STAT+: Utah plows ahead with more health AI pilots for prescriptions, women’s health

Utah regulators on Monday announced a plan to allow an artificial intelligence product to evaluate patients for acne treatment and write new drug prescriptions without prior human review. A startup called Nolla Health will launch an AI-powered service in the state that will assess a patient for mild-to-moderate acne treatment using a structured intake and by analyzing photos of their skin. The product may determine whether one of a list of low-risk drugs is appropriate.

In the first stages of the pilot, the decisions of the AI will be reviewed by a licensed clinician who will sign off on prescriptions, but Nolla may eventually be allowed to prescribe drugs without this review. The company last year announced it raised $4.5 million from investors including General Catalyst, and Nolla aspires to direct treatment for a host of conditions using AI.

The new pilot is part of a significant expansion of a closely watched “AI sandbox” program that allows Utah’s Office of Artificial Intelligence Policy, or OAIP, to waive regulations, including around the practice of medicine, for companies that want to test AI products under state supervision.