MALVERN, PA — As artificial intelligence rapidly reshapes healthcare, behavioral health leaders are confronting a high-stakes question: how to deploy AI in ways that improve care, protect trust, and strengthen already strained organizations. HMP Global’s Behavioral Health AI Summit, scheduled for April 7–8, 2026, in Nashville, Tennessee, aims to move that debate from theory to execution.
The two-day event will bring together executives, clinicians, policymakers, and technology leaders to examine how artificial intelligence can be applied across behavioral healthcare operations, from patient acquisition and clinical documentation to workforce management, compliance, and financial reporting. Organizers say the focus is on responsible adoption, measurable impact, and sustainable growth, not experimentation for its own sake.
Many behavioral health providers are already testing AI tools, but adoption has been uneven and often reactive. Leaders cite concerns over ethics, regulation, data security, and the risk of undermining the therapeutic relationship. The summit is designed to address those gaps by providing case studies, peer discussion, and practical frameworks for implementation.
The agenda follows the patient journey on day one, examining how AI affects access, assessment, documentation, and care delivery. Day two shifts to real-world case studies, highlighting how organizations are integrating AI while maintaining clinical quality and staff engagement.
Featured faculty include executives from Community Medical Services, Recovery Unplugged, JourneyPure, Rogers Behavioral Health, and Caron Treatment Centers. Policy expertise will also be represented, including perspectives on emerging state-level regulations governing AI use in mental healthcare.
Kyle Hillman, director of legislative affairs for the National Association of Social Workers in Illinois and an author of state laws restricting unregulated AI in mental health, said decisions made now will shape the future of care delivery.
“As AI moves deeper into behavioral health, we have a rare chance to shape how technology supports care rather than replaces it,” Hillman said. “The choices we make now will determine whether innovation strengthens or weakens the therapist and client relationship.”
Operational efficiency is a central theme. Andrew Heckman, corporate director of information management services at Caron Treatment Centers, said AI’s greatest promise may be its ability to remove administrative burden from clinicians.
“In behavioral health, our moonshot should be to make technology invisible,” Heckman said. “If AI can handle documentation behind the scenes, clinicians can focus entirely on the person in front of them.”
Doug Edwards, senior vice president of psychiatry and behavioral health at HMP Global, described the moment as a defining one for the sector.
“Behavioral health leaders are facing a turning point as AI reshapes how care is delivered, measured, and supported,” Edwards said. “This summit is about giving executives the clarity and real-world guidance they need to adopt AI responsibly.”
The event will close with a keynote from Lisa Henderson, founder and chief operating officer of Synchronous Health, who will outline a practical action plan for leaders returning to their organizations.
“AI isn’t replacing the human connection at the core of mental health care,” Henderson said. “It’s amplifying it by revealing insights that were previously invisible.”
For behavioral health organizations facing rising demand, workforce shortages, and financial pressure, the summit positions AI not as a silver bullet, but as a strategic tool that must be governed carefully. The discussion in Nashville will center on whether the industry can harness innovation without sacrificing the human foundation of care.
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