Utah medical licensing board urges state to suspend AI prescriptions
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The Utah Medical Licensing Board is calling on the state to "immediately suspend" its experiment with AI prescription refills.
Why it matters: The 11 doctors on the board, which determines who's qualified to provide services that require medical licensure, said they weren't consulted or notified before the state authorized the nation's first system for AI drug prescriptions.
What they're saying: "It is imperative that professionals with medical backgrounds review all proposals prior to implementation to ensure these programs do not compromise patient safety," the board wrote in a letter last week to the state Department of Commerce.
- "We must not allow AI or other financial motivations to override this obligation, yet that is precisely what occurred here," the letter states.
How it works: The state is forming agreements with AI health companies that waive parts of Utah's medical licensing requirements for certain services, including prescription refills, some dental diagnoses and a youth therapy program being tested in some schools.
The other side: "We are participating in the process as designed, with defined safeguards, physician oversight of every prescription in the first phase of the program, and continued physician involvement throughout," Doctronic co-founder Matt Pavelle told Axios in a written statement.
- The Department of Commerce didn't immediately respond to Axios' query. It previously has said Doctronic's data showed its AI prescription recommendations matched those of human doctors in more than 99% of cases — though that finding wasn't peer-reviewed, critics say.
Between the lines: The letter comes a little over a month after AI security researchers announced they'd tricked the system powering Utah's refill bot to spread vaccine conspiracy theories, triple a patient's prescribed pain medication dosage and recommend methamphetamine as treatment.
- The researchers said flaws persisted even after they alerted Doctronic, the company Utah contracted in its pilot program.
Caveat: Utah's system has some safeguards that are independent from the company's public chatbot the researchers used.
Yes, but: Physician contact still is crucial so patients don't "remain on outdated or suboptimal therapy for months or years," the board wrote in its April 20 letter.
Catch up quick: The American Medical Association and American College of Physicians have warned against AI prescriptions. Other medical experts say the FDA should be regulating the bot as a medical device.
- Meanwhile, Utah officials say AI will save patients money and time, especially in rural areas, where physicians are scarce.
The latest: The state issued a licensing waiver for AI medical services in March, this time with the company Legion Health, focusing on prescription renewals for psychiatric meds like SSRIs.