By HFT Editorial Staff

Amazon will bring two solutions to the senior living and healthcare providers market as part of Alexa Smart Properties. By integrating Alexa into the properties, residents and patients will be able to stay connected, informed and entertained. The solutions are designed for the needs of senior living communities and healthcare facilities, helping properties offer customized Alexa experiences for residents and patients while also increasing care team productivity and operational efficiency.

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. Alexa can also help communities streamline activities like check-ins, field requests for maintenance, and administrative tasks—enabling associates to save time and increase productivity. Senior living communities like Atria and Eskaton will integrate with Alexa Smart Properties at select locations to provide a better experience for residents, while creating empowered and more connected communities.

“We believe the intuitive and accessible nature of voice and Alexa has the potential to help and delight customers in many scenarios, in and outside of the home,” says Liron Torres, head of Alexa Smart Properties, Amazon. “We’re excited to extend the experiences customers already love to senior living communities and healthcare systems, and give providers new ways to save time and personalize care for their patients and residents.”

Alexa Smart Properties enables senior living residents to keep in touch with their loved ones, connect with their communities, access community news, and more, using the Amazon Echo device in their room.

With Alexa Smart Properties, patients can communicate with their care staff, control devices in their room, or stay informed and entertained with news and music, just by asking Alexa. Healthcare providers can communicate with patients without the need to enter patient rooms. This enables hospitals to increase productivity, conserve medical supplies and protective equipment, such as masks, gloves, and gowns, and free up staff time to provide more personalized care. Hospitals also can provide information customized to their facility, like notifications about schedule changes or cafeteria menus, and skill experiences like games, podcasts, and more. Health systems including Boston Children’s Hospital, Cedars-Sinai, BayCare, and Houston Methodist are adopting Alexa Smart Properties to help care for their patients more efficiently.

"Voice is intuitive for patients, regardless of age or tech savviness," says Peachy Hain, executive director of medical and surgical services at Cedars-Sinai. "Since it's so easy to operate, patients can use Alexa to connect with their care team and stay entertained as soon as they settle in, while care providers can streamline tasks to make more time to care for those patients. It's a total gamechanger for enhancing our hospital experience."

Alexa Smart Properties senior living and healthcare solutions were designed with privacy in mind. No personal information is shared with Alexa to use the device, and voice recordings are not saved. Amazon implements administrative, technical, and physical safeguards for protected health information received as part of HIPAA-eligible skill interactions.

“Voice integration has the power to transform how resident requests are made and how staff respond,” says Kim Judd, general manager of Lifeline Senior Living. “Adding Alexa Smart Properties functionality to our CarePoint resident safety system enables residents to make hands-free help requests and receive verbal confirmation to know they’ve been heard. And staff can see the context of requests and triage more efficiently. It opens up new opportunities for better care, from simple requests to daily announcements, resident check-ins, even helping to ease social isolation, CarePoint with Alexa will be a real advantage for our customers.”