The Utah Department of Commerce’s Office of Artificial Intelligence Policy announced a partnership with Doctronic to allows an AI system to legally participate in medical decision-making for prescription renewals for patients with chronic health conditions.
While many states are working to regulate the ability for AI to make care decisions, this is the first program in the country that allows for direct prescription approval by an AI program.
In the announcement, medication compliance is cited as the largest driver of preventable health outcomes, noting that prescription renewals account for 80% of medication activity, and that this agreement was made to reduce delays in medication lapses.
At the Doctronic prescription renewal portal, patients must confirm that they are located in Utah, enter the medication they want refilled, and then select an in-state pharmacy for fulfillment. Users must then upload their ID and a verification selfie and then pay a $4 service fee. Doctronic reviews the information to ensure a prescription history exists before issuing a refill, but the website does not detail what clinical factors are evaluated.
Speaking with The Salt Lake Tribune, Adam Oskowitz, Doctronic co-founder, said that Doctronicuses a shared database connected to about 95% of pharmacies to verify if the person has previously received a prescription for the requested drug. If the AI is uncertain if a prescription should be renewed, it refers the patient to a Utah-licensed human physician.
According to the contract between Doctronic and Utah, Doctronic can only renew prescriptions from a list of 192 drugs, none of which are controlled substances. The list includes many drugs for the treatment of chronic conditions like hypertension, diabetes, pain, inflammation, muscle spasms, asthma, COPD, anxiety and depression, birth control, erectile dysfunction, migraine/headache, and more.
Doctronic will only process renewal requests for a 30, 60, or 90-day refill of medications that have been previously prescribed by a licensed healthcare provider, with no new prescriptions or modifications of prior treatment plans initiated through the platform. All AI-generated renewals will be clearly identified to pharmacists, and pharmacists will retain full authority to escalate any renewal to a Doctronic physician that is licensed in the State of Utah to practice medicine.
The pilot program will run for 12 months and roll out in three phases.
Phase One includes the first 250 patients processed through the system, with prescription renewals reviewed by a physician before they’re sent to pharmacies. Doctronic will be required to send a monthly report that details requests for prescription renewals, the number of accepted and denied requests, and the corresponding decisions of the physician overseeing the renewals.
Phase Two will apply to the subsequent 1,000 patients processed, and every AI-generated renewal decision will undergo retrospective review by licensed physicians. The contact language does not indicate that prior review will continue at this phase.
Phase Three will continue the program until the end of the contract period, involving a monthly review of 5-10% of all processed reviews.
Some have stated that this pilot program could eliminate a significant amount of work for routine renewals, reducing burden on healthcare professionals, which can prevent delays in care. This can especially be true in states like Utah with rural areas where provider access may be limited.
The pilot is an example of how organizations are beginning to test the limits of AI’s potential to augment and scale clinical decision-making as it explores the shift from human-in-the-loop to human-on-the-loop design.
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