Utah clears world's first autonomous prescriptions without doctors
The pilot limits Nolla Health to eight physician-approved topical treatments and starts with physician review for the first 100 prescriptions.
- On Monday, Utah regulators authorized New York-based startup Nolla Health to allow its AI to evaluate patients and issue initial acne prescriptions without prior human review, marking a significant test of autonomous medical decision-making in the U.S.
- The program operates through the Nolla Derm app, where patients complete a 10- to 15-minute questionnaire and facial scan; it is part of a closely watched "AI sandbox" program that allows Utah's Office of Artificial Intelligence Policy to waive regulations.
- Nolla Health will use a phased approach, starting with two physicians approving every prescription for the first 100 patients, then loosening oversight to retrospective weekly reviews. The system must hand cases to a doctor if it cannot "confidently select a treatment."
- Chief Executive Luis Wenus aims to make dermatological care more affordable; the app costs $4.99 per month, significantly cheaper than typical visits running between $150 and $300. This could free providers to address more complex inflammatory diseases.
- While Nolla Health claims clinicians agree with its recommendations in more than 96 percent of cases, American Medical Association CEO John Whyte argues these tools shouldn't autonomously practice medicine. The startup plans to eventually expand beyond acne medication.
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AI just got a green light to prescribe drugs — at least in one state - The Daily Bo Snerdley
One state just let artificial intelligence step into a role long reserved for doctors. Utah authorized Nolla Health’s AI to issue first-time acne prescriptions starting Monday, the first approval of its kind in the U.S., Bloomberg reported. The state previously let another startup use AI to approve prescription refills despite criticism from physicians. “This makes Nolla the first ever end-to-end AI doctor,” Luis Wenus, founder of Nolla Health, …
This startup is issuing AI-generated acne prescriptions
People in Utah can now use AI to get a prescription for acne treatment. On Monday, healthcare startup Nolla Health announced that users in the state can scan their faces using its app, allowing its AI system to analyze acne severity and autonomously write a prescription, as reported earlier by Bloomberg. The service is launching […]
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