🧵 America is in the midst of a behavioral health (BH) crisis. Incidence of most BH conditions is increasing and affecting all age groups. In parallel, many areas lack an adequate supply of providers, exacerbated by high rates of burnout and low-efficacy case assignment models. When access does exist, it often is not timely, with wait times up to 6 months. This crisis has been dramatically worsened by the Covid-2019 pandemic.

The March 2026 issue is a special theme issue on the hard work of implementing artificial intelligence in real-world health care, exploring the impacts of AI on clinical workflows, quality and operations, patient-centered care, and health care policy. 🧵👇 📖 View the issue - https://nej.md/40e5VG6

🧵 This article examines vertical integration involving physicians. The authors argue that health care has largely ignored industry’s troubled experience with the strategy. They then articulate the conditions favorable for vertical integration and find that health care has ignored these factors as well. Advocates and policy makers have encouraged integration without much supporting evidence.

📢December issue: vertical integration, length of stay reduction, clinical operating system, firearms safety, natural disaster preparedness, hospital ranking tool, gender pay equity, digital literacy training, automated faxes, evaluating digital health solutions, obesity care🧵👇 📖 View the December 2025 table of contents: nej.md/3JPDnyl