FDA

Alexandra Stinson | 1.22.2026 4:35 PM

Under new Food and Drug Administration (FDA) guidance on "low risk" wearable technology and software, AI-powered health tools are rapidly expanding, leading to major implications for cost, access, and consumer autonomy in health care.

One of the clearest examples is Doctronic, an AI-powered platform for prescription refills that rolled out in Utah this month. The FDA has not moved to regulate or stop Doctronic from operating, largely because the FDA does not regulate the actual practice of medicine. That leaves Doctronic free to innovate to patients' benefit—prescription refills with Doctronic are currently $4 and could fall as the company grows.

Within days of the new FDA guidance, a cascade of other innovations was announced. OpenAI unveiled a waitlist for ChatGPT Health, which offers a platform for users to connect their health data and receive insights. Anthropic, which developed the AI assistant Claude, followed with plans to improve the electronic health records ecosystem with a new product designed to meet federal patient-privacy requirements. "When connected, Claude can summarize users' medical history, explain test results in plain language, detect patterns across fitness and health metrics, and prepare questions for appointments," Anthropic announced.

Then, on January 12, OpenAI also announced its purchase of a health tech startup called Torch,........

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