State Health & Human Services
A front door to care, in the words people use.
A Gemini-powered agent that helps people find local treatment in their own words and language, anonymously, from a database your agency vets. In production for the State of Arizona.
Illustration · not a live answer
Where can I find methadone treatment?
Here are treatment programs near you. I can also show how to pay for care, and directions.
- Opioid treatment programs
- Office-based treatment
- Residential
I'm pregnant. What can I use to pay?
The agent gives information about options. It is not medical advice.
The problem
A complex system, when people are most open to help.
Millions of Americans live with opioid use disorder, and opioid overdose has been a declared public health emergency since 2017. Finding the right local care is part of the problem.
Word of mouth and outdated guides
People seeking treatment relied on referrals, out-of-date community resource guides, or the work of navigating complex health plan websites.
No single guide for providers
Within the health care system, providers often struggled to give patients appropriate resources, with no single-source guide to the options.
Language, insurance and stigma
The people who need help most are often the ones facing barriers of language and insurance, at the moment they are open to asking.
Little visibility for the agency
Information was not centralized and data analysis was limited, which made it hard to see treatment gaps and plan strategically.
How it works
From a question to the right door.
One pipeline from a person's question to an answer they can act on, and from their usage to the agency's planning.
Step 1: Ask in your own words
Anonymously, by text or on a phone: "I need help with opioid addiction," or "Where can I find methadone treatment?"
Step 2: Understood in any language
Google Translate lets the agent understand and instantly translate queries in multiple languages.
Step 3: Matched to vetted providers
Gemini on Vertex AI reads the question and answers from a database the agency has vetted, never from the open web.
Step 4: Directions on any device
Google Maps pinpoints nearby options and gives directions on a phone, tablet or computer.
Step 5: Gaps become visible
Looker dashboards show what people ask for and where, so the agency can see usage trends and gaps in service.
What it does
Built for the people who need it most.
Plain-language questions
People describe their situation the way they would say it, and the agent interprets it, for example: "I'm pregnant and live in Apache Junction, and I need treatment and a place to live."
Many languages
Integrated with Google Translate, so a person is met in the words they use.
Only providers in good standing
The database lists only programs in good standing with the agency, which removes the worry about fraudulent or ineffective services.
Refine by what matters
Narrow results for pregnancy, single parents with young children, or residential facilities that accommodate pets, a factor that matters for people experiencing homelessness.
Payment options
Goes beyond location to show how care can be paid for, across publicly funded programs and private health plans.
Any phone, any hour
Optimized for smartphone and SMS, working 24/7 for urban and rural users alike. Over a third of visits start on mobile.
Proof
In production for the State of Arizona since late 2021.
- Unique individuals20,000+reached, expanding access to treatment information
- Page views100,000+on the Opioid Service Provider Locator since launch
- Engaged sessions55%+of sessions engaged: users find it valuable and use it
- Cities120+across the state of Arizona
“Gen AI at the front door allows us to respond to the person looking for treatment resources in ways that meet them where they are, with what they know, in words they use, in ways that sound like and feel like help–and get accurate information to them in that moment of time when they are looking.”
“You can engage anonymously and what comes back is a conversational set of information that's helpful, responsive, supportive, and not stigmatized. It's a front door into this ideally much larger array of information that anybody can interact with.”
AHCCCS is Arizona's Medicaid agency, serving more than 2 million Arizonans. Referrals come from over 37 healthcare agencies and 80+ websites. Figures and quotes from Google Cloud's published AHCCCS story and video.
Built on
Google Cloud, end to end.
Arizona built it with Google Cloud and Syntasa. Firebase and Firestore keep the information current and scalable, and BigQuery holds the database of providers and resources that Vertex AI and Gemini answer from.
Products used in Arizona
Trust
Information people can rely on.
A tool for finding care has to be trustworthy about what it is and what it isn't.
- Information, not advice. The agent presents available options. It does not endorse a provider or a course of treatment, and it gives information, not medical advice or treatment recommendations.
- Vetted listings. Only programs in good standing with the agency are listed, and providers keep their own listings current.
- Anonymous by design. People can ask without identifying themselves, and the answers are conversational, supportive and free of stigma.
The live locator states it plainly: the service is made available to help the public locate general information about treatment and services, and including a provider is not an endorsement of its quality or competence. It does not provide individual advice or counseling.
From the AHCCCS service locator
Resources
See it in Arizona.
- Video · 3 min
Watch the Arizona story
Kate Dobler of AHCCCS on how the locator meets people where they are.Watch - Google Cloud
AHCCCS case study
The State of Arizona advances access to treatment for opioid use disorder with Google AI.Read - AHCCCS
The live Opioid Service Locator
The public tool, run by the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System.Open
FAQ
Questions agencies ask first.
No. It provides information about possible treatment options, programs, facilities and payment options. It does not endorse any provider or recommend a course of treatment, and people are pointed to a licensed practitioner for advice.
The agent answers from a database the agency vets, and lists only programs in good standing with the agency. Providers maintain their own listings, and anyone can report inaccurate information to the agency.
It is integrated with Google Translate, so it can understand and instantly translate queries in multiple languages.
Usage is analyzed in Looker dashboards, which show trends in what people look for and where, and the gaps in service. In Arizona that data guides strategic planning and supports the case for continued public funding.
Google Cloud describes the Arizona work as a model other states and communities can follow. A working session with our engineers is the fastest way to scope what it would look like for your state and services.
Bring a front door to care to your state.
Tell us the services people struggle to find and what your agency already vets. We will walk through what a locator agent would look like for you.