Alexa Will Now Connect Consumers to a Teladoc Physician

In a move aimed at meeting consumers where they are, Teladoc has begun offering access to some of its general medical telehealth services through Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant and Echo devices.

Under the partnership, consumers can now give the command “Alexa, I want to talk to a doctor” at any time of the day and they will be routed to a Teladoc call center.

Teladoc call representatives will ask consumers questions to help set up a Teladoc account, including verifying recent medical history and insurance information. After the call, a Teladoc physician will call the consumer back for the visit. Out-of-pocket fees for the service will be as low as $0 for insured patients to $75 per visit for the uninsured.

Although launched as an audio service, the companies plan to offer video services through Alexa in the future.

This is yet another move by Amazon to expand Alexa’s use in health care. In December, the company began its Alexa Together service, which allows aging adults to stay in close contact with loved ones and caregivers. The service, which sells for $19.99 per month, allows loved ones and users to customize daily alerts, access urgent response 24/7, receive fall detection support and more.