米薬局チェーンが苦情数百件でAI電話を縮小し、プッシュ式の自動応答に戻す

Kinney Drugs is scaling back its AI assistant after customers reported incoherent calls, wrong dosages, and missed prescription notifications. ／ “But one thing I want to point out is getting privacy and security right does not mean we got the experience right. We did not, and we own that,” Kinney Drugs President John Marraffa said. ／ Marraffa says Burt is fully HIPAA compliant and that the AI is not open-source and does not generate or manipulate data. — 運用の縮小と、社長の発言に関する記述より

The scaling back of the AI tool means that the pharmacy has returned to its previous prompt-based, touch-tone phone system for patient calls, Marraffa told WCAX. The AI tool will still be used for prescription refill texts. Now, however, patients must opt in to receiving these texts. ／ When Kathy Callaghan called her local pharmacy for a prescription refill last Wednesday, she expected to hear the usual AI voice that had attempted to assist her for the last three months. ／ Instead, a pharmacist picked up. ／ “They got a winning team there, and they got great humans,” Bellini said. “They should have never gone to robots. Most of their customers are old, or they got an illness. They don’t want to deal with that.” ／ “The company finally admitted that it was a mistake,” Bellini said. ／ Marraffa and a Kinney representative did not respond to requests for comment Monday from VTDigger. — 縮小後の電話の仕組み、発信の連絡の扱い、利用者の証言に関する記述より

Earlier this summer, amid a nationwide wave of AI technology entering 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’s doing the opposite. ／ 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. ／ 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. ／ Their mounting frustrations toward 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. — 導入の経緯と、利用者が報告した問題の内容に関する記述より

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. ／ The AI assistant, which Kinney Drugs named Burt, after its founder, was built by third-party AI pharmaceutical company, Synerio. ／ Synerio, the Texas-based technology company that supplies the AI tool to the pharmacy. ／ In the pharmacy’s terms, Kinney Drugs states that “Burt may not be accurate, complete or up-to-date and may be misleading or contain errors and omissions.” ／ “Burt demands that you talk to him,” said Maria Aveni, a Vermont Kinney Drugs customer who has worked in healthcare as an anesthesiologist. “There’s no option to use a keypad to enter what you want to, which has been the case with other telephone interactions I’ve had. So it’s more of a talk to Burt or don’t get your drugs.” — 旧来の仕組みとの違い、ツールの提供元、キー操作の代替が無いという指摘に関する記述より

A Kinney Drugs representative who did not want to be identified by name, wrote in a statement to VTDigger that the company is “aware that some patients have experienced frustration with Burt, especially during rollout,” and that it is reviewing each concern and attempting to reach each patient. ／ 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. — 会社側の回答と、導入の目的に関する記述より

Its leaders believe the AI has helped in achieving this goal, with one director saying that “it’s definitely doing the trick and handling those phone calls in such a nice manner that it’s reducing the calls to our pharmacy.” — 導入目的が達成されつつあるという会社側の評価に関する記述より

But customers’ 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. ／ “It’s 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’t just a financial concern for me, it’s an inhumane way to treat the staff,” Aveni said. — 利用者が薬剤師を頼る場面が増えたという指摘と、職員の負担に関する証言より

According to Aveni and other customers who spoke to VTDigger, Kinney Drugs did not communicate about the tool before implementation. ／ While some customers recalled signing onto a new refill system earlier this summer, others said they didn’t realize the company implemented the new tool until they called for a refill and heard the AI voice. — 導入前の周知が無かったという証言に関する記述より

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’s terms. ／ The pharmacy’s privacy policy, released the same month as the AI assistant, discloses, for example, that customers’ protected health information may be used in AI tools to improve the pharmacy’s operations. ／ Near, the UVM computer science professor, said that regulations like the new Vermont law are inherently flawed simply because they are based on consumer consent. Kinney Drugs, for instance, spreads its terms and conditions across 11 documents. ／ “I think that people absolutely do not understand what they’re consenting to, and so basing our regulation and what we think is okay on the idea of consent is not a realistic solution to these kinds of privacy concerns nowadays,” he said. — 同意の扱い、健康情報の利用に関する開示、規約が11の文書に分かれている点と、同意を土台にした規制への批判に関する記述より

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’s previous refill system because this additional company, Synerio, now also has access to customers’ health data. ／ “If I just interact with my healthcare provider, I’m 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,” Bradley Malin, a professor of biomedical informatics at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, said, referring to Synerio. ／ The Kinney Drugs representative said that the company maintains “multiple layers of security controls,” invests in “information security technologies to help protect sensitive data” and has the protocols in place to respond to potential data breaches. ／ However, as long as the pharmacy has a business associate agreement — the contract under HIPAA that establishes that third-party vendors securely handle protected health information — 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 “maintains the appropriate agreements.” ／ Synerio did not respond to multiple requests for comment, but also says on its webpages that the tools it creates are built to be compliant with HIPAA. — AI事業者の追加によるデータ接触範囲の拡大、会社側のセキュリティに関する回答、HIPAA上の事業提携契約に関する記述より

As AI pops up in healthcare systems across the country, several lawyers told VTDigger that the technology is outpacing regulation, leaving consumer protections thin. ／ In Vermont, a new data privacy bill, S.71, 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. ／ “Even if it were in effect, I’m not sure that it would necessarily cover the situation,” said Ryan Kriger, a Vermont lawyer and resident who testified on the bill. ／ While Synerio did not respond to VTDigger’s questions about customer protections, Kinney Drugs’ pharmacy management system, McKesson, acknowledged them in public filings, writing that “reliance on third-party AI tools and solutions may expose us to risks that are outside of our control, including compliance gaps.” — 規制が技術に追いついていないという指摘と、第三者AIへの依存リスクに関する開示より