Amazon Alexa Now HIPAA Compliant; Watch for the Next Steps

Having Alexa HIPAA-compliant is a necessary first step in deploying the device and its supporting software into all manner of health settings. This goal has now been achieved (see:Amazon Alexa is now HIPAA-compliant). Below is an excerpt from the article announcing this step and whats's next:Alexa is moving into healthcare.Following a trial of Amazon ’s smart speakers in patients’ rooms at Cedars-Sinai, the company this morning announced an invite-only program allowing select developers to create and launch HIPAA-compliant healthcare skills for Alexa. The skills allow consumers to ask the virtual assistant for help with things like booking an appointment, accessing hospital post-discharge instructions, checking on the status of a prescription delivery and more....Amazon itself provides the HIPAA-eligible environment for skill building, while the developers themselves are required to comply with the applicable laws. This is a significant step for Amazon, as it means voice app developers who follow HIPAA guidelines can now create skills for Alexa....Amazon itself is venturing into healthcare alongside Berkshire Hathaway and JP Morgan Chase (see:Three Major Corporations Will Form Healthcare Company for Their Employees), which have together teamed up to take on rising healthcare costs for employees. Amazon last year acquired online pharmacy PillPack for less than $1 billion. And the company ’s AWS unit is expanding its HIPAA-compliant capabilities.This included th...
Source: Lab Soft News - Category: Laboratory Medicine Authors: Tags: Cost of Healthcare Electronic Health Record (EHR) Healthcare Information Technology Healthcare Innovations Medical Research Quality of Care Source Type: blogs