Is AI ready to take over your prescriptions? Doctors are wary of Utah's
automated refill program
[July 07, 2026]
By MATTHEW PERRONE
WASHINGTON (AP) — A prescription refill program that quietly launched in
Utah earlier this year has kicked off a big medical debate: Is
artificial intelligence ready to take over tasks that, until now, could
only be performed by doctors?
The program allows Utah residents to skip the doctor’s office and get
their prescriptions refilled online by an AI chatbot called Doctronic.
It’s a seemingly simple step toward making healthcare more convenient
for patients and prescribers.
But it’s also a precedent-shattering milestone that has set off alarm
bells for doctors, lawyers and public health experts. The pilot program
has laid bare a host of questions about the role of AI in medicine,
including how it should be regulated, whether doctors should be able to
veto it, and what kind of safety measures are needed to protect
patients.
At the center of the debate: state and federal laws limit prescribing to
licensed medical professionals. Proponents say those laws, which have
underwritten American medicine for over 100 years, should be updated to
include AI chatbots and other new technologies.
“We have crossed a threshold in terms of giving something that is not
human a medical license, whether or not we want to call it that,” said
Dr. Eric Bressman of the University of Pennsylvania.
AI cannot practice medicine under current laws
Bressman and other experts say they aren't opposed to AI prescribing.
But they say it should have to meet rigorous standards akin to human
doctors, who undergo years of testing and training before being licensed
to practice medicine.
In Utah, Doctronic was able to launch thanks to a “regulatory sandbox”
that allows state officials to waive laws for AI companies offering
promising technology.
The refill program is currently overseen by a five-member board of AI
specialists, none of whom are doctors, who say they have implemented
numerous safeguards. During the program's initial phase, for example,
human doctors review all Doctronic refill orders. The company expects to
soon transition to fully automated refills.
The head of the state’s medical licensing board says he and his
colleagues learned of the program when its January launch was reported
in the news. In a March letter to the state, 11 board members called for
the program to be halted, citing the risks of automatically renewing
medicines that can have side effects or drug interactions.
“We were essentially told: ‘Yes this is going on. And no, you don’t have
a say in it,’” said Dr. Alan Smith, a family physician who heads the
board but said he was speaking only for himself.
Complicating the picture is the fact that medical technology is
traditionally regulated at the federal level, while medical
professionals are overseen by states.
Doctronic executives consider their AI part of the state-regulated
practice of medicine. But the federal Food and Drug Administration is
supposed to oversee AI that directly impacts medical care or decision
making, a line that some experts believe Doctronic has crossed.
Some states are clearing the way for AI in healthcare
In an interview, Doctronic’s executives wouldn't say whether they have
sought permission from the FDA.
“Our goal here is really just to meet patients where they need
healthcare,” said Dr. Adam Oskowitz, who co-founded the company with a
tech industry entrepreneur. “We try not to get too deep into the weeds
on the regulatory side.”
In Utah, residents can visit a Doctronic website built for the refill
program. After confirming their identity, the AI chatbot asks users
about their prescriptions and medical history, verifying that they have
a valid prescription by tapping into a national pharmacy database. If
there are no issues, the AI can renew the prescription and send it to a
local pharmacy. If the request requires more attention, the chatbot
transfers the patient to a doctor who works for Doctronic’s telehealth
service.
Oskowitz envisions a future where many routine medical tasks, including
ordering tests and analyzing results, can be offloaded to Doctronic,
allowing doctors to manage thousands more patients than they can today.
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 Other states are also waiving rules
for AI, including Texas and Wyoming.
Meanwhile, lawmakers in Iowa, Idaho and elsewhere have introduced
legislation to formally license AI medical services. Many of the
bills are based on a template from the nonprofit Cicero Institute, a
pro-AI think tank founded by Joe Lonsdale, co-founder of the
artificial intelligence software company Palantir.
Pushback against medical AI mainly stems from the
economic fears of doctors and other health workers, says Cicero’s
director for health policy.
“Whoever goes first is going to take the slings and arrows because
there’s economic interests, concerns about the workforce and what
that’s going to mean for jobs,” said Cicero's Adam Meier.
Doctors see potential risks to AI prescription refills
Smith, the medical board chair, says the risks to patients are real.
He points out that Doctronic’s list of 190 refillable medications
includes blood thinners, which can become dangerous if patients
develop stomach ulcers or other conditions that cause internal
bleeding.
“Many times when I see people after six months I find that their
medical history or situation has changed,” Smith said. “Just because
something was prescribed before does not mean it’s appropriate now.”
The American Medical Association has voiced similar concerns,
warning that “prescription renewals aren’t routine checkboxes.”
Zach Boyd, who heads Utah's AI office, said Doctronic has thus far
been overly cautious, often elevating uncontroversial decisions to
doctors. In response to safety concerns, several medications have
been removed from the list eligible for refills, including a drug
for irregular heartbeats.
Utah has released some initial data on the program and Doctronic
plans to publish peer-reviewed studies later this year. Currently
the only publication about its technology is a paper written by
company scientists that was not independently reviewed.
The study looked at whether Doctronic could correctly diagnose
medical conditions based on records from 500 telehealth
consultations. In the study, Doctronic's diagnoses matched that of
human doctors 80% of the time.
The FDA is taking a hands-off approach
Bressman says Utah should have demanded data on prescription refills
up front, not after Doctronic was up and running.
“Mostly they're accepting the company’s word on good faith that
they’re up to the task,” he said.
The current approach to AI mirrors the haphazard medical standards
of the early 20th century, Bressman says, before medical schools,
medical boards and other authorities agreed on national benchmarks
for training and licensing.
National guidelines on medical technology would typically come from
the FDA, but the agency has indicated it plans to take a hand-off
approach, at least under the current administration.
An FDA spokesperson said the agency has not authorized any AI
chatbots but “is committed to encouraging medical innovation and
helping bring promising new technologies to patients, while keeping
safety at the center of every decision.”
For now, Doctronic and other companies are likely to expand across
states with different regulatory approaches.
“Companies may benefit in the short term by expanding their business
models and kind of having the technology go beyond the evidence,”
says Daniel Aaron of University of Utah's law school. “But in the
long-term, I think they risk compromising public trust and fueling
backlash.”
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