Utah's AI prescription refill program draws scrutiny from doctors, regulators, and legal experts

A prescription refill program launched quietly in Utah at the start of 2025 has triggered a wide-ranging debate about whether artificial intelligence is ready to perform tasks that state and federal law have long reserved for licensed medical professionals. The program, run by a company called Doctronic, allows Utah residents to request prescription refills through an AI chatbot on a dedicated website. After verifying a user's identity and checking a national pharmacy database for a valid existing prescription, the AI can authorize a refill and send it to a local pharmacy, or escalate to a human Doctronic physician if the case requires more attention.

Doctronic's current list of refillable medications includes 190 drugs. According to the Associated Press, that list has included blood thinners, though some medications — including a drug for irregular heartbeats — were subsequently removed in response to safety concerns. The program is overseen by a five-member board of AI specialists, none of whom are physicians. During an initial phase, human doctors have reviewed all refill orders; the company says it plans to transition to fully automated refills.

The head of Utah's medical licensing board, Dr. Alan Smith, said he and colleagues only learned of the program when its January launch was reported in the news. In a March letter, 11 board members called for the program to be halted. "We were essentially told: 'Yes this is going on. And no, you don't have a say in it,'" Smith told the AP, speaking in a personal capacity. Smith noted that a patient's medical situation can change significantly between prescription cycles, making automatic renewal potentially risky. The American Medical Association echoed that concern, stating that "prescription renewals aren't routine checkboxes."