A new program recently launched in Utah that uses artificial intelligence to refill prescriptions without having to talk to your healthcare provider. Doctors, lawyers, and public health experts, however, are skeptical over the safety of this new chatbot, Doctronic, and how well it will actually work to protect patients and their medical needs.
A new pilot program has launched in Utah this year that refills prescriptions for patients without them having to speak with their healthcare provider. The chatbot, Doctronic, utilizes artificial intelligence to accomplish the refills and make healthcare more convenient for both patients and prescribers.
However, doctors, lawyers, and public health experts alike are concerned and engrossed in a new debate over whether or not AI is ready and able to take over tasks that could only be performed by doctors.
The role of AI in medicine has been in development since the technology entered into our world. While many researchers are using it to learn more about common diseases and how to treat them, there is skepticism over how it should be regulated, whether doctors should be able to refuse it, and what safety measures are needed to best protect patients, the Associated Press reported.
State and federal laws limit prescribing to licensed medical professionals, and many experts state that those laws, which have existed within American medicine for over a century, should be updated to align with this new precedent being set by AI.
Dr. Eric Bressman of the University of Pennsylvania, told AP that lawmakers and medical professionals need to be aligned and have serious discussions over how this technology should be used in healthcare, if at all.
“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.”
Dr. Bressman and other experts have been discussing how they aren’t completely opposed to AI being used for prescribing, however, there needs to be serious and detailed standards put in place that are at the same level as the years of testing, training, and studying that human doctors need to endure before they can be licensed to practice medicine.
As of right now, Doctronic in Utah does not have that intense level of training. The program, according to reports, was able to be launched due to a “regulatory sandbox” that gives state officials the ability to waive laws for AI companies that offer “promising technology.”
Additionally, the refill program isn’t being overseen by any doctors, but instead a five-member board of AI specialists. The specialists stated that they’ve “implemented numerous safeguards,” for example, during the program’s initial phase human doctors review all Doctronic refill orders. However, the company does intend on transitioning to fully automated refills.
The head of Utah’s medical licensing board also said that he and his colleagues learned about Doctronic when it was reported about in the news after launching in January. In response, the team of 11 board members wrote a letter in March calling for the program to be halted, emphasizing the risks of automatically renewing medicines that have intense side effects or drug interactions.
Dr. Alan Smith, a family physician who heads the board, speaking for himself, stated:
“We were essentially told: ‘Yes this is going on, and no, you don’t have a say in it.”
Medical technology is normally regulated at the federal level with medical professionals being overseen by their specific state. Executives of Doctronic consider themselves a part of the state-regulated practice of medicine. However, the Food and Drug Administration is meant to oversee AI that directly impacts any medical care or decision making. Some experts believe that this new program has crossed and blurred the lines of proper regulation.
In an interview, Doctronic’s executives avoided saying whether they got permission from the FDA. Dr. Adam Oskowitz, who co-founded the company, instead stated that they’re just trying to meet patient needs.
“Our goal here is really just to meet patients where they need healthcare. We try not to get too deep into the weeds on the regulatory side.”
Residents in Utah can visit a Doctronic website built for the refill program and confirm their identity. Then the AI chatbot asks users about their prescriptions and medical history to verify 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 patient request requires more attention, the chatbot will then transfer them to a doctor who works for Doctronic’s telehealth service. Dr. Oskowitz also explained that he hopes the future of their platform will include routine medical tasks like ordering tests and analyzing results.
Utah isn’t the only state looking into integrating AI in their medical field. Texas and Wyoming both waived rules for AI. Lawmakers in Iowa, Idaho, and others have also introduced legislation to formally license AI medical services. Reports show that many of these bills are based on a template from the nonprofit Cicero Institute, a pro-AI think tank founded by the co-founder of AI software company Palantir, Joe Lonsdale.
Cicero’s Adam Meier stated that pushback against medical AI stems from economic fears of doctors and other healthcare workers. “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.”
On the other hand, Dr. Smith, the medical board chair, stated that the risks to patients are real and should not be understated. He stated that the Doctronic’s list of 190 refillable medications includes blood thinners, which can become dangerous if patients develop stomach ulcers or other conditions that can cause internal bleeding.
“Many times when I see people after six months I find that their medical history or situation has changed. Just because something was prescribed before does not mean it’s appropriate now,” he said.
The American Medical Association also warned that “prescription renewals aren’t routine checkboxes.”
Dr. Bressman also emphasized that Utah should have demanded data on prescription refills up front, not after Doctronic was already operational. “Mostly they’re accepting the company’s word on good faith that they’re up to the task.”
“The current approach to AI mirrors the haphazard medical standards of the early 20th century, before medical schools, medical boards and other authorities agreed on national benchmarks for training and licensing,” he said.
As previously mentioned, the FDA typically offers national guidelines on medical technology, however, an agency spokesperson has alluded that they plan on taking a hand-off approach, at least while the US is still under its current administration.
The FDA 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.”
Doctronic and other companies are likely to continue to expand across the US, but it’s hard to know what the actual long term impact will be, according to Daniel Aaron of University of Utah’s law school.
“Companies may benefit in the short term by expanding their business models and kind of having the technology go beyond the evidence. But in the long term, I think they risk compromising public trust and fueling backlash.”
Eric Mastrota is a Contributing Editor at The National Digest based in New York. A graduate of SUNY New Paltz, he reports on world news, culture, and lifestyle. You can reach him at eric.mastrota@thenationaldigest.com.
