When Amazon’s Alexa debuted on Echo devices, you could only ask simple questions or make simple requests. Now, Alexa is capable of so much more, and that includes providing health information, medication reminders, and even telehealth visits with doctors. Explore these well-developed Alexa skills and learn about the various types of telehealth care you can experience using Amazon's voice assistant.

1. Teladoc Health Doctor Visits

A few years ago, people were wondering how telehealth even worked, but now it’s a pretty normal experience for minor illnesses. After working to get its foot in the door of the health industry for years, Amazon partnered with Teladoc in 2022 to begin providing virtual doctor visits!

At launch, the collaboration with Teladoc focused on audio visits through Alexa on Echo devices, with video calls to come eventually. Customers in the US can connect with a Teladoc care provider 24/7 through supported Echo devices for general medical needs, like symptoms of the flu, a common cold, or allergies.

The first time you contact Teladoc, someone will collect your medical history and insurance information. But after that, you’ll always be connected directly to a doctor to address your symptoms right away. Using an Echo device, you can say, “Alexa, I want to talk to a doctor,” to connect to the Teladoc call center. Then, you’ll get a call back on your Echo device from a Teladoc doctor. With insurance, your visit could be as low as $0; without insurance, each visit is $75.

2. One Medical Telehealth Services

In an open letter by Amazon, CEO Andy Jassy speaks to how the company is trying to improve the healthcare experience for customers, including its proprietary programs, like Amazon Pharmacy, RxPass, and Amazon Clinic. In addition to Amazon’s own services, the company also acquired One Medical, which is able to offer both in-person and telehealth opportunities.

One Medical has offices in many US cities, and you can make same-day appointments or schedule one within a few days if you’re in an eligible city. Or you can opt for telemedicine, which includes 24/7 video chatting or messaging. If at any point you need a specialist, One Medical works closely with many hospital systems and most insurance providers, and can get you a referral and an appointment quickly.

At launch, One Medical and Amazon offered limited-time discount on an annual subscription for new customers in the US.

3. Amazon Pharmacy

The Amazon Pharmacy service works with most insurance plans, offers coupons, and has savings for Prime members. Amazon boasts that it’s easy to get refills, transfer your prescriptions from another pharmacy, and deliver meds directly to your door in discreet packaging. Amazon Pharmacy members are able to say “Alexa, refill my medication” when it’s time to refill or ask Alexa to call Amazon Pharmacy for more in-depth issues.

Then, there’s Amazon’s RxPass program, which costs $5/month and requires a Prime membership. While there’s no information on how Alexa could be used with RxPass, it’s likely similar to how Alexa functions with Amazon Pharmacy, since RxPass is like a subscription model of Amazon Pharmacy with more savings.

4. Alexa Together

There are a few ways that telehealth services can help your mental well-being, but what if your mental well-being is greatly affected by the illness of a loved one? Well, the Alexa Together program aims to provide support to your loved one and put your mind at ease when you’re not able to be with them. It’s essentially a remote caregiving service to help look after your loved ones.

To take advantage of Alexa Together, the person receiving support needs to have an Echo device, both people involved need to have Amazon accounts, and someone needs to pay the $19.99/month subscription cost. It’s not necessary for either person to have a Prime account, but some features are locked behind a Prime subscription.

With Alexa Together, you can create alerts to be notified of your loved one’s first Alexa interaction of the day and their smart home device use. You’ll receive notifications on your smartphone, and if something seems off, you’ll know.

There’s also Remote Assist feature that allows you to manage device settings, remotely set reminders for your loved one, see their grocery list, and more. Alexa Together also comes with a professionally staffed 24/7 Urgent Response team that your loved one can contact by saying “Alexa, call for help,” if they need to call hands-free.

5. Mayo Clinic First Aid

For basic first aid help, the Mayo Clinic First Aid Alexa skill is a great tool. After you enable the skill, you can say “Alexa, open Mayo First Aid,” and then ask for whatever help you need. Mayo Clinic First Aid can help you treat a fever, learn about different spider bites, treat a small cut, or learn how to care for a minor burn. You can even get instructions for CPR, though this is best used as a reminder and not as a replacement for an actual CPR certification.

6. Information Through WebMD

The wealth of medical information at your fingertips through WebMD is both a blessing and a curse. It’s super helpful to have the answers to almost every health-related question at a moment’s notice, but it can be dangerous to go down a WebMD rabbit hole rather than seek out an in-person medical professional.

Instead, you can ask Alexa for medical advice through WebMD. Any question that you would’ve typed into WebMD’s search bar can now be searched directly through Amazon’s Alexa, as long as you’ve enabled the WebMD Alexa skill. You can ask about drug side effects, symptoms, treatments, medical definitions, diet information, and so much more—all by simply saying “Alexa, ask WebMD,” followed by your question.

7. WebMD Med Reminders

Much of what Alexa can do in the health industry is all-inclusive, but there are also Alexa skills for specific medical needs. The WebMD Med Reminders skill sends out reminders through Alexa-enabled devices when it’s time to take your pills and other medicines. Those reminders also sync up to the WebMD mobile app on your smartphone as long as you’re signed in with your WebMD account.

There are a few different voice commands to try out with the WebMD Med Reminders Alexa skill. You can say “add reminder” to create a new reminder, “edit reminder” to adjust the time for your med reminder or delete it, and “list” to hear all your reminders for the day.

The Telemedicine Industry Comes to Voice Assistants

The amount of telehealth options people have is phenomenal, and bringing Alexa functionality to telemedicine is making it even easier to schedule doctor visits, remember when those appointments are, and ultimately heal faster.

For minor illnesses, like the common cold, an ear infection, or even the flu, seeing a doctor virtually is a great way to minimize the spread of infection. Plus, who wants to leave the house when they’re sick? There are potential downsides to telemedicine, but for the most part, the benefits are greater.