant Alexa Skills Kit for developers.

The new kit enables developers at medical organizations to build Alexa skills capable of transferring and receiving protected health information on an invitation-only basis. This opens the door for patients and caregivers to not just learn about their health concerns but manage them as well through virtual voice devices and smart speakers at home.

“Right now, voice is where it’s at,” says Charles Gaddy, director of mHealth at Atrium Health, with more than 40 hospitals and 900 care locations throughout North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. “AI (artificial intelligence) tools on a website help with general information, but not with personal information,” he adds. While website chatbots are server-oriented, virtual assistants like Siri and Alexa are user-oriented, making it easier for users to quickly gain access to information they need.

Atrium Health developed an Alexa skill enabling people to find a network-affiliated urgent care location and schedule a same-day appointment.

“We had informational services that gave people hours and wait times, but we wanted more, says Gaddy about the Atrium Health pilot. “We wanted to match users with the right provider when scheduling appointments. Does the patient care about the doctor’s gender? Do they have a language preference? We wanted the skill to be more conversational, being able to process more criteria in one sentence,” Gaddy explains.

Read the full article now and learn how voice is revolutionizing the way patients receive health information: Virtual Voice Assistants Deliver in Ways That Websites Can’t

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