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A health care company in Utah has received approval for a pilot program that allows artificial intelligence to issue initial prescriptions, making it the first such program in the United States to be authorized by a state regulator. Nolla Health, based in New York City, announced the program on Monday through a blog post, highlighting its focus on "AI-powered prescriptions" for acne treatment. The announcement follows collaboration with the Utah Office of Artificial Intelligence Policy.
The program, called Nolla Derm, aims to address health care access gaps by reducing appointment wait times and lowering costs typically associated with visiting a dermatologist. Utah residents aged 18 and older can download the app and begin the process at a starting price of $4.99 per month. After verifying their identity, providing informed consent, and completing an intake questionnaire, patients use the app to take a five-angle face scan. Within 10 to 15 minutes, the AI generates a personalized treatment plan and, if suitable, an initial prescription.
The pilot will proceed in three stages, each involving physician oversight. In the first stage, which covers the first 100 patients, two licensed physicians independently review and approve every AI-generated prescription before it reaches the patient. The second stage, expanding to up to 500 patients, allows the AI to issue prescriptions directly, with a physician reviewing every case after the fact on at least a weekly basis. In the third stage, a physician will review 10 percent of prescriptions each month and handle all cases involving escalations or side effects. Stages one and two will last a minimum of four and eight weeks, respectively, and moving to the next stage requires meeting safety standards, including a 95 percent agreement rate with physicians and no serious adverse events, along with written state approval.
Patients can message a licensed physician at any time through the app at no extra cost. The company selected acne treatment as the starting point because it is "well understood, low risk, and backed by decades of clinical evidence," according to the company’s blog post.