Industry News | 01.21.26
Artificial Intelligence Begins Prescribing Medications in Utah
By NAMSS Staff
Politico (01/06/26) Khorram, Yasmin; Reader, Ruth
While pharmacists nationwide already incorporate artificial intelligence (AI) into their prescription fulfillment process, Utah is taking the technology a step further with an automated system that refills prescriptions without any human intervention. The platform from Doctronic is designed for routine renewals of common maintenance medications used by chronically ill patients, and it is programmed to flag questionable cases to a physician. When compared with actual clinicians across 500 urgent care cases, the system achieved a high level of agreement (99.2%) with treatment plans recommended by medical professionals. "The AI is actually better than doctors at doing this," suggests Doctronic co-founder Adam Oskowitz, an associate professor of surgery at the University of California, San Francisco. "When you go see a doctor, it's not going to do all of the checks that the AI is doing." Despite those reassurances and the industry's general comfort level with automation, National Association of Boards of Pharmacy CEO Al Carter says Utah's pilot program highlights the questions and challenges that arise with the increasing use of AI in health care and raises questions about regulation.
Read the full story from Politico.