Anthem, Amazon make member health plan info accessible on Alexa: 5 details

Anthem has made health plan information available through Amazon's voice-activated consumer devices.

Five things to know:

1. Anthem launched the Anthem Skill for Amazon's Echo and Alexa. Members in multiple markets can now ask the devices to provide information about their medical and dental health plans.

2. Members can link to their Anthem accounts in Alexa or Echo and ask questions about their plan benefits including their health savings accounts or health reimbursement account balances and progress on meeting their deductibles. They can also receive information about their out-of-pocket minimums, prescription refills and order identification cards.

3. The Anthem skill also provides information on more than 200 healthcare terms, and beneficiaries can schedule calls with member services through the devices.

4. The Anthem Skill is HIPAA compliant and the devices store any information in an "accumulated, de-identified manner," according to an Anthem news release.

5. Anthem aims to keep developing the capabilities of its skill and add vision plan information later this year.

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