emPOWER AI

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The HHS emPOWER Program provides dynamic data, training and mapping tools to help communities protect the health of more than 4.2 million Medicare beneficiaries who live independently and are electricity and health care dependent. One of those tools, the HHS emPOWER Map, provides de-identified Medicare data, down to the ZIP Code, for 2.5 million of those that rely on electricity-dependent medical equipment, such as ventilators, oxygen concentrators, wheelchairs and certain cardiac devices.

The emPOWER AI Skill puts the power of the HHS emPOWER Map data into the hands of every first responder (e.g. fire, emergency medical services, sheriffs), public health and emergency management official, health care provider, utility and local community members. Each can help their community be better prepared and ready to act to assist electricity-dependent populations in the event of a prolonged power outage or other emergency.

By asking one quick question, you can access emPOWER data at the national, territory, state, county, and ZIP Code levels to support emergency preparedness and response activities, such as identifying geographic locations that may require more first-responder support, or for planning evacuations. Local community centers and organizations can potentially support these activities by providing access to facilities that have power so individuals can recharge their back up batteries.

The emPOWER AI Skill and HHS emPOWER Program represents the HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ dedication to helping communities to better anticipate and protect the health of at-risk populations that may require assistance in an emergency or disaster. To learn more, please visit https://empowerprogram.hhs.gov/empowermap.

You can send us an email with your suggestions to empower@hhs.gov.

How to use this skill on a smartphone:

To get started, open Alexa and say "Alexa, open emPOWER AI".

You can ask the emPOWER AI to provide data for the following geographic areas:

- Nation-wide (United States)
- State
- U.S. Territory
- County
- ZIP Code

You can also ask emPOWER AI to provide data for your location by saying things like "How many electricity-dependent people are in my location", or "Tell me the number of beneficiaries in my ZIP Code".

How to use this skill on an Alexa home device (e.g., Echo):

With a home device, you can simply jump right in and say “Alexa, open emPOWER AI” to launch this Skill and start asking specific questions. Alternately, you can ask a question when launching the skill: “Alexa, launch empower AI and ask how many electricity-dependent Medicare beneficiaries are in California?” You can also say general commands to the emPOWER AI, such as “Alexa, stop” and “Alexa, repeat.”

This Skill was designed by the HHS emPOWER Program and developed by CTAC.
For developer information and questions, contact CTAC at empowerdev@ctacorp.com.