Amazon is ending support for a program that allowed patients to share health information protected by HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996) with health care organizations through Alexa.
The invite-only program, which first launched in 2019, allowed select developers to create and launch HIPAA-compliant healthcare skills for Alexa (skills are third-party voice apps that run on Alexa devices). ). Skills released as part of the program allowed consumers to ask the virtual assistant for support with things like booking an appointment, accessing post-discharge instructions from the hospital, checking the status of a prescription delivery, and more.
Amazon launched the program with six healthcare organizations, including Boston Children's Hospital, Livongo, Swedish Health Connect, Cigna Health Today, Atrium Health and Express Scripts. Only three of these organizations had active apps in the Alexa Skills store.
“We regularly review our experiences to ensure we are investing in services that will engage customers,” an Amazon spokesperson said. “We continue to invest heavily in developing healthcare experiences with in-house and third-party developers, including Alexa Smart Properties for Healthcare.”
The Alexa Smart Properties for Healthcare unit has as purpose make it easy and cost-effective for hospitals and providers to care for their patients. Last year, Amazon launched new solutions for healthcare providers and senior centers as part of Alexa Smart Properties. The solutions are designed to meet the needs of deploying Alexa devices at scale and will enable facility managers to create personalized experiences for their residents or patients.
Amazon's decision to end support for the HIPAA-protected Alexa tool comes as Business Insider recently reported that the company is on track to lose $10 billion this year on Alexa and other devices. Additionally, Amazon's Alexa team was reported to have been hardest hit by the layoffs at the company. Before the official announcement of the layoffs, reports indicated that Amazon's leadership was closely evaluating its Alexa business.
This most recent development is the latest twist in Amazon's push into healthcare, as the company made numerous headlines this year in connection with its healthcare initiatives.
In August, the company Hill Amazon Care, which had been a telehealth employer-focused virtual primary care business. The service first launched in 2019 as a pilot program in Seattle, and it's unclear how much traction it had gained before it was shut down.
Last month, the company launched the Amazon Clinic, which Amazon describes as a virtual health "storefront." With Amazon Clinic, users can search, connect, and pay for telehealth care, addressing a variety of conditions that are some of the most popular telehealth visits today. Amazon Clinic initially launched in 32 US states.
