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Sunday, December 08, 2019

Amazon Wants to be Your Pharmacist (In two ways)

I just got an offer to do this.    Does not seem to be much different than what the big pharma retailers are doing.  No mention at all regarding if there was any discounting of costs involved.    Voice interaction mentioned ... and I am assuming regarding refills and requests to pharmacists.  The idea of reminding you means a notification is involved.    Connected with Giant Eagle for now.

Alexa Can Now Refill Your Prescription and Remind You to Take Your Medicine    By Eric Hal Schwartz  in Voicebot.ai

The new skill combines Alexa’s reminders with their prescription information. For now, only Giant Eagle Pharmacy can operate the skill, but the company plans to add more pharmacies soon. Alexa account owners must set up and connect the Giant Eagle Pharmacy skill to their Alexa profile. They can then ask the voice assistant to manage their medication, setting up reminders for taking the medicine and enabling Alexa to be able to answer if the user asks what medication they are supposed to take when they hear the alarm. Connecting to the pharmacy also allows users to request a prescription refill by asking Alexa.

“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,” Giant Eagle senior vice president of pharmacy Jim Tsipakis said in a statement. “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.”

Amazon made a point of highlighting that Alexa is HIPAA compliant and as secure as possible. Accessing the skill requires a voice profile for Alexa to recognize as well as a passcode. The records of interactions with the skill are also redacted to protect the privacy of patients and users can delete them like any other Alexa recording. After a summer with so many voice assistants facing privacy complaints, the focus on security regarding medical information is likely necessary to forestall others from raising concerns. ... "

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PillPack by Amazon Pharmacy

PillPack pre-sorts your daily meds, vitamins, and supplements by time of day, and delivers right to your door every month. Our service and shipping are free — you only pay for your medication. .... " 

In this case:
Makes a strong point of making pharma interaction simpler.
No mention of 'assistant' or voice interaction, or Alexa Pharmacy
No mention of an existing pharmacy, like Giant Eagle handling the interaction. .... "

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