Lenovo Health and Orbita Launch Voice-Enabled Home Health Assistant Technology

North Carolina-based health IT company Lenovo Health and Orbita, a Boston-based connected home healthcare company, launched a virtual home care solution and showcased the technology at HIMSS17 in Orlando.

The technology collaboration is based on two recently unveiled products, Lenovo Smart Assistant and Orbita Voice. Lenovo’s Smart Assistant, first previewed at the Consumer Electronics Show in January, is a voice-controlled speaker for the home that combines the Amazon Alexa voice platform and Harman Kardon speaker technology. Orbita’s Voice is a voice experience manager for healthcare that builds on voice assistant platforms like Amazon Alexa to enable patient-centric home care experiences. The two companies said the natural voice assistant technology is intended to improve patient engagement, care coordination, and outcomes, in particular with regards to chronic and post-acute care needs.

“There is a significant gap in the delivery of care; it’s not what happens when in front of your providers that’s most important, but what happens at home, making it a care setting,” Tom Foley, director of global health solution strategy at Lenovo Health, said in a statement. “Lenovo Health’s Virtual Care solution aims to innovate the home and the manner in which one engages technology. Leveraging our voice and utilizing telehealth to interact with a patient’s provider will transform the delivery of care model. Our collaboration with Orbita will allow us to achieve this vision.”

“Voice is the user interface of the future and is transforming how we think about patient engagement in home healthcare,” Nathan Treloar, Orbita president and chief operating officer, said in a statement.