Redefining Recovery: Innovation, Access & Excellence In Addiction Care
The landscape of addiction treatment is evolving, shaped by shifting reimbursement models, rising acuity, workforce constraints, and increasing expectations for measurable outcomes. The Addiction & SUD Summit brings together industry leaders from across the continuum of care to explore how organizations can adapt and lead in this moment of transformation.
The Summit will examine the future of substance use disorder treatment through a strategic lens, with a focus on expanding access, supporting the workforce, leveraging data and technology, and demonstrating value in an outcomes-driven market. Designed for executives responsible for growth, quality, and sustainability, this summit offers actionable insights and peer perspectives to help organizations strengthen performance to deliver more effective and equitable addiction and SUD care.
The New Path To Treatment: Navigating The Trends, Policies & Forces Reshaping SUD Care
Philadelphia rebuilt the route from street contact to treatment placement. The components: harm reduction outreach, arrest diversion, a 24/7 center with a courtroom inside it, policies that let medication start the same day, and the level-of-care standard that decides who qualifies and what gets paid. Providers sit at every handoff in that chain, receiving referrals or losing them.
Join this panel to hear from the leaders who directed those changes. They will discuss where the industry is moving, based on national trends and the policy shifts landing in addiction and SUD services next year, and what a provider organization has to do to hold its place in the referral chain.
Attendees will leave with:
â–ª Which pieces of the Philadelphia model transfer outside Philadelphia, and what each one costs
â–ª What a drug supply that turns over yearly does to your level-of-care mix and your length of stay
â–ª Where your organization sits in that referral chain now, and what it takes to move up it
David Gastfriend, M.D.
As an addiction psychiatrist at Harvard Medical School, Dr. Gastfriend directed addiction research at Massachusetts General Hospital and was an investigator in the NIDA Cocaine Collaborative Study, NIAAA’s COMBINE Study and NIDA’s Clinical Trials Network. As Vice President at Alkermes, Inc., he directed scientific publications on Vivitrol in clinical, criminal justice and health economics research.
His research led most states to endorse the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) Criteria. His 150 scientific publications include the books The ASAM Criteria and Addiction Treatment Matching. As Chief Architect of ASAM CONTINUUM – The ASAM Criteria Decision Engine® and ASAM’s CO-Triage®, his tools are being adopted nationwide.
In 2016, he co-founded DynamiCare Health, a nationally-scalable technology for Contingency Management, receiving awards from Harvard Business School, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the Governor of Ohio, and the New York Times. He has consulted to governments in Belgium, China, Iceland, Israel, Norway, Russia and the U.S.
Nicole O’Donnell, CRS, BA
Nicole is a Certified Recovery Specialist, recognized by the Philadelphia Inquirer for excellence in patient care for her work at Penn Medicine’s Center for Addiction Medicine and Policy, which includes supporting patients at Penn Presbyterian, Pennsylvania Hospital, and the Hospital of the University of Penn. Ms. O’Donnell oversees the CareConnect Warmline, a low barrier and virtual buprenorphine bridge clinic, serving the Philadelphia area and surrounding counties connecting community members to evidence-based treatment.
Daniel Teixeira da Silva, M.D., MSHP
Daniel Teixeira da Silva, MD, is a Fellow in the National Clinician Scholars Program at the Perelman School of Medicine, general internist, and pediatrician. His research interests include studying the structural and psycho-social determinants of HIV sero-conversion; implementation of HIV prevention services; engagement in care among people living with HIV or at increased risk for HIV sero-conversion; and integration of HIV prevention and HIV primary care into public services and healthcare models. He aims to improve the quality of healthcare services for marginalized populations and address policy gaps that reinforce inequity in HIV sero-conversion, with a focus on people with a history of criminal justice system and/or child welfare system involvement.
Daniel attended Wesleyan University where he studied Biology and Science in Society, and he received his medical doctorate from the Boston University School of Medicine. During medical school, he completed the South American Program in HIV Prevention Research (SAPHIR) pre-doctoral fellowship at the Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He completed training in combined internal medicine and pediatrics at the University of Chicago, where he was a Leadership for Urban Primary Care Education and Transformation (LUCENT) scholar and completed the MacLean Center for Clinical Ethics Fellowship.
Kurt August, MSW
Kurt August, MSW, is the Executive Director for the Division of Criminal Justice within the City of Philadelphia’s Office of Public Safety. His work involves overseeing a wide range of criminal justice reform efforts designed to safely reduce the size of the local jail population and promote racial, ethnic, and economic disparities across the criminal justice system. His primary focus has been in the diversion and deflection space to develop health-centered alternatives to arrest and incarceration for adults with complex unmet health needs that are having low-level police contacts in the community. For the past 10 years, Kurt has worked at the intersection of the law enforcement and behavioral health communities by piloting a pre-booking diversion program, an Outreach focused Co-Responder pilot which embeds behavioral health professionals with law enforcement to collaboratively address quality of life issues, Crisis Intervention Response Teams that pair behavioral health professionals with CIT Officers in unmarked police vehicles to address behavioral health calls that come in to the 911 Call Center in real time, and collaborated with the Philadelphia Police Department and the Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual Disability Services to establish the first Behavioral Health Unit in the City’s history under the police department in December 2022.  Kurt is a married father of two girls and resides in the Strawberry Mansion section of the City. Â
Jeanmarie Perrone, M.D., FACMT
Jeanmarie Perrone is a Professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine, the Director of the Division of Medical Toxicology and the founding Director of the Penn Center for Addiction Medicine and Policy. Â Dr. Perrone has led multiple initiatives in opioid stewardship and leads a program for the ED treatment of Opioid Use Disorder (OUD). Â Dr. Perrone has served on many national task forces and federal advisory committees with the CDC and FDA addressing judicious opioid use and has advocated at the state and national level for expanding treatment opportunities for OUD. Â Dr. Perrone has been featured in prominent media including the New York Times, National Public Radio, Freakonomics and USA Today and has published in the New England Journal of Medicine and JAMA . She has won numerous awards for education and mentorship and is boarded in emergency medicine, medical toxicology and addiction medicine.
Closing The Gap: Expanding Access Through Medication For Opioid Use Disorder (MOUD)
Opioid use disorder continues to impact communities across the country, and expanding access to Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) remains one of the most effective strategies for improving outcomes and saving lives. This session will examine the operational, clinical, regulatory, and financial considerations involved in scaling MAT programs across diverse care settings.
Industry leaders will discuss how organizations are overcoming barriers to access, integrating MAT into broader treatment services, leveraging partnerships with health systems and payers, and addressing stigma that can limit adoption and engagement. Attendees will learn how innovative treatment models, data-driven care strategies, and workforce development efforts are helping providers reach more individuals with evidence-based opioid use disorder treatment.
Margery L. Stanton, LMHC
Margery Stanton is the President & COO of BestSelf Behavioral Health, where she has been part of the team for over 15 years. Across that time she has held a range of roles, each deepening her understanding of the agency’s mission and the people it serves. Beyond BestSelf, Margery is an adjunct professor at the University at Buffalo, where she is committed to supporting the next generation of behavioral health practitioners. At the heart of her work is a single goal: empowering everyone to be their BestSelf.
Jennifer Seib, LMHC, CASAC
Ms. Seib is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor and Credentialed Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Counselor who has been working in behavioral health care for over 20 years starting out as a substance use disorder counselor in outpatient and then intensive residential treatment before moving into several different leadership roles over the years.
Presently, Ms. Seib provides senior leadership support to many programs and service types at BestSelf, including programs supporting rapid access to Medication Assisted Treatment for Opioid Use Disorder, Residential programs for pregnant and parenting women and transitional aged youth with substance use challenges and co-occurring disorders, Opioid Treatment Program, Justice Involved Program, Recovery Community, Peer Services, and Housing and Homeless services.
Ms. Seib has also been part of the Western New York Chemical Dependency Consortium since 2012 where she served as Public Policy Chair for five years and currently serves as Vice Chair and is a board member of New York State COMPA (Coalition of Medication-Assisted Treatment Providers and Advocates).
Heidi Ginter, M.D., FASAM
Heidi Ginter, MD, FASAM is the National Medical Director of Addiction Medicine at Acadia Healthcare and Chief Medical Officer of CTC (Comprehensive Treatment Centers). Board-certified in both family and addiction medicine, Dr. Ginter has nearly two decades of experience treating substance use disorders.
Dr. Ginter earned her bachelor’s degree from Yale University, her MD from the University of Maryland School of Medicine and completed her family medicine residency at the University of Massachusetts Chan School of Medicine. Early in her career at the Edward M. Kennedy Community Health Center in Worcester, MA, she practiced the full spectrum of family medicine, including obstetrics, and was introduced to addiction medicine through managing methadone for incarcerated pregnant people with opioid use
disorder. This experience deeply impacted the trajectory of Dr. Ginter’s career as she became a passionate advocate for better substance use and mental health care for vulnerable, marginalized individuals.
As Dr. Ginter began trying to improve access to respectful, quality care, a key initiative in her early career was launching the first buprenorphine treatment program at her community health center. Dr. Ginter has since provided medical leadership across a range of settings, including opioid treatment programs (OTPs), inpatient withdrawal management, residential addiction treatment, outpatient office-based programs, and hospital addiction consult services. Her work has focused on building bridges between different levels of care, ensuring continuity and accessibility for patients.
In addition to her clinical leadership, Dr. Ginter is a nationally recognized speaker who advocates for reducing stigma and increasing public understanding of substance use disorders and their treatment. She envisions a future where everyone seeking treatment can access high quality, affordable, evidence-based care and whatever other resources they need to achieve recovery on their own terms, whenever and wherever they are ready.
Using Data & Technology To Improve Recovery Outcomes
Despite ongoing investment in technology and digital infrastructure, many SUD providers still struggle with fragmented workflows, disconnected systems, and limited reporting and visibility into outcomes. These gaps can directly impact the ability to support long-term recovery.
This session will feature findings from Cantata Health Solutions’ 2026 national survey of SUD providers, highlighting how organizations are leveraging data, EHR functionality, and other digital tools to address operational complexity and strengthen care delivery. Attendees will gain practical insight into where providers are struggling the most today, which operational and technology investments are emerging as priorities, and how organizations are working to build more scalable SUD programs.
*Lunch Is Provided!
Christy Winter, LMSW
Christy Winter brings over a decade of experience in behavioral health and social services, combined with more than 12 years in product management. She started her career in a variety of clinical and leadership roles with behavioral health providers, focusing on Continuous Quality Improvement and program evaluation. Since 2013, Winter has directed product strategy at both established EHR providers and an AI-driven documentation company, focusing on innovative solutions to support clinical and operational needs.
She holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Emory University and a master’s in social work from Georgia State University. She is a licensed Master Level Social Worker (LMSW).
Meeting People Where They Are: The Future Of Accessible, Integrated SUD CareÂ
Telehealth and integrated care offer major opportunities for addiction treatment providers, but they also introduce operational, clinical, regulatory and engagement challenges that make implementation complex. For addiction treatment executives, the difficulty is often balancing accessibility and convenience with consumer safety, compliance, and quality outcomes.
This session will explore how addiction treatment providers are implementing integrated care to reduce barriers to care, extend services to underserved communities, improve consumer engagement, and create more flexible treatment pathways. Executives will hear lessons learned around technology adoption, regulatory considerations, workforce integration, digital engagement, and balancing virtual and in-person care to meet the changing needs of today’s consumers.
Philip Huston
Philip Huston is an executive leader, strategist, and healthcare innovator specializing in rural health system design. Philip is the founder of Lifehouse which began as a grass roots sober living program and has developed an extensive continuum of behavioral health care in multiple rural communities. As Executive Director of Lifehouse, he spearheaded the organization’s transformation into New Mexico’s first rural Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic (CCBHC) while establishing Southern New Mexico’s largest residential recovery network.  He holds an M.Div. from Duke University and brings a pragmatic, community-driven approach to complex organizational problem-solving.