Utah Pilot Program for Medication Renewals with AI Perverts Medical Practice
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Utah has launched a pilot program with Doctronic, a company that describes itself as “your private and personal AI doctor” to allow the firm’s proprietary AI healthcare platform to refill prescription medications for people in the state with certain common conditions such as diabetes and high blood pressure. The description of the program blurs the distinction between refill requests being evaluated by “medical-grade AI with evidence-based protocols” and review by a human medical doctor. The program is not regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Dr. Robert Steinbrook, Health Research Group Director at Public Citizen, issued the following statement:
“AI should not be autonomously refilling prescriptions, nor identifying itself as an ‘AI doctor’ that ‘you can talk to me just like your regular doctor.’ ‘AI doctor’ misleads consumers, perverts the language, and is a term that should not be used. AI is a software application, not a licensed physician or other medical professional. There is no such thing as an ‘AI doctor’ or ‘medical-grade AI.’
“Decisions made by AI with human oversight are in practice decisions made by AI most of the time. Data and common sense suggest that clinicians will ratify what the AI, or any other computer application, recommends, without effective oversight of prescription renewals. Although the thoughtful application of AI can help to improve aspects of medical care, the Utah pilot program is a dangerous first step toward more autonomous medical practice. The FDA and other federal regulatory agencies cannot look the other way when AI applications undermine the essential human clinician role in prescribing and renewing medications.”