Utah's AI prescription pilot survives pushback; surprise-billing dispute overhaul; uninsured rate steady at 8% — Morning Medical Update Weekly Recap

Utah declines to suspend its AI prescription-renewal pilot despite a medical board revolt

Five months into the artificial intelligence prescription-renewal program, Utah's Medical Licensing Board wants it suspended — but state regulators are letting it continue.

Utah's Office of Artificial Intelligence Policy has been running a pilot that lets an artificial intelligence (AI) system from health-tech company Doctronic handle routine prescription renewals — 30-, 60- or 90-day refills of existing medications, with no new prescriptions, controlled substances or treatment-plan changes permitted.

In April, the state's Medical Licensing Board sent a letter demanding an immediate suspension, arguing that a refill is a clinical decision — a chance to catch a dose that needs adjusting or a new drug interaction — and warning that patients could be left on outdated therapy for months or years. The board also objected that the pilot went live before it was ever consulted. State regulators declined to pause the program, noting that in its current phase a licensed physician reviews and signs off on every AI-generated renewal before it reaches a pharmacy — the same standard of care as a traditional practice. According to the state's five-month data, the AI itself declined to recommend renewal in 28% of cases, routing those to a human clinician.

Learn more: Can AI safely renew your patients' prescriptions? Utah is finding out

HHS finalizes long-awaited overhaul of No Surprises Act dispute resolution

A new federal rule aims to unclog the surprise-billing arbitration system, cutting filing fees from $115 to $15 and making it easier to bundle claims.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), along with the Labor and Treasury Departments, finalized a rule Thursday reforming the Federal Independent Dispute Resolution (IDR) process used to settle out-of-network payment disputes between clinicians and insurers. The system has been overwhelmed, seeing more than 5 million disputes since it launched in 2022, far beyond what regulators expected, with each side accusing the other of gaming it.

The rule drops the administrative fee from $115 to $15 per party, makes it easier to batch multiple claims into a single dispute, requires insurers to use standardized claim codes and lays the groundwork for a new centralized "IDR Gateway" portal rolling out in phases this year. Federal data shows the billing side — clinicians, hospitals and staffing firms — has won roughly 88% of arbitration decisions, a track record insurers cite in pushing for reform. Regulators estimate the changes will save the IDR process nearly $80 million over five years and cut more than $500 million in administrative fees across the two sides.

U.S. uninsured rate holds near 8% — but Medicaid cuts and lapsing ACA subsidies could reverse the trend

New CDC data puts the 2025 uninsured rate near historic lows, even as analysts predict a climb and some patients turn to cheaper, non-ACA coverage.

About 8% of Americans, or roughly one in twelve, lacked health insurance in 2025, holding steady near historic lows, according to new CDC survey data and reporting by The Associated Press. Analysts expect that to shift: last year's Medicaid cuts could add some 10 million people to the uninsured rolls over a decade, per Congressional Budget Office estimates, and the expiration of enhanced Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies is already pushing down marketplace enrollment for 2026.

As those subsidies lapse and premiums spike, KFF Health News reports that some patients are dropping ACA coverage for cheaper alternatives, including short-term policies, fixed-indemnity plans and faith-based "health care sharing ministries." Those options carry lower premiums, and supporters call them a lifeline for people priced out of the marketplace, but they aren't required to meet ACA standards, and critics warn patients may discover only after filing a claim that it won't be covered. For practices, it adds up to a patient population increasingly likely to walk in with gaps in coverage.