January 31, 2024 Healthcare staff at Saint Joseph’s/Candler Hospital in Georgia are the newest users of the Amazon Just Walk Out generation, which allows them to purchase food or beverages and get paid accordingly, without scanning product barcodes or interacting with the store’s point of sale. (POS).
The hospital’s SmartBytes store sells unstaffed meals, snacks, and beverages. Instead, health care personnel who buy food there use their ID cards to identify themselves, identify their product, and walk through the door.
The system, which went live in December 2023, leverages computer vision, sensor fusion, and generative synthetic intelligence (AI) generation to identify each and every item removed from the store, linking those pieces to the user making the purchase.
Amazon Just Walk Out stores and payment systems have been rolling out in stadiums, airports and other vendor sites across the country. The company has reported 120 third-party store deployments and growing.
The concept of this generation is to allow consumers to buy without going through the checkout. Amazon recently launched a UHF RFID generation edition to uniquely identify each product, often in cases where clothing is sold. Clothing can be a challenge for computer vision generation. while food products are more predictably recognizable.
More recently, Amazon is a health center food site.
While this is the first Just Walk Out store in a hospital, the Seattle giant is targeting the sector. The health care market will gain advantages from the generation that automates purchasing, Jon Jenkins, vice president of Just Walk Out, wrote in a blog post.
“Many hospital employees don’t bring their wallets or phones during business hours, which can make it difficult to buy food and beverages,” she said.
In addition, because most hospital cafeterias and outlets are open during general business hours, quick and easy access to food can be difficult for hospital night shift staff.
The solution delivered through Morrison Healthcare, which works in partnership with St. John’s Office. John’s. Joseph’s/Candler for more than 70 years, to provide food and nutrition services, adding clinical nutritional support, patient food and retail food service operations management, says Taylor Miller, director of Morrison Healthcare. Regional Director of Operations.
In mid-2021, Candler decided to adopt the Amazon Just Walk Out solution for its workers “in the evolution to a more seamless service,” Miller says. “The addition of automated payment generation into SmartBytes creates a. . . cashless grocery marketplace available at any time to Candler workers and hospital visitors. »
Generation is combined with the ability to pay for badges, so you can pay for your options with nothing but your personal badge.
That, said Jenkins, “will provide health care employees 24/7 access to food and beverages, while expanding the functionality of their employee badge beyond identification and building access to payments linked to payroll.”
Employees at Candler Hospital in Savannah scan their credentials upon entry. The badge ID stored in the formula software is connected to your payment, like a credit card account.
As they leave the store with their selected merchandise—such as a sandwich and drink—the computer vision technology identifies the items they are carrying and create a virtual shopping basket. The worker then simply leaves the store and is charged for their purchase.
The generation also works for visitors as friends of patients or family members. They would provide a credit card or other payment method before entering the store and then charge them for the pieces they removed.
The Just Walk Out generation allows the SmartBytes market to be open all day, every day, Miller says, and offers a physically more physically powerful food option than vending machines.
“The market is close to the emergency department and offers a nutritious and convenient food option for those waiting for the moment to indulge,” she adds.
Candler Hospital management will review the impact of the SmartBytes shopping experience before determining how the technology could be deployed in other areas of the healthcare campus, according to Paul Hinchey, St. Joseph’s/Candler’s president and CEO.
You must be logged in as a registered user to access. Not a registered user? Sign up for basic membership for free here.