3 minute read

The Teladoc – Alexa Team Up

April 28, 2022

This upcoming collaboration will give Teladoc customers access and integration with Amazon Alexa in order to support its mission of simplifying healthcare

Introduction

As we all know, technology and technological organisations are doing everything they can to make quality healthcare available to everyone in today’s world. Making healthcare available digitally is one of these organisations’ main goals these days. As a result, in this article, we will discuss one such collaboration between two platforms whose goal is to bring telehealth to the forefront of the healthcare industry.

Teladoc+Alexa

Firstly, let’s begin by learning what Teladoc is. Teladoc Health is the world’s only integrated virtual care system for delivering, enabling, and empowering whole-person health—from wellness and prevention to acute care and complex healthcare needs. Teladoc Health is on a mission to address the entire spectrum of health and well-being—not just when people are sick, but also throughout their lifelong quests for better health.

On the other hand, we have the infamous Amazon Alexa, which is a cloud-based voice service available on over 100 million Amazon and third-party device manufacturers’ devices. You can use Alexa to create natural voice experiences that provide customers with a more intuitive way to interact with the technology they use every day.

So, recently the telemedicine platform Teladoc announced a “one of its kind partnership” that lets us all get standardized healthcare services with the help of Alexa 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

“Teladoc Health’s collaboration with Amazon is yet another step toward breaking down barriers to healthcare access,” said Donna Boyer, Teladoc Health’s chief product officer. “By introducing and integrating our virtual first care experience with Echo devices, we provide users with an innovative and convenient way to connect with a doctor.” We are meeting consumers where they are to continue to provide members with value and high-quality care.”

Once Teladoc is set up, customers can ask the Alexa voice service on their supported Echo devices to connect with a doctor for virtual appointments related to non-emergency health needs. The cost per visit of $0 per visit with insurance or $75 without insurance.

“We’re excited to work with Teladoc Health to offer our customers an easy, hands-free way to connect with a doctor when they need the advice of a medical professional from the comfort of their own home,” said Debra Chrapaty, Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Alexa.

Teladoc officials say patients will have to create an account and grant permission before connecting with a Teladoc call centre. They can then expect a call from a board-certified doctor at Teladoc for diagnosis of common colds, flu, COVID-19, or nonmedical emergencies.

Dr Ayan Banafa, who is a health care technology expert at the University of Pittsburgh, says adding video capability to telehealth could help save money and improve patient outcomes by allowing people to consult with their doctors or other health specialists from home rather than in person. Banafa says this could reduce the number of patients who must visit hospitals.

Telehealth, or the use of technology to provide healthcare services long-distance, may allow patients to receive care from their home and will save time and money by reducing the need for face-to-face visits, according to a panel of health experts speaking at a recent telehealth conference.

Conclusion

Overall, Teladoc’s partnership with Alexa is an encouraging one. There are several advantages of being able to connect with a doctor lately, and the company has stated that this is just the beginning of its journey with Alexa. There is no doubt about it: healthcare organisations will continue to strive towards making healthcare more accessible for everyone. Such platforms take us a step in the right direction, and healthcare will likely see many changes soon as we continue to strive towards digitisation.A need for quality healthcare services has caused the telehealth market to expand and balloon in recent years. With Teladoc’s new partnership with Amazon, it will be able to meet the growing need of its customers while also providing a new service that increases accessibility and convenience.

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