Giant Eagle offering Amazon Alexa medication capabilities

If Giant Eagle customers ask, they will receive their prescriptions. 

Giant Eagle is offering new Amazon Alexa capabilities that allow customers to set medication reminders by using their pharmacy prescription information and to request prescription refills, by asking the Alexa voice assistant. Leveraging software from medication management solutions provider Omnicell, the new Alexa medication reminders and voice refill request features are now available.

To use these features, customers first need to enable the Giant Eagle pharmacy Alexa skill and link their account. The customer will then be asked to create an Alexa voice profile, if they don’t already have one, and create a personal passcode for an added layer of security. Once set-up is complete, a customer can say, "Alexa, manage my medication" to get started setting up their reminders. 

Alexa will then help the customer review their current prescriptions and set up medication reminders based on when the customer prefers to take each medication. When the reminder goes off, customers can ask, "Alexa, what medication am I supposed to take right now?" In addition, customers can use Alexa to request a refill from their pharmacy by saying, "Alexa, refill my prescription."

These medication management features use multiple layers of verification to ensure that only the customer has access to their personal prescription information via Alexa. Alexa will first recognize customers by their voice, then ask for the personal passcode they created during the set-up process. If the voice profile or personal passcode does not match with the account, information will not be relayed. 

Interactions with this skill are also redacted in the Alexa app to maintain privacy. Customers can review and delete their voice recordings at any time on the privacy settings page, via the Alexa app, or by voice. 

“We’re thrilled to help our Giant Eagle Pharmacy patients more easily integrate prescription management into their everyday lives with the introduction of the Giant Eagle Pharmacy skill,” said Jim Tsipakis, Giant Eagle senior VP of pharmacy. “We’re passionate about making care as accessible as possible for our patients, and this unique collaboration with Amazon has enabled us to utilize voice technology to do just that.”

Giant Eagle operates 410 stores in Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Indiana and Maryland.