Telehealth visits now available through Amazon Alexa

Photo by Dan Seifert / The Verge

The companies announced today that Amazon customers can now connect with healthcare providers. Teladoc is one of the largest telemedicine companies in the United States.

Customers can connect with Teladoc by saying "Alexa, I want to talk to a doctor." They will get a call back from a Teladoc doctor. The service is only available for non- emergency visits. Video visits are coming soon according to a press release.

Whether they are taking care of their sick child in the middle of the night or want to ask a doctor about allergy symptoms in between meetings during the day, we hope this experience will help customers find the convenient help they want from the comfort of their home.

Marguerite Pinheiro said in an email that Teladoc will collect medical history and insurance information from customers during the initial screening call. For users without insurance, visits will be $75. The call could be free for people with insurance.

Amazon has continued to expand into healthcare. Amazon Care was initially available to Amazon employees, but has since been expanded to other companies. In December, it launched an elder care service that connects with an emergency hotline and can pair with fall detection hardware.

At the start of the COVID-19 Pandemic, healthcare organizations transitioned away from in-person care, which led to a spike in use of Telemedicine. More people are still using it than were before the disease.