Letting Alexa help

I know we’re supposed to see Amazon as a dangerous, money-grabbing, pernicious, snooping mega-corporation, but might this be a good idea?

Amazon launches medication management features for Alexa – TechCrunch
The features, though limited to one regional pharmacy for the time being, offer a view into how Amazon envisions voice-ordering for prescriptions will work for its customer base, and how such a system could be integrated with its own health care program at some later date, perhaps.

“Voice has proven to be beneficial for a variety of use cases because it removes barriers, and simplifies daily tasks. We believe this new Alexa feature will help simplify the way people manage their medication by removing the need to continuously think about what medications they’ve taken that day or what they need to take,” noted Rachel Jiang, Head of Alexa Health & Wellness, in an announcement about the new features.

Could we give this the benefit of the doubt? Something is certainly needed.

Poll shows that almost 50% of people forget to take their medication at least once a month – Epilepsy Research UK

Why people forget to take their medicine, and what can be done about it – Science Daily

Medication compliance in the elderly – PubMed

The top 6 reasons elderly people don’t take medication – Hometouch

The cost of not taking your medicine – The New York Times

Why do people stop taking their meds? Cost is just one reason – NPR

Forgetting to take tablets – Diabetes.co.uk