By Bill Harp, MD, DLFAPA
Virginia Board of Medicine
Bill Harp and three members of the Virginia Board of Medicine attended the 2026 Annual Meeting of the Federation of State Medical Boards in Baltimore, April 29-May 2. There were presentations on many regulatory topics; two bear mention to PSV membership. The first is Artificial Intelligence.
Present were the Director of the Office of Artificial Intelligence Policy for the state of Utah and the co-CEO of Doctronic. Doctronic has logged over 25 million telehealth visits. Its model is to have AI do the workup of the patient and then hand the visit off to the physician for a prescription if necessary. Some Doctronic physicians refer to AI as “the best chief resident ever.” The current model ensures that a physician is involved for the issuance of a prescription. The state of Utah and Doctronic have entered into a pilot that will not involve a physician. AI will handle the visit from start to finish including the issuance of a prescription.
The second topic is psychedelic drugs. A great presentation from an Emory University psychiatrist covered some of the challenges boards of medicine will face with emerging therapies including cannabis, ketamine, psilocybin, and LSD. The medical literature is usually the arbiter of standard of care for the use of medications, but it can take time for best practices with new therapies to evolve. The conclusion is that boards of medicine may wish to address these new therapies in appropriate ways to ensure the safety of the public.
