AWS Opioid Crisis Council Committed to Help Solve the Opioid Epidemic

Today, VP of Public Policy, Brian Huseman, attended the White House signing ceremony for the SUPPORT for Patients & Communities Act, which seeks to help those impacted by the opioid crisis. Amazon was one of 21 companies in attendance who are working in different ways to solve for the crisis.

“Amazon will help first responders more efficiently access critical medical records and has programmed Alexa voice service to answer important questions about opioids and addiction,” Huseman said.

To help solve for the epidemic, Amazon created the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Opioid Crisis Council. The AWS Opioid Crisis Council strives to bring more transparency to addiction and its rippling effects both by building momentum for collective priorities among siloed stakeholders, and by analyzing large datasets to extrapolate insights from disparate sources. For example, the Council will use the cloud to improve first responders’ access to patients’ medical records and will help identify fraud leveraging analytics and the improved use of interstate prescription drug-monitoring programs. By facilitating ongoing dialogue between some of the brightest minds in healthcare, and through accountability of outcomes and proposed solutions, the Council aims to establish a sustainable infrastructure for better understanding the opioid epidemic and its social determinants. Read the recap and listen to the podcast from our inaugural meeting.

Earlier this year, we also partnered with the Ad Council and Truth Campaign to enable Alexa to answer important questions about the epidemic, including its scope and how to get help.

We are committed to helping end this crisis in innovative ways. Learn more about how AWS plans to help from our past posts here and here, or contact us at PublicHealth@Amazon.com.