STAT+: Utah medical board calls for immediate suspension of state’s AI doctor experiment

STAT PlusHealth tech Utah medical board calls for immediate suspension of state’s AI doctor experiment The state’s pilot puts Utah residents at risk, the board wrote Manage alerts for this article Email this article Share this article By Mario AguilarApril 24, 2026 Health Tech Correspondent Mario Aguilar[email protected]Mario Aguilar covers technology in health care, including artificial intelligence, virtual reality, wearable devices, telehealth, and digital therapeutics. His stories explore how tech is changing the practice of health care and the business and policy challenges to realizing tech’s promise. He’s also the co-author of the free, twice weekly STAT Health Tech newsletter.

You can reach Mario on Signal at mariojoze.13. Utah’s high-profile experiment with using an artificial intelligence system to renew prescriptions without physician oversight is facing its first major challenge as doctors in the state push back. Utah’s Office of Artificial Intelligence Policy in January announced an agreement with AI doctor startup Doctronic to launch a chatbot that can conduct a clinical evaluation of a patient and autonomously renew prescriptions for nearly 200 drugs.

In a letter published Friday, the Utah Medical Licensing Board said it only learned about the agreement after the plan had been launched and asked the state to halt the program.Advertisement “Proceeding with this agreement without consulting the Medical Board potentially places Utah citizens at risk and remains a major concern of the board,” they wrote. “It is the strong recommendation of the Utah Medical Licensing Board that this program be immediately suspended pending further discussion.” STAT+ Exclusive Story Already have an account? Log in This article is exclusive to STAT+ subscribers Unlock this article — and get additional analysis of the technologies disrupting health care — by subscribing to STAT+.

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2-10 Users $300 Annually per user $300/year Get Started $300 Annually per user View All Plans To read the rest of this story subscribe to STAT+. Subscribe Log In Artificial intelligence, health tech, Policy Submit a correction requestReprints Mario Aguilar Health Tech Correspondent Mario Aguilar covers technology in health care, including artificial intelligence, virtual reality, wearable devices, telehealth, and digital therapeutics. His stories explore how tech is changing the practice of health care and the business and policy challenges to realizing tech’s promise.

He’s also the co-author of the free, twice weekly STAT Health Tech newsletter. You can reach Mario on Signal at mariojoze.13. Newsletter Tech is transforming health care and life sciences.

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