Caution
Real physicians will review the first 250 renewals in each drug category; after that threshold the AI chatbot will operate independently. Adam Oskowitz, Doctronic co-founder and a professor at the University of California, San Francisco, told Politico the chatbot is built to favor caution and to escalate any uncertain cases to a human doctor.
“Utah’s approach to regulatory mitigation strikes an important balance between promoting innovation and protecting consumer safety,” Margaret Woolley Busse, executive director of the Utah Department of Commerce, said in a statement.
At present, it’s uncertain whether the Food and Drug Administration will move to regulate AI-driven prescribing. On one hand, prescription renewals are part of medical practice and typically fall under state oversight. On the other, Politico notes the FDA has maintained that it can regulate medical devices used to diagnose, treat, or prevent disease.
In a statement, Robert Steinbrook, health research group director at watchdog Public Citizen, criticized Doctronic’s program and the absence of sufficient oversight. “AI should not be autonomously refilling prescriptions, nor identifying itself as an ‘AI doctor,’” Steinbrook said.
“While the careful application of AI can improve certain elements of medical care, the Utah pilot program is a risky first step toward more autonomous medical practice,” he said. “The FDA and other federal regulatory agencies cannot turn a blind eye when AI applications undermine the essential human clinician role in prescribing and renewing medications.”
