A growing shift in the treatment of alcohol use disorder (AUD) is reshaping how clinicians, health systems, and recovery communities think about care. Recent reporting from STAT highlights a move away from a one-size-fits-all model centered solely on abstinence and toward a broader treatment landscape that includes medication for alcohol use disorder, moderation-focused approaches for some patients, and alternatives to traditional peer support models such as Alcoholics Anonymous.

Florida has filed a state lawsuit against OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman, alleging the company aggressively marketed ChatGPT to the public while concealing serious safety risks, including harmful interactions involving children and vulnerable users. Filed by Attorney General James Uthmeier, the complaint argues that OpenAI’s public assurances about safety were misleading given examples in which the chatbot allegedly provided instructions to minors considering suicide and surfaced information that could aid criminal planning.

Talkspace announced that its stockholders voted to approve the company’s acquisition by Universal Health Services (UHS) at a special meeting held May 29, 2026. The approval advances the transaction under the previously signed merger agreement (dated March 9, 2026), though the deal has not yet closed and remains subject to customary closing conditions and required state regulatory approvals. The companies continue to target closing in Q3 2026.

A new American Medical Association (AMA) analysis underscores why prior authorization (prior auth) has become a major operational and financial issue for healthcare providers—including behavioral health and addiction treatment organizations navigating payer friction. Citing an AMA survey of 1,000 physicians (late 2024), the report finds practices complete an average of 39 prior authorization requests per physician, per week, consuming 13 staff hours weekly.

A New York Times report is drawing new attention to the intersection of vaping regulation, FDA oversight, and political influence in public health policy. According to the report, Reynolds American donated $5 million to MAGA Inc., a super PAC supporting President Donald Trump, about a week before the administration announced a new e-cigarette policy that could benefit major tobacco companies seeking to expand sales of flavored vaping products. The donation was made on April 30 through a Reynolds subsidiary and brought that subsidiary’s total giving to the PAC to $8 million.

In a May 14 STAT First Opinion essay, addiction medicine physician Steve D. Klein argues that patient-facing conversational AI “agents” may be particularly risky in addiction treatment, even if they sound caring or empathetic. Klein describes being intrigued by a product that could text patients between visits, summarize check-ins into metrics, and help clinicians monitor day-to-day changes — a capability that could be valuable in recovery care. But his concerns grew when the company touted that patients form emotional relationships with the AI agent.

New federal data show that U.S. drug overdose deaths declined for the third straight year in 2025, a notable milestone in the nation’s response to the opioid epidemic and broader overdose crisis. According to provisional CDC figures, about 70,000 Americans died of overdoses in 2025, down roughly 14% from 2024 and back to levels last seen before the COVID-19 pandemic. The decline marks the longest sustained drop in overdose deaths in decades and reflects progress across much of the country.