Despite major advances in medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD), most individuals with OUD continue to fall out of care at critical transition points—emergency departments, hospital discharge, residential treatment, and jail reentry.
This session will highlight how high-performing provider organizations are strengthening each stage of the OUD Cascade of Care—from screening and initiation to stabilization, retention, and recovery—using practical, evidence-based strategies that can be implemented today.
Speakers
Heidi Ginter
Acadia Healthcare
Heidi B. Ginter, MD, FASAM is the Medical Director of Addiction Medicine at Acadia Healthcare. Board-certified in both family and addiction medicine, Dr. Ginter brings 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 a 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 in the early 2000’s deeply impacted the trajectory of Dr. Ginter’s career as she became passionate about advocating for better care for these incredibly vulnerable and 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.
Stuart Buttlaire
Vice President Of Clinical Excellence & Leadership
info@openminds.com
717-334-1329
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
Expertise
Strategic planning for mental health and substance use delivery systems
Integrated behavioral health system design
Behavioral health financing and policy reform and state and federal legislative and regulatory strategy
Measurement-based care and clinical performance management
Behavioral health policy authorship and thought leadership
Highlights
Regional Director of Behavioral Health and Addiction Medicine, Kaiser Permanente
Board President, Institute for Behavioral Health Improvement
Board Member, NAMI California
Advisor on Medicaid and Medicare behavioral health programs
Biography
Stuart Buttlaire brings over 35 years of executive, clinical, and policy experience to OPEN MINDS. Dr. Buttlaire has experience in both the public and private sectors of healthcare providing leadership and direction in healthcare delivery. His career has focused on advancing integrated behavioral health and addiction medicine through strategic innovation, system redesign, quality improvement, and sustainable policy reform.
Previously, Dr. Buttlaire was the Regional Director of Behavioral Health and Addiction Medicine for Kaiser Permanente. In this role, Dr. oversaw a $200 million portfolio serving 4.6 million members across 23 emergency departments and 33 medical centers. He led development and operations across inpatient, ambulatory, emergency, call center, and contracted community services, supporting more than 2,500 mental health and substance use disorder providers. His leadership resulted in significant system transformation grounded in person-centered, measurement-based, and integrated care models. Dr. Buttlaire was also the lead Mental Health Representative for State Program Initiatives, including Medicaid (Medi-Cal) and Medicare. He pioneered the design and implementation of two psychiatric inpatient units, including a nationally recognized medical/psychiatric unit for individuals with complex co-morbidities. Additional innovations include integrated urgent services for youth and adults, intensive outpatient programs, multi-family group treatments for severe psychiatric conditions, and a mobile app for eating disorders that earned Kaiser’s Innovation Award.
Dr. Buttlaire is a widely respected advisor on behavioral health policy, legislation, and regulatory strategy. He has worked closely with state and federal agencies on issues of parity enforcement, financing reform, Medicaid redesign, and systems integration. He currently serves as Board President of the Institute for Behavioral Health Improvement, is a Board Member of NAMI California, and sits on the California Hospital Association Behavioral Health Advisory Board. He previously chaired the Behavioral Health Section of the American Hospital Association and was appointed to the AHA Regional Policy Board for the Western U.S.
As a frequent speaker and author, Dr. Buttlaire has published articles and research papers on behavioral health integration, suicide prevention, financing, and policy reform. His work continues to shape strategic direction for public and private behavioral health systems across the country.
Dr. Buttlaire holds a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the California Institute of Integral Studies, an MBA with a concentration in Health Care Management and Finance from UC Irvine’s Paul Merage School of Business, a Master’s in Counseling Psychology from Humboldt State, and a B.A. in Psychology and Political Science from the University of Colorado.
What You’ll Learn:
- Where the most common drop-offs occur across the OUD Cascade of Care
- Evidence-based strategies to improve engagement, initiation, and retention
- How workflow redesign, staffing models, and peer support improve continuity
- The role of long-acting injectables (LAIs) in strengthening early and mid-stage retention
- How to map your organization’s cascade and identify high-impact improvement opportunities