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America’s behavioral health workforce is in crisis. Burnout is accelerating, waitlists are expanding, and clinicians are transitioning away from the field at alarming ratesnot because their passion has diminished, but because the administrative burden has become overwhelming. These departures represent one of the most significant labor challenges in our industry with its impact felt across communities nationwide. Every week, I talk to leaders running certified behavioral health agencies across the country, and their message is consistent: Leaders aren’t seeking technological disruption. They’re desperate for breathing room to retain staff, serve more clients, and maintain compliance without drowning in documentationa fundamental workforce sustainability issue. When artificial intelligence enters the conversation, many approach it with justified skepticism. This caution stems from two critical concerns: First, behavioral health has endured its share of overhyped technology that promised transformation but delivered frustration; second, and equally important, is the critical issue of regulatory compliance, privacy, and data security in this intensely regulated field. Documentation: The critical foundation for reimbursement and compliance In behavioral health, documentation forms the foundation for intake, clinical interactions, reimbursement, compliance, and broader care accountability. Providers rightfully question whether AI-generated notes (where technology assists in creating clinical documentation) will withstand audits or satisfy complex regulatory requirements. AI technology not only facilitates the creation of clinically relevant documentation but also enhances oversight capabilities and ensures full auditability of all generated content. The daily reality for most providers involves hours of note-taking, repetitive scheduling, and navigating documentation systems never designed for behavioral health’s unique compliance demands. We call this “administrative burden,” but the term fails to capture the resulting exhaustion that drives talented clinicians from the field. According to a recent study by Google Cloud and The Harris Poll, U.S. clinicians spend nearly 28 hours weekly on administrative tasksover half of their work week, with 82% reporting burnout. In behavioral health’s already resource-constrained environment, this burden often becomes the breaking point for dedicated professionals, contributing to a sector-wide labor shortage. Find solutions in thoughtful AI implementation With clinicians overwhelmed with documentation that causes burnout, behavioral health professionals need solutions that work for them. This is where carefully designed AI tools show great promise. Early AI implementations focused on documentation and administrative workflows are demonstrating measurable benefits when developed with clinician input and compliance requirements at the forefront. Organizations deploying these tools thoughtfully see tangible impact: In our current deployments, clinicians are reporting up to 80% reduction in clinical note-taking time as technology listens and drafts notes in the background. Smart assistants help staff locate resources without interrupting care. Intake workflows become more efficient, shortening the gap between a client’s first call and first session. These tools don’t put an end to compliance complexitythey help manage it while creating space for providers to be present. Care gets better when clinicians are supported I remember hearing directly from a patient that during his initial session, his provider never once made eye contact with him. Instead, they were focused on their computer, furiously typing notes and immersed in updating his electronic health record (EHR). Fortunately, thats where we repeatedly see that AI can improve care delivery. By removing needless administrative work, behavioral health clinicians have more time to form connections and spend more time with their clients, achieving better outcomes. According to our customers, 50% say they feel more connected to their clients without increasing hours and 60% say they feel more connected to their patients now that theyre not documenting during sessions. I also hear from clinicians that they see greater consistency in their care plans with fewer missed handoffs. These aren’t merely efficiency gains, but restoration of human capacity essential for building trust, ensuring continuity, and addressing complex behavioral health needsall critical factors in workforce retention. AI won’t fix everything To be clear, AI isn’t a silver bullet. It won’t resolve funding challenges, address workforce shortages, rebuild trust between providers and policymakers, or guarantee that alternative payment models work effectively for behavioral health. What it can do is create breathing room and greater capacity by providing clinicians with the margin needed to practice what they are trained for. In a field where every additional hour with a client, every prevented resignation, and every accelerated intake process can transform a life, that support matters profoundly. 3 critical elements for success For AI to deliver on its promise in behavioral health, its important to focus on three critical elements: clinical expertise driving development, seamless integration into existing workflows, and evaluation against regulatory standards. The most effective AI tools are designed with clinicians informing their development, refined with their feedback, and tested against compliance standards and regulations during audits. Behavioral health needs meaningful innovationtools that honor the work, alleviate friction, and strengthen the relationship between clinician and client. This will help preserve our essential mental health workforce to our social infrastructure Josh Schoeller is CEO of Qualifacts.
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This morning, the worlds largest telescope revealed its first-ever images of spaceand theyre pretty jaw-dropping. The images come courtesy of the NSFDOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory, a scientific facility funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science. Located at the summit of Cerro Pachón in Chile, the facility is the product of more than 20 years of work. Its space cameraembedded in the hulking Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST)is about the size of a small car and includes a sensor array of 3 billion pixels, the most sensors ever used in a telescope camera. According to a press release from the Rubin Observatory, its expected to generate an ultrawide, ultra-high-definition time-lapse record of the universe. It will bring the sky to life with a treasure trove of billions of scientific discoveries, the release reads. The images will reveal asteroids and comets, pulsating stars, supernova explosions, far-off galaxies, and perhaps cosmic phenomena that no one has seen before. The most efficient Solar System discovery machine ever built In just its first 10-hour test observation, unveiled today, the LSST managed to capture images that include millions of galaxies and Milky Way stars, as well as more than 2,000 never-before-seen asteroids within our solar system. Taken together, the photos illustrate a technicolor view of space at a mind-boggling scalebut the 10 million galaxies photographed by the LSST represent only 0.05% of the roughly 20 billion galaxies that the camera is expected to record within the next decade. The primary goal of the LSST is to complete a 10-year survey of the Southern Hemisphere sky, capturing hundreds of images and around 20 terabytes of data per night throughout that period. Per the Rubin Observatory, this massive influx of data will make the LSST the most efficient and effective solar system discovery machine ever built. All of the captured data will be made available online, allowing astronomers across the globe to access countless new findings without physical access to the telescope. The LSST is designed to advance four main areas of study: understanding the nature of dark matter and dark energy; creating an inventory of the solar system; mapping the Milky Way; and exploring the transient optical sky (studying objects that move or change in brightness). Experts predict that, given its capacity to identify millions of unseen asteroids, comets, and interstellar objects, the camera could even help protect the planet by spotting objects on a trajectory toward the Earth or moon. NSFDOE Rubin Observatory will capture more information about our universe than all optical telescopes throughout history combined, Brian Stone, chief of staff at the National Science Foundation, said in a press release. Through this remarkable scientific facility, we will explore many cosmic mysteries, including the dark matter and dark energy that permeate the universe.
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E-Commerce
This morning, the Danish pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk announced the abrupt end of its brief partnership with telehealth company Hims & Hers Health, Inc. (NYSE: HIMS), citing concerns over Hims & Hers knock-off weight loss drugs. Now, Hims & Hers shares are plummeting as investors react to the news. Its the latest update in a somewhat volatile year for Hims & Hers. Just this April, the companys stock spiked after it initially announced a collaboration with Novo Nordisk that allowed Hims & Hers to sell Novo Nordisks FDA-approved weight loss drug, Wegovy, through its platform. But less than two months later, that partnership is fracturing after Novo Nordisks claim that Hims & Hers engaged in deceptive promotion and selling of illegitimate, knockoff versions of Wegovy that put patient safety at risk. At the time of this writing, HIMS stock is down 32.6% since market open. Heres what to know about the break-up: The shortage that fueled knock-off Wegovy Back in 2022, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) declared a shortage of GLP-1 medications including Ozempic and Wegovy. Under this shortage notice, pharmacies were permitted to make compounded versions of the brand name drugs using their active ingredient, semaglutide, and sell them at a lower cost. Hims & Hers was one company that took part in selling a compoundedand non-FDA-approvedversion of Wegovy. Then, this February, the FDA announced that Ozempic and Wegovy were no longer categorized under a shortage. With the brand name drugs fully back on the market, the FDA gave compounders 60 to 90 days to stop making copies of the patented drugs. At the time, Hims & Hers stated in a regulatory filing that, while it saw pathways to continue offering access to certain compounded GLP-1s after the shortage, it could not “guarantee that we will be able to continue offering these products in the same manner, to the same extent, or at all.” However, an analyst told Reuters that Hims & Hers appeared poised to continue selling compounded semaglutide using personalized doses after the shortage officially ended. Why is Novo Nordisk cutting ties now? In the wake of the FDAs shortage notice, Hims & Hers announced in April that it was entering a long-term collaboration with Novo Nordisk to offer Wegovy directly to its consumers. Now, though, Novo Nordisk is breaking off the commitment over claims that Hims & Hers has not acted fast enough to stop selling its compounded GLP-1. Other telehealth companies, like Ro and Noom, have similarly faced criticism for continuing to sell their own compounded GLP-1 despite agreements with Eli Lilly, the maker of Zepbound. In an email to Fast Company, a Novo Nordisk spokesperson explained that semaglutide compounding is permitted under US compounding laws only in rare instances, adding that other companies its working with have demonstrated a good faith effort to transition patients to authentic, FDA-approved Wegovy. However, the spokesperson continued, after over one month into the collaboration, Hims & Hers Health, Inc. has failed to adhere to the law which prohibits mass sales of compounded drugs under the false guise of personalization and are disseminating deceptive marketing that puts patient safety at risk. This is unacceptable and that is why we have decided to end the collaboration. That personalization, involves offering the same drug; however, at different doses. In a press release published this morning, Novo Nordisk also noted that it is deeply concerned about knock-off drugs made with foreign illicit active pharmaceutical ingredients. Based on Novo Nordisk’s investigation, the semaglutide active pharmaceutical ingredients that are in the knock-off drugs sold by telehealth entities and compounding pharmacies are manufactured by foreign suppliers in China, the release reads. According to a report from the Brookings Institute, FDA has never authorized or approved the manufacturing processes used by any of these foreign suppliers to make semaglutide, nor has FDA ever reviewed or authorized the quality of the semaglutide they produce. Hims & Hers did not immediately respond to Fast Companys request for comment on Novo Nordisks claims. On X, Novo Nordisk CEO Andrew Dudam said “Novo Nordisks commercial team increasingly pressured us to control clinical standards and steer patients to Wegovy regardless of whether it was clinically best for patients. We refuse to be strong-armed by any pharmaceutical companys anticompetitive demands that infringe on the independent decision making of providers and limit patient choice.” He went on to say “We will continue to offer access to a range of treatments, including Wegovy, to ensure providers can serve the individual needs of patients.” We are disappointed to see Novo Nordisk management misleading the public. In recent weeks, Novo Nordisks commercial team increasingly pressured us to control clinical standards and steer patients to Wegovy regardless of whether it was clinically best for patients. We refuse to— andrewdudum (@AndrewDudum) June 23, 2025
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