Utah, United States, January 9, 2026: Utah has become the first U.S. state to allow patients to renew prescriptions through artificial intelligence without the need for a physician. Utah announced a partnership with Doctronic on January 6, 2026, to launch an autonomous AI-powered prescription renewal system. The platform enables patients with chronic conditions to renew their medications entirely through artificial intelligence.
According to a press release by the state, the initiative addresses a critical gap in American healthcare: medication adherence. According to Dr. Adam Oskowitz, a physician and Doctronic co-founder, “medication non-compliance is one of the largest drivers of poor health outcomes and preventable healthcare costs, responsible for over $100 billion in avoidable medical expenses annually.”
Prescription renewals account for approximately 80 percent of all medication activity, and the program aims to prevent delays that can lead to treatment interruptions.
Matt Pavelle, co-CEO of Doctronic, framed the partnership as a potential template for other states: “This enables patients, pharmacists, and physicians to work together more efficiently, with measurable results that benefit the entire healthcare system.”
Doctronic markets itself as a “private and personal AI doctor” that has already assisted users more than 20 million times. For Utah residents, the prescription renewal process is streamlined into a fully digital experience. It involves the following steps:
Patients must be physically located in Utah and place orders at pharmacies within state borders. After confirming location and email, the system verifies identity and securely accesses existing prescription records. The AI then reviews selected medications and transmits refill orders directly to the chosen pharmacy, which handles final fulfillment and patient communication.
The service costs $4 per refill, with a limit of one refill per request.
Beyond the automated refill service, Doctronic also offers optional video consultations with licensed physicians for $39.
The AI is permitted to recognize 191 different medications. “This includes many of the most commonly prescribed medications in the U.S., such as blood pressure drugs, cardiometabolic medications, birth control, and SSRIs,” a Doctronic representative told PEOPLE.
To ensure safety and accuracy, human physicians will review the first 250 prescriptions issued in each medication class to validate the AI’s performance. Once that threshold is met, subsequent renewals within that class will be handled autonomously.
Utah’s Office will conduct a rigorous evaluation of the platform across multiple metrics. The pilot program will monitor medication refill timeliness, patient adherence, access, and satisfaction. It will also track safety outcomes, workflow efficiency, and cost impact.
These data points are intended to determine whether AI can deliver measurable improvements while maintaining clinical safety standards.
Doctronic’s AI platform has not been specifically approved or regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for prescribing medications. Instead, it is operating under a Utah-based pilot program regulated at the state level.
Utah has launched a first-of-its-kind, state-approved initiative allowing Doctronic’s AI to manage routine prescription renewals for certain chronic conditions under state law rather than federal FDA oversight.
The FDA has not issued a ruling on Doctronic’s specific program. While the agency has the authority to regulate AI as a medical device when it is used to diagnose, treat, or prevent disease, it has so far limited to state-level regulation in this case. According to Lowell Schiller, a former chief counsel for the FDA, AI-driven prescription renewal may fall under the practice of medicine and could therefore be subject to state regulations.
For now, it remains unclear whether federal regulators will intervene as AI systems take on increasingly autonomous roles in healthcare delivery.
(Rh/VK)
