A pharmacy chain in Vermont implemented AI for efficiency

Kinney Drugs successful Essex Junction connected Tuesday, July 21, 2026. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger

In voicemails, spam folders and matter messages crossed Vermont, an artificial intelligence instrumentality is filing done years of pharmaceutical records, incoherently listing narcotics and requesting the incorrect refills connected delicate medication. 

And customers often person nary thought they agreed to it.

“He calls you each the time, and he doesn’t opportunity what the supplier is,” said Kathy Callaghan, a Vermont customer of Kinney Drugs, referring to a caller AI instrumentality precocious put to usage by the Vermont and New York drugstore chain. 

Nearly each day, she recalled, her telephone rings, and she hears an incomprehensive mutter of a supplier from the AI voice. Confused, she approves the refill order, reasoning the petition is morganatic and she really is retired of a prescription. 

So far, it hasn’t been, she said. 

“I’ve sewage 4 bottles of thing that I return doubly a week sitting here,” Callaghan said. 

Earlier this summer, amid a nationwide activity of AI exertion entering healthcare systems, Kinney Drugs implemented a caller AI adjunct for medicine refill services, lauding the instrumentality arsenic a measurement to amended connection and efficiency. But customers opportunity it’s doing the opposite.  

According to astir a twelve Kinney Drugs customers crossed its stores successful Vermont and New York who said to VTDigger, the AI rollout has coincided pinch a scope of problems. Delays person grown betwixt physicians ordering narcotics and the drugstore processing them. The strategy has been incapable to find longtime customer accounts, has ordered incorrect dosages and has grounded to notify customers erstwhile refills were fresh for pickup. And these inaccuracies are raising privateness concerns amongst customers. 

Their mounting frustrations toward the AI is starring immoderate customers to time off the drugstore entirely, they said, and forcing others to proceed utilizing a strategy they distrust owed to a deficiency of pharmaceutical options successful agrarian areas. 

As AI pops up successful healthcare systems crossed the country, respective lawyers told VTDigger that the exertion is outpacing regulation, leaving user protections thin. 

“There’s a hold successful laws that are coming onto the books, truthful we’ve not seen a elaborate image of really companies are going to comply aliases really states are going to enforce the laws,” said Cody Venzke, a elder unit lawyer astatine the ACLU.

In Vermont, a new information privateness bill, S.71, signed by Gov. Phil Scott connected June 16, takes effect successful 2 years. That hold creates a spread successful compliance to a measure that privateness advocates opportunity is already excessively anemic to protect consumers.    

“Even if it were successful effect, I’m not judge that it would needfully screen the situation,” said Ryan Kriger, a Vermont lawyer and resident who testified connected the bill.

‘No value, nary benefit’ 

Kinney Drugs implemented the AI virtual adjunct for diligent connection and refill services successful May. Soon after, its customers began to acquisition problems, they said.   

“My first belief was it was conscionable much analyzable and cumbersome than the erstwhile signaling and service,” said Matt Penney, who’s been receiving medicine astatine a Kinney Drugs successful Vermont for astir 2 years. 

Previously, to refill a medicine astatine Kinney Drugs, a customer would telephone a prompt-based, touch-tone, telephone strategy that would springiness them the opportunity to navigate a keypad to scope a pharmacist. Customers who said to VTDigger said this aged strategy worked smoothly, and they had nary problems. 

Not truthful overmuch pinch the caller system, they said.

“It’s conscionable thing that wastes clip and delays customer service. As acold arsenic I’m concerned, it has perfectly nary value, nary use to the customer,” Vermont Kinney Drugs customer Dave Bellini said. 

The AI assistant, which Kinney Drugs named Burt, aft its founder, was built by third-party AI pharmaceutical company, Synerio. In the pharmacy’s terms, Kinney Drugs states that “Burt whitethorn not beryllium accurate, complete aliases up-to-date and whitethorn beryllium misleading aliases incorporate errors and omissions.”

Any customer who provides their telephone number to Kinney Drugs automatically consents to interacting pinch the tool, though they whitethorn later opt out, according to the pharmacy’s terms. While immoderate customers recalled signing onto a caller refill strategy earlier this summer, others said they didn’t recognize the institution implemented the caller instrumentality until they called for a refill and heard the AI voice.   

“Burt demands that you talk to him,” said Maria Aveni, a Vermont Kinney Drugs customer who has worked successful healthcare arsenic an anesthesiologist. “There’s nary action to usage a keypad to participate what you want to, which has been the lawsuit pinch different telephone interactions I’ve had. So it’s much of a talk to Burt aliases don’t get your drugs.” 

According to Aveni and different customers who said to VTDigger, Kinney Drugs did not pass astir the instrumentality earlier implementation. 

When this period Aveni knowledgeable a hold successful receiving medicine that her expert had ordered, she felt grateful it was not a lifesaving drug. Nevertheless, she was alarmed. Since then, she said she only goes successful personification to her drugstore for refills successful bid to debar AI interactions. 

But for others, who unrecorded successful agrarian areas and person constricted entree to transportation, going successful personification to person refills arsenic a measurement astir the AI is impossible. 

A Kinney Drugs typical who did not want to beryllium identified by name, wrote successful a connection to VTDigger that the institution is “aware that immoderate patients person knowledgeable vexation pinch Burt, particularly during rollout,” and that it is reviewing each interest and attempting to scope each patient. 

While customers said they were confused complete why Kinney Drugs switched to the AI, the institution cited a clear reason: to destruct repetitive tasks and free up clip for its pharmacists.

Its leaders judge the AI has helped successful achieving this goal, pinch 1 head saying that “it’s decidedly doing the instrumentality and handling those telephone calls successful specified a bully mode that it’s reducing the calls to our pharmacy.”  

But customers’ acquisition pinch the instrumentality has led to an oftentimes other effect. As they brushwood problems pinch the AI, galore are turning to pharmacists much for help. In Vermont, pharmacists are already overburdened owed to a chronic worker shortage.  

“It’s slowing down productivity of an already stressed staff, and because that unit has treated maine for a agelong time, and I consciousness loyalty, it isn’t conscionable a financial interest for me, it’s an inhumane measurement to dainty the staff,” Aveni said.

‘Privacy is conscionable astir retired the window’ 

While the AI tool’s reported inaccuracies are the superior vexation for galore customers, others are citing privateness concerns for leaving the chain.   

“Once I went into the shop and really publication the privateness policy, I was shocked, and instantly transferred my prescriptions to UVM Hospital,” Tuan Green, a erstwhile Vermont Kinney Drugs customer, said. 

The pharmacy’s privacy policy, released the aforesaid period arsenic the AI assistant, discloses, for example, that customers’ protected wellness accusation whitethorn beryllium utilized successful AI devices to amended the pharmacy’s operations.  

“These days, privateness is conscionable astir retired the window,” Stephen McArthur, a Vermont Kinney Drugs customer, said.

Beyond Kinney Drugs, customers and privateness experts person besides raised concerns pinch Synerio, the Texas-based exertion institution that supplies the AI instrumentality to the pharmacy.  

Joseph Near, an subordinate professor of machine subject astatine the University of Vermont, said that, privacy-wise, the AI instrumentality is worse than the pharmacy’s erstwhile refill strategy because this further company, Synerio, now besides has entree to customers’ wellness data. 

“If I conscionable interact pinch my healthcare provider, I’m relying connected the information that they have. If they now commencement interacting pinch galore different organizations, I now person to commencement worrying astir each the information issues pinch each of them,” Bradley Malin, a professor of biomedical informatics astatine Vanderbilt University Medical Center, said, referring to Synerio. 

The Kinney Drugs typical said that the institution maintains “multiple layers of information controls,” invests successful “information information technologies to thief protect delicate data” and has the protocols successful spot to respond to imaginable information breaches. 

AI successful healthcare settings besides raises a big of concerns surrounding the national wellness privateness rule HIPAA, respective lawyers and information privateness experts said, pointing to imaginable information sharing of protected wellness information. 

However, arsenic agelong arsenic the drugstore has a business subordinate statement — the statement nether HIPAA that establishes that third-party vendors securely grip protected wellness accusation — the companies are contractually obliged to grip information securely. The Kinney Drugs typical declined to stock the agreement, citing an inability to disclose backstage vendor contracts, but wrote that the institution “maintains the due agreements.”

Synerio did not respond to aggregate requests for comment, but besides says connected its webpages that the devices it creates are built to beryllium compliant pinch HIPAA. 

While Synerio did not respond to VTDigger’s questions astir customer protections, Kinney Drugs’ drugstore guidance system, McKesson, acknowledged them successful public filings, penning that “reliance connected third-party AI devices and solutions whitethorn expose america to risks that are extracurricular of our control, including compliance gaps.”

‘Consent is not a realistic solution’ 

As states move to create laws aimed astatine protecting information privacy, burgeoning AI tools, for illustration the 1 Kinney Drug’s implemented, could service arsenic a trial lawsuit for really effective these laws are. 

Zach Tomanelli, a privateness advocator pinch the Vermont Public Interest Research Group, said that customers’ acquisition pinch AI is an illustration of why the Vermont information privateness measure should person gone further. The rule gives residents the correct to cognize what accusation is being collected astir them, correct inaccurate information and opt retired of their information being sold. But lawyers and advocates opportunity it includes excessively galore exemptions for companies collecting data. 

Near, the UVM machine subject professor, said that regulations for illustration the caller Vermont rule are inherently flawed simply because they are based connected user consent. Kinney Drugs, for instance, spreads its position and conditions crossed 11 documents. 

“I deliberation that group perfectly do not understand what they’re consenting to, and truthful basing our regularisation and what we deliberation is okay connected the thought of consent is not a realistic solution to these kinds of privateness concerns nowadays,” he said. 

Stacey Tovino, a University of Oklahoma professor who teaches HIPAA, said the privateness rule lets patients petition to correct inaccurate wellness information. But the process is truthful cumbersome that Tovino herself said she would conscionable move pharmacies to debar the exposure. 

Customers successful agrarian areas of Vermont, however, whitethorn not person an accessible action to move to, and moreover those who do opportunity they don’t want to, citing the individual relationship they’ve built pinch the small-scale drugstore concatenation and the group who activity there. 

“I don’t want to time off the drugstore that I tin locomotion to, that I really like,” Aveni said. “But I will if it doesn’t benignant itself out.”

Disclosure: Kinney Drugs is an advertiser pinch VTDigger.