October 25, 2021 – Amazon announced two new solutions for senior living and healthcare providers to integrate Alexa into their properties. Part of Alexa Smart Properties, the solutions were designed specifically for the needs of senior living communities and healthcare facilities.
Several large health systems including Boston Children’s Hospital (Boston, MA), Cedars-Sinai (Los Angeles, CA), BayCare (Tampa, FL), and Houston Methodist (Houston, TX) will deploy the new Alexa capability to select properties, according to the news release.
Hospitals can provide information customized to their facility, like notifications about schedule changes or cafeteria menus, and skill experiences like games, podcasts, and more. Hospitals and senior living communities can also build and enable HIPAA-eligible skills, like medication tracking, to connect care providers with residents and patients in an environment designed to protect their health information.
The company says that Alexa Smart Properties simplifies deploying and managing Alexa-enabled devices at scale, in order to help properties “offer customized Alexa experiences for residents and patients, and increase care team productivity and operational efficiency.”
Through the Amazon Echo device in patient rooms, administrators can offer access to tens of thousands of Alexa skills, and tailor resident experiences by customizing community information like activity schedules and meal menus. Care team members can communicate with residents using Alexa communication features, which enable them to make announcements, voice and video calls, or send direct audio messages to other Alexa-enabled devices throughout the property.
The company says that no personal information is shared with Alexa to use the device, and voice recordings are not saved. And that Amazon implements administrative, technical, and physical safeguards for protected health information received as part of HIPAA-eligible skill interactions.
Alexa Smart Properties will support senior living and healthcare solutions in the U.S. starting next month.