Approximately 50% of patients with chronic health conditions miss more than 20% of their prescribed medication doses, and failure to renew prescriptions on time is a significant cause of this gap. Of polled patients who did not follow their doctor-advised schedules, 20% did not renew the prescription early enough to avoid interrupting treatment.
Inability to secure a doctor’s renewal permission in time contributes to this dangerous trend. Renewals often require just a phone call or an online visit, but this still requires reaching a likely overwhelmed physician.
An AI-assisted renewal system of 191 different prescription drugs, currently being piloted in a one-year trial that began in December 2025 by Doctronic, using Utah’s AI sandbox, may render this problem rare in the future. Independent Women’s previous article explained some of the most notable safety features of the project, but other facets merit attention as well.
Insurance
Malpractice insurance protects patients by ensuring providers have adequate funds to pay the injured party in a lawsuit. Doctronic plays the provider role in Utah’s model, and it acquired unique malpractice insurance to guarantee the same recourse if a patient is harmed through AI renewal errors.
Approximately 2% of doctors face lawsuits annually, and about a third are sued at some point in their careers. Doctronic co-founder Dr. Adam Oskowitz says he believes the automated system will be “infinitely safer than a human doctor.” The results so far have indeed been very reassuring, with the Burros1* of questions, but the insurance is still there in case of a possible mistake.
Physician-Centered Care
Enthusiasm for AI is rapidly climbing among members of the medical community, and AI already plays a major role in both doctor offices and pharmacies. But although many welcome the idea of AI involvement, some still express apprehension about its new use in renewals.
Dr. John Whyte, CEO and executive vice president of the American Medical Association, muses that although AI has “limitless opportunity” in medicine, “without physician input it also poses serious risks to patients and physicians alike.”
However, AI-assisted renewals are very much that: AI-assisted.
Although AI can aid in the process, a physician must always complete an appointment with the patient for the initial prescription. No changes to any treatment plan can be done through the AI apparatus.
Prior to authorization, the system first asks the same screening questions doctors do. If the system determines the prescription is not eligible for renewal, it gives the patient a code for a free consultation with a physician. Even after a successful renewal, patients are directed to a physician for any follow-up questions.
The AI assistant makes the same decision as a physician in 99.2% of cases, which is more agreement than some doctors find between each other. Statistically, this is a stellar safety record. Even so, during the year-long sandbox period, physicians will also personally review the system’s first 250 AI renewals in every class of the commonly-used medications.
Abuse Avoidance
In its article about the new initiative, Politico notes, “One concern is misuse or abuse, including the possibility that people struggling with addiction could try to game automated systems to obtain drugs inappropriately.”
The worry is understandable, but it’s important to clarify that controlled substances still require a physician’s appointment for every renewal, and they are not used in (or even eligible for) the project.
In addition, AI-aided technology still uses the existing pharmacy system, which has its own sophisticated technological brakes on misuse. Not only does an individual pharmacy maintain a digital database that checks for excessive use and interactions, but the Controlled Substance Database facilitates automated digital sharing between multiple pharmacies, as well as between clinics and pharmacies.
Easing Burdens
Utah is only a few months into its year-long trial of this new technology, but the future looks very bright for patients struggling to manage medication continuity. Time spent travelling or waiting on the phone may soon be avoidable in many cases. Transportation and visit costs could sometimes be eliminated.
Every new innovation in health care should be taken seriously and studied thoroughly. But automating routine tasks previously taken on by high-cost providers is a smart way to ease unnecessary stress on everyone.