SALT LAKE CITY — Utah is expanding its artificial intelligence regulatory sandbox into health care, announcing three new clinical pilots, partnerships with the state’s largest health systems and a network of outside evaluators intended to test whether the technology is safe and useful for patients.
State leaders unveiled a new health care pillar Monday within Utah’s Pro-Human AI Initiative. The effort brings the Utah Department of Health and Human Services, Intermountain Health, University of Utah Health, medical licensing officials and outside experts into the state’s AI policy process.
The state’s regulatory sandbox allows companies to seek limited, temporary relief from specific state rules while testing AI products under conditions negotiated with regulators. The Office of Artificial Intelligence Policy says companies must provide a plan for patient safety, consumer benefit and data reporting before a pilot can move forward.
New report reveals growing trust gap in AI-powered shopping:
Commissioner Margaret Woolley Busse said the goal is to improve health care access and affordability while preserving human responsibility for important medical decisions.
“If we can get this right, we can actually see better access, we can actually see lower costs, we can see greater clinician capacity, we can see lowering barriers from geography, and we can make better use of a scarce health care workforce,” Busse said.
The announcement includes master agreement frameworks with Intermountain Health and University of Utah Health. The agreements cover issues such as data privacy and AI governance, allowing individual departments or divisions within each system to propose future pilots that the state would still need to review and approve.
University of Utah Health Chief Innovation Officer Dr. Jim Hotaling, a practicing surgeon, described using an AI tool to identify a potentially critical detail buried in a young patient’s extensive medical record. The tool flagged that three male relatives had died before age 40 from sudden cardiac death, he said. After Hotaling spoke with the patient and confirmed the history, the patient was evaluated and treated for a potentially lethal heart rhythm problem.
AI interest groups pour tens of millions of dollars into 2026 election:
“The goal is not to take the human out of the loop,” Hotaling said. “The goal is to actually make the human a better human and better able to take care of patients.”
The three newly announced pilots take different approaches to clinical AI:
- Nolla Health plans to use AI to support telehealth care for mild to moderate acne. State officials said Utah dermatologists will help oversee the program, with escalation pathways for more serious conditions or patients who want a higher level of care.
- Expect Fitness plans to use telehealth and AI assistance to expand access to pelvic-health physical therapy for women, particularly during pregnancy and after childbirth. The company’s approach would allow a limited number of licensed physical therapists to serve more patients remotely through AI-supported intake, treatment-plan development and follow-up.
- August AI plans to test AI-supported renewals for existing, non-controlled prescriptions used to manage chronic conditions. The company told reporters its initial formulary includes about 148 medications, starting with lower-risk drugs. The AI will not write new prescriptions, change doses or substitute medications. The state said the program adds a risk-stratified formulary, clearer liability provisions, improved electronic health record integration and third-party evaluation.
The pilots begin with 12-month agreements. Companies must notify the state before beginning operations, and the state can consider renewals after the initial period.
The state also announced a clinical AI advisory network and third-party evaluation network. Mark Sendak, CEO of Vega Health, said evaluators will independently assess whether a product meets the state’s evidentiary standards, including its expected benefit, potential failure modes and the evidence that could change a decision to approve or reject a product. The state, however, will retain authority over whether a company enters the sandbox.
Other initial evaluators include Clarion AI Partners, the Coalition for Health AI, Glacis Technologies, Empathic Health and Stanford’s Clinical Excellence Research Center.
The expansion comes after Utah drew national attention earlier this year for its Doctronic prescription-renewal pilot. That program allows AI to process certain renewals of medications already prescribed by a licensed provider. The state has said the pilot remains limited and subject to oversight.
The Utah Medical Licensing Board raised concerns about the earlier prescription-renewal experiment, saying refill decisions can involve side effects, interactions, contraindications and the need to determine whether treatment remains appropriate. The board now has a working group supporting the AI policy office’s review of health care applications.
Dr. Bill Hamilton, a physician and medical board member, said the working group is not a blanket approval of AI pilots. He said the focus is on physician-led oversight, phased safety review, patient disclosures and gathering data to guide future licensing and health care policy.
State leaders acknowledged they have not yet drawn a firm line defining which clinical decisions AI should never make.
“I don’t think that we know that answer yet, because the capabilities of AI are changing rapidly,” Busse said. “I do know that we always want to have a human involved somewhere.”
Lawmakers said the results will help shape future legislation, particularly around liability, patient privacy, consumer transparency and the role of licensed professionals when AI is involved in care.