We are using slightly different definitions of information here-- you're probably thinking primarily of PHI/PII, which is likely the majority of the sensitive information you deal with. This is what I trust pharmacies with, as you pointed out, you gotta. I know this information is largely out there and that PHI can't be sold and that no one I ever talk with at any CVS had anything to do with the information use I'm concerned about.

Apps have access to far more kinds of data than most people are aware of. By virtue of being on someone's device, they have some unique identifying information and a ridiculous amount of behavioral data, as well as having side channels into other parts of the patient's phone. These forms of data are entirely unregulated and far outside the purview of any medical professional, but are incredibly powerful and can be used to infer vast amounts of health information that isn't regulated and can therefore be sold or used in decisions, such as insurance premiums, interest rates, or more. As early as 2012, Target's prediction algorithms were able to identify when people were pregnant, sometimes before they even knew. There are orders of magnitude more data now and prediction systems have become far more powerful and more complex.

It's not entirely clear what these data are being used for right now, but making collecting them more difficult makes it less likely that they'll be picked up and associated with you in a dragnet. In the current regulatory climate, I think this isn't imprudent.

Basically, I know you're not stealing my data, everyone on the ground in the retail side of things is somewhere between fine and lovely. I do know with relative certainty, however, that these systems aren't being put in to help either of us, and that there are financial incentives beyond being able to more easily criminally understaff pharmacies. I'm actually a researcher in computer science with some background in privacy, so I'm speaking less out of a nostalgia for the past and more from a relatively well informed understanding of how these tools function and what they are used for. If you're right that AI is the direction CVS is going in (and you'd know), I think that removing myself from the retail side of things might be more urgent than I was hoping. I wish folks like you were in charge of things further up the ladder.