Utah to let AI examine patients and prescribe medication without human oversight
3 hours ago
- Utah becomes the first state to allow an AI to replace a doctor, with a healthcare startup offering AI examinations and prescriptions for patients without direct human oversight, but only for mild-to-moderate acne.
- The program is limited to one year and uses Nolla Health's app, where patients scan their face and complete medical history; the AI analyzes skin, rates oiliness, and generates a numerical acne severity score to recommend from eight approved treatments.
- The rollout has three phases: first 100 prescriptions reviewed by a doctor, next 400 prescriptions submitted by AI with retrospective weekly physician review, and final phase with monthly review of at least 10% of prescriptions.
- Previous cases highlight dangers of trusting AI for medical advice, such as a man following ChatGPT's advice to use sodium bromide (causing bromism) and Google dropping AI health features due to inaccurate information.
- CEO Luis Wenus states adverse effects are limited to localized skin irritation or dryness, and prescriptions are only for topical medications, not pills, but the program could be a step toward AI replacing doctors for less serious conditions.