Utah Tests AI for Routine Medication Refills
The state of Utah has embarked on the first test of artificial intelligence as an autonomous clinical decision-maker under a regulatory suspension paradigm with AI company Doctronic.
Rather than wait days or weeks to get an appointment with their doctor to refill routine medications, Utahns can chat with an AI agent online to renew their prescriptions nearly instantly.
The Pain Point
Doctronic, along with the state, is betting that the issue of cumbersome prescription refills is a significant enough pain point for Utah patients, pharmacists, and doctors that they will be willing to engage with AI to resolve the issue. The company asserts that the refill automation will improve medication adherence and prevent downstream medical issues.
Some of the medications that the AI may refill for Utah patients include statins for high cholesterol, medications for high blood pressure, psychiatric medications, and birth control.
Regulatory Sandbox
In 2024, Utah legislators created an AI regulatory sandbox allowing the state to waive certain laws to test novel programs, often in collaboration with private companies. The intent is to gather data to prove the concept and eventually present it to lawmakers.
In this case, exceptions are being made to laws concerning professional licensure, scope of practice, professional conduct, and telehealth prescribing.
Expert Insights
Zach Boyd, Ph.D., director of the Office of Artificial Intelligence Policy for the state of Utah, commented, “For most practitioners of medicine, the lines of who does what in medicine are kind of sacred and legally defined. We’re in the Department of Commerce in the state, which is the entity that draws and redraws those lines all the time.”
Safety Measures
To qualify for the regulatory relief program, Doctronic entered into an agreement with the state and designed a program that includes safety checks, ongoing reporting, and data privacy requirements. Adam Oskowitz, M.D., co-founder of Doctronic, stated, “It’s a great point for us to just kind of interject and help everyone out.”
The company has limited the types of medications it will refill to 191 commonly prescribed drugs, excluding risky medications such as narcotics and antibiotics. The formulary was reviewed by independent pharmacists and the state, ensuring that the AI only processes refills for prescriptions previously prescribed by a licensed practitioner.
Phased Rollout
The rollout of this AI initiative includes multiple phases that gradually grant the AI application more autonomy. The first 250 refills will be overseen by a human clinician, followed by a sampling of 10% of cases to check the AI’s decisions.
Monthly, Doctronic will report the number of users of the AI technology, impact analyses, technology assessments, and user complaints, as well as the number of accepted and denied refills.
Future Discussions
Doctronic has initiated conversations with regulators in Arizona and has upcoming discussions with Texas, which also passed an AI sandbox law. Boyd emphasized, “The goal is, after a certain period of time of deployment, we’re going to have a robust evidentiary case for what the best practices are for this kind of thing.”
This regulatory reset is crucial for advancing AI’s role in healthcare, traditionally a highly protected domain.
