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Kinney Drugs in Essex Junction on Tuesday, July 21, 2026. Photo by Glenn Russell\/VTDigger<\/p>\nKinney Drugs in Essex Junction on Tuesday, July 21, 2026. Photo by Glenn Russell\/VTDigger<\/p>\n
In voicemails, spam folders and text messages across Vermont, an artificial intelligence tool is filing through years of pharmaceutical records, incoherently listing drugs and requesting the wrong refills on sensitive medication.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And customers often have no idea they agreed to it.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe calls you all the time, and he doesn\u2019t say what the drug is,\u201d said Kathy Callaghan, a Vermont customer of Kinney Drugs, referring to a new AI tool recently put to use by the Vermont and New York pharmacy chain.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Nearly every day, she recalled, her phone rings, and she hears an incomprehensive mutter of a drug from the AI voice. Confused, she approves the refill order, thinking the request is legitimate and she really is out of a prescription.\u00a0<\/p>\n
So far, it hasn\u2019t been, she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve got four bottles of something that I take twice a week sitting here,\u201d Callaghan said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Earlier this summer, amid a nationwide wave of AI technology entering<\/a> healthcare systems, Kinney Drugs implemented a new AI assistant for prescription refill services, lauding the tool as a way to improve communication and efficiency. But customers say it\u2019s doing the opposite.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n According to nearly a dozen Kinney Drugs customers across its stores in Vermont and New York who spoke to VTDigger, the AI rollout has coincided with a range of problems. Delays have grown between physicians ordering drugs and the pharmacy processing them. The system has been unable to locate longtime customer accounts, has ordered incorrect dosages, and has failed to notify customers when refills were ready for pickup. And these inaccuracies are raising privacy concerns amongst customers.\u00a0<\/p>\n Their mounting frustrations towards the AI is leading some customers to leave the pharmacy entirely, they said, and forcing others to continue using a system they distrust due to a lack of pharmaceutical options in rural areas.\u00a0<\/p>\n As AI pops up in healthcare systems across the country, several lawyers told VTDigger that the technology is outpacing regulation, leaving consumer protections thin.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a delay in laws that are coming onto the books, so we\u2019ve not seen a detailed picture of how companies are going to comply or how states are going to enforce the laws,\u201d said Cody Venzke, a senior staff attorney at the ACLU.<\/p>\n In Vermont, a new data privacy bill<\/a>, S.71<\/a>, signed by Gov. Phil Scott on June 16, takes effect in two years. That delay creates a gap in compliance to a bill that privacy advocates say is already too weak to protect consumers.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cEven if it were in effect, I\u2019m not sure that it would necessarily cover the situation,\u201d said Ryan Kriger, a Vermont lawyer and resident who testified<\/a> on the bill.<\/p>\n \u2018No value, no benefit\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n Kinney Drugs implemented the AI virtual assistant for patient communication and refill services in May. Soon after, its customers began to experience problems, they said.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cMy first impression was it was just more complicated and cumbersome than the previous recording and service,\u201d said Matt Penney, who\u2019s been receiving medication at a Kinney Drugs in Vermont for around two years.\u00a0<\/p>\n Previously, to refill a prescription at Kinney Drugs, a customer would call a prompt-based, touch-tone, phone system that would give them the opportunity to navigate a keypad to reach a pharmacist. Customers who spoke to VTDigger said this old system worked smoothly, and they had no problems.\u00a0<\/p>\n Not so much with the new system, they said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s just something that wastes time and delays customer service. As far as I\u2019m concerned, it has absolutely no value, no benefit to the customer,\u201d Vermont Kinney Drugs customer Dave Bellini said.\u00a0<\/p>\n The AI assistant, which Kinney Drugs named Burt, after its founder, was built by third-party AI pharmaceutical company, Synerio. In the pharmacy\u2019s terms<\/a>, Kinney Drugs states that \u201cBurt may not be accurate, complete or up-to-date and may be misleading or contain errors and omissions.\u201d<\/p>\n Any customer who provides their telephone number to Kinney Drugs automatically consents to interacting with the tool, though they may later opt out, according to the pharmacy\u2019s terms<\/a>. While some customers recalled signing onto a new refill system earlier this summer, others said they didn\u2019t realize the company implemented the new tool until they called for a refill and heard the AI voice.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cBurt demands that you talk to him,\u201d said Maria Aveni, a Vermont Kinney Drugs customer who has worked in healthcare as an anesthesiologist. \u201cThere\u2019s no option to use a keypad to enter what you want to, which has been the case with other telephone interactions I\u2019ve had. So it\u2019s more of a talk to Burt or don\u2019t get your drugs.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n According to Aveni and other customers who spoke to VTDigger, Kinney Drugs did not communicate about the tool before implementation.\u00a0<\/p>\n When this month Aveni experienced a delay in receiving medication that her physician had ordered, she felt grateful it was not a lifesaving drug. Nevertheless, she was alarmed. Since then, she said she only goes in person to her pharmacy for refills in order to avoid AI interactions.\u00a0<\/p>\n But for others, who live in rural areas and have limited access to transportation, going in person to receive refills as a way around the AI is impossible.\u00a0<\/p>\n A Kinney Drugs representative who did not want to be identified by name, wrote in a statement to VTDigger that the company is \u201caware that some patients have experienced frustration with Burt, especially during rollout,\u201d and that it is reviewing each concern and attempting to reach each patient.\u00a0<\/p>\n While customers said they were confused over why Kinney Drugs switched to the AI, the company cited a clear reason: to eliminate repetitive tasks and free up time for its pharmacists.<\/p>\n Its leaders believe the AI has helped in achieving this goal, with one director saying<\/a> that \u201cit\u2019s definitely doing the trick and handling those phone calls in such a nice manner that it\u2019s reducing the calls to our pharmacy.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n But customers\u2019 experience with the tool has led to an oftentimes opposite effect. As they encounter problems with the AI, many are turning to pharmacists more for help. In Vermont, pharmacists are already overburdened due to a chronic worker shortage<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s slowing down productivity of an already stressed staff, and because that staff has treated me for a long time, and I feel loyalty, it isn\u2019t just a financial concern for me, it\u2019s an inhumane way to treat the staff,\u201d Aveni said.<\/p>\n \u2018Privacy is just about out the window\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n While the AI tool\u2019s reported inaccuracies are the primary frustration for many customers, others are citing privacy concerns for leaving the chain.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cOnce I went into the store and actually read the privacy policy, I was shocked, and immediately transferred my prescriptions to UVM Hospital,\u201d Tuan Green, a former Vermont Kinney Drugs customer, said.\u00a0<\/p>\n The pharmacy\u2019s privacy policy<\/a>, released the same month as the AI assistant, discloses, for example, that customers\u2019 protected health information may be used in AI tools to improve the pharmacy\u2019s operations.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThese days, privacy is just about out the window,\u201d Stephen McArthur, a Vermont Kinney Drugs customer, said.<\/p>\n Beyond Kinney Drugs, customers and privacy experts have also raised concerns with Synerio, the Texas-based technology company that supplies the AI tool to the pharmacy.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Joseph Near, an associate professor of computer science at the University of Vermont, said that, privacy-wise, the AI tool is worse than the pharmacy\u2019s previous refill system because this additional company, Synerio, now also has access to customers\u2019 health data.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIf I just interact with my healthcare provider, I\u2019m relying on the security that they have. If they now start interacting with many other organizations, I now have to start worrying about all the security issues with each of them,\u201d Bradley Malin, a professor of biomedical informatics at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, said, referring to Synerio.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Kinney Drugs representative said that the company maintains \u201cmultiple layers of security controls,\u201d invests in \u201cinformation security technologies to help protect sensitive data\u201d and has the protocols in place to respond to potential data breaches.\u00a0<\/p>\n AI in healthcare settings also raises a host of concerns surrounding the federal health privacy law HIPAA, several lawyers and data privacy experts said, pointing to possible data sharing of protected health information.\u00a0<\/p>\n However, as long as the pharmacy has a business associate agreement \u2014 the contract under HIPAA that establishes that third-party vendors securely handle protected health information \u2014 the companies are contractually obliged to handle data securely. The Kinney Drugs representative declined to share the agreement, citing an inability to disclose private vendor contracts, but wrote that the company \u201cmaintains the appropriate agreements.\u201d<\/p>\n Synerio did not respond to multiple requests for comment, but also says on its webpages<\/a> that the tools it creates are built to be compliant with HIPAA.\u00a0<\/p>\n While Synerio did not respond to VTDigger\u2019s questions about customer protections, Kinney Drugs\u2019 pharmacy management system, McKesson, acknowledged them in public filings<\/a>, writing that \u201creliance on third-party AI tools and solutions may expose us to risks that are outside of our control, including compliance gaps.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018Consent is not a realistic solution\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n As states move to create laws aimed at protecting data privacy, burgeoning AI tools, like the one Kinney Drug\u2019s implemented, could serve as a test case for how effective these laws are.\u00a0<\/p>\n Zach Tomanelli, a privacy advocate with the Vermont Public Interest Research Group, said that customers\u2019 experience with AI is an example of why the Vermont data privacy bill should have gone further. The law gives residents the right to know what information is being collected about them, correct inaccurate data and opt out of their data being sold. But lawyers and advocates say it includes too many exemptions for companies collecting data.\u00a0<\/p>\n