RxR Briefings Issue 18

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Why I’m contacting the state boards (and you should too)

The news out of Utah this week isn’t just a tech glitch; it’s a warning shot across the bow of the pharmacy profession. A "Red Team" security hack of the Doctronic AI pilot managed to turn a medical bot into a source for dangerous drug recipes in seconds. For years, we’ve been told that AI is the "only way" to solve the primary care access crisis. But this incident proves that Silicon Valley’s "solutions" lack the one thing patients actually need for safety: a human in the loop.

In this week's article, I’m breaking down why this hack is the ultimate “signal event” for our profession. We already have an unhackable, highly trained network of 300,000 experts ready to fill these gaps. They’re called pharmacists. Yet, while experimental bots are being rolled out, pharmacists in 44 states are still restricted by outdated regulations that prevent them from performing the basic clinical services they were trained for.

I’m taking a stand and calling the State Boards of Pharmacy to demand progress on Full Practice Authority. We need to move the needle now, state by state, to ensure that the future of primary care is built on professional clinical expertise, not vulnerable algorithms. Whether your state is a leader like Idaho or Colorado, or still stuck in the status quo, your voice is needed to reinforce this message.

Read the full breakdown (below), check your state’s status, and use our copy-and-paste template to contact your Board of Pharmacy today.

Cheers,
Harry

The Doctronic hack: a wake-up call for pharmacy’s full practice future

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The National Policy Framework for Artificial Intelligence presents a strategy focused on balancing rapid technological growth with specific social safeguards. Based on the document, here are the upsides and downsides of AI according to this legislative recommendation document (below).

The plus is that at least the White House and the Trump administration have put their thoughts on paper for all to see. They have shown us that they are clearly pushing for a lite regulatory framework. They want to support rapid technology growth but with social safety guard around issues like Child Safety and Parental Control and Intellectual property protection.

On the negative side, the document contains approximately 1,100 words. In it, the phrase congress should appears 23 times. It does not have the force of law behind it. That is left to congress. It punts the issue of intellectual property to the courts and leaves the issue worker displacement and retraining largely undefined.

The bottom line: the debate is upon us. How we implement AI and how we manage its impact will largely be governed by federal and state laws. Everyone needs to understand the issues and make their voices heard.

⬆ The upside of AI Framework⬆

Focus on growth and protection

Child safety and parental control—The framework prioritizes protecting minors from deepfake abuse and sexual exploitation while mandating age-assurance requirements.
Economic and energy dominance—It seeks to accelerate AI infrastructure by streamlining federal permitting for data centers and ensuring residential electricity rates do not rise due to AI energy demands.
Protection of free speech—A core pillar is preventing the federal government from coercing AI providers to censor or alter content based on partisan or ideological agendas.
Regulatory simplicity—By explicitly opposing the creation of a new federal AI rule-making body, the framework aims to avoid bureaucratic bloat, favoring existing agencies and industry-led standards instead.
National uniformity—It proposes a federal standard that preempts a fragmented patchwork of state laws, which could provide legal clarity for developers operating across state lines.

⬇ The downside of AI Framework⬇

Potential risks and critiques

Intellectual property uncertainty—The framework defers the critical question of whether training AI on copyrighted material is "fair use" to the courts, which may leave creators and developers in a period of prolonged legal limbo.
State-level friction—By seeking to prevent states from regulating AI development or penalizing developers for third-party conduct, the framework may face pushback from states wanting to enforce stricter local consumer protections.
Limited liability for platforms—The document suggests avoiding open-ended liability for AI services, which critics might argue reduces the incentive for companies to be held accountable for certain harms.
Dependence on industry standards—Relying on industry-led standards rather than a centralized regulatory body could be viewed by skeptics as the fox guarding the henhouse, potentially leading to inconsistent enforcement of safety protocols.
Task-level workforce displacement—While it supports AI training, the framework acknowledges that AI will drive task-level workforce realignment, which could lead to significant job disruption in specific sectors despite study efforts.

Full PDF document:

The White House’s legislative recommendations on a National Policy Framework on Artificial Intelligence (PDF)

Industry Conferences

American Pharmacist Association (APhA) Annual Meeting—March 27-30, 2026, Los Angeles, CA
Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy (AMCP) annual meeting—April 13-16, 2026, Nashville, TN
The National Home Infusion Association (NHIA)—April 18-22, 2026, Aurora, CO
NACDS Annual Meeting—April 18-21, 2026, Palm Beach, FL
Asembia AXS26 Summit—April 26-30, 2026, Las Vegas, NV

Successfully Launched!
New Roles for our RxRoundtable Members

The strength of the RxRoundtable is measured by the influence of its members—both within this group and out in the field. This issue, we’re celebrating these Professional Members who have successfully leveraged our community’s insights to land new roles.

As they move back into the thick of the corporate world, they join our growing ranks of ‘insiders’ who carry the RxRoundtable standard forward.

Congratulations and best wishes to the following members and their new chapters:

We invite you to connect with these colleagues to celebrate their new journeys. While they may be leaving the RxRoundtable, the professional bonds formed here remain a powerful asset for us all.

Upcoming RxRoundtable Member Events

To showcase the caliber of RxRoundtable Member-only events, here’s what’s coming up in the next few weeks:

March 24: Nathan Kofler, VP of Business Development with Medix, a healthcare and life sciences staffing agency, will discuss AI’s impact on staffing.
March 31: Kelee Petzelt, VP of Sales for Synerio, will talk about how Synerio Engage solves the problem of fragmented, labor‑intensive patient communication by providing a unified, pharmacy‑aware conversational AI platform that improves patient access to information while reducing operational burden on pharmacy staff.
April 7: No session in recognition of Easter week.
April 14: Dr. Jonathon Harrison, CEO and Founder of Wellyfe National Pharmacy Services, will present a new model for pharmacy benefits that connects employers, hospitals, and health systems directly with pharmacy operations instead of relying on traditional PBM structures.

Past Member Event Recordings

Miss an event? No worries. We have it recorded!

We know you sometimes have competing priorities and miss attending a live RxRoundtable Member event. The good news is we record every event for all Members to view at any time.

To access past event recordings, log into the RxRoundtable Member area and click on any past event to find the recording in the event detail page, or, visit the new Past Recordings in the Resource Library.

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