{"id":118223,"date":"2026-01-06T15:57:32","date_gmt":"2026-01-06T20:57:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.citizen.org\/?post_type=news&p=118223"},"modified":"2026-01-06T15:57:32","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T20:57:32","slug":"utah-pilot-program-for-medication-renewals-with-ai-perverts-medical-practice","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.citizen.org\/news\/utah-pilot-program-for-medication-renewals-with-ai-perverts-medical-practice\/","title":{"rendered":"Utah Pilot Program for Medication Renewals with AI Perverts Medical Practice"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Utah has launched a pilot program with Doctronic, a company that describes itself<\/a> as \u201cyour private and personal AI doctor\u201d to allow the firm\u2019s proprietary AI healthcare platform to refill<\/a> 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<\/a> by \u201cmedical-grade AI with evidence-based protocols\u201d and review<\/a> by a human medical doctor. The program is not regulated<\/a> by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Dr. Robert Steinbrook, Health Research Group Director at Public Citizen,<\/strong> issued the following statement:<\/p>\n

\u201cAI should not be autonomously refilling prescriptions, nor identifying itself<\/a> as an \u2018AI doctor\u2019 that \u2018you can talk to me just like your regular doctor.\u2019 \u2018AI doctor\u2019 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 \u2018AI doctor\u2019 or \u2018medical-grade AI.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cDecisions 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.\u201d<\/p>\n ","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"class_list":["post-118223","news","type-news","status-publish","hentry","tax_topic-ai","tax_topic-big-tech","tax_topic-consumer-worker-safeguards","tax_topic-health-care","tax_topic-safe-affordable-drugs-devices","tax_case_topic-internet-free-speech-miscellaneous","tax_case_topic-internet-free-speech-right-to-speak-anonymously","tax_case_topic-internet-free-speech-use-of-brand-names-in-domain-names-and-metatags","tax_news-press"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nUtah Pilot Program for Medication Renewals with AI Perverts Medical Practice - Public Citizen<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.citizen.org\/news\/utah-pilot-program-for-medication-renewals-with-ai-perverts-medical-practice\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Utah Pilot Program for Medication Renewals with AI Perverts Medical Practice - 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