At CR Unite 2026, providers and industry leaders came together to share what’s working, tackle the field’s biggest challenges, and explore what it will take to deliver high-quality, sustainable care in the years ahead.
Three days in Boston. A room full of ABA providers, practice owners, and operational leaders. Big announcements, big ideas, and a lot of hallway conversations that turned into "wait, we can do that?" moments.
The field of ABA is at an inflection point. Demand for autism and IDD care is growing, payor scrutiny is rising, AI is opening new doors, and workforce shortages aren't going away. None of us can solve this alone, and that's why we got together to shape what "good" looks like in the next era of care.
That's the idea behind our tagline and the backbone of our 2027 Product Roadmap: Connected. Confident. Ready.
- Connected: providers, families, data, and workflows working together instead of in silos
- Confident: trust, quality, and outcomes you can stand behind
- Ready: technology and teams prepared for what's next in autism and IDD care
This year's conference themes were trust and accountability, sustainable growth, and practical ways to use technology to boost efficiency and impact. Here's how it all came together.
CONFIDENT: Defining What "Good" Looks Like in ABA
We opened with a standing-room-only conversation moderated by our Director of Research, Rick Rubina. CentralReach's Scientific Advisory Board, featuring Dr. Tom Frazier, Janet Twyman, Summer Mingo, and Starlette Sharp, took on the toughest questions in the field: trust, data, and standards.
Confidence starts with clarity. To rebuild public trust amid negative headlines and bad-actor cases of fraud, waste, and abuse, ABA needs to define what quality care looks like. The panel's answer was two-part:
- Standardized process metrics, like learning opportunities per hour
- Person-centered outcome measures that bring in quality of life and caregiver perspectives alongside individual progress
There's no single definition of success in ABA, because every learner has different goals and abilities. But shared standards make sure every learner has the tools to make progress in the ways that matter most to them.
The panel also tackled the ethical use of AI, and the message was clear: keep a human in the loop at key decision points to check output quality, catch bias, and protect care integrity. The nuance they added is that it has to be the right humans, meaning experts who can interpret and evaluate what AI produces.
Attendees left with a clear path forward: transparent quality benchmarks, investment in clinician training and retention, and technology that drives clinical consistency without sacrificing personalized care. That's the foundation for high-quality care, and for weeding out the bad actors.
CONNECTED: A Community That Showed Up and Shared
Beyond the keynotes, CR Unite is where the ABA community comes together. Attendees traded case studies, swapped lessons learned, tested new features at user testing sessions, and got one-on-one time with our product experts at the Genius Booth.
"It was helpful to see the people and the thought leadership behind the platform rather than just interacting with the product day to day."
- Asha Christy, Director of Scheduling, Opal Autism Centers
Our customers took the stage
The best part of any CR Unite is hearing directly from the people doing the work. A huge thank-you to the organizations that came ready to share real stories and real results as co-presenters this year:
Center for Social Dynamics Autism and Behavioral Health Services
From ScheduleAI to ABI, they showed what's possible when automation and data-driven tools meet great teams. They streamlined workflows, improved staff and patient outcomes, and gave their peers ideas to take straight back to the office.
"I loved getting to be part of a panel and sharing my experience with ScheduleAI."
- Caitlin Gibson, Scheduler Team Lead, Behavioral Innovations
Attendees also dove into CEU-eligible tracks led by our executive and clinical teams, covering clinical rigor, value-based care, and practical strategies for operational efficiency.
READY: The Platform of the Future Is Here
What does impact-driving ABA technology look like? It simplifies and connects your workflows, cuts administrative burden, and takes the pain out of documentation and payment. Throughout CR Unite 2026, we unveiled a wave of new AI-powered products and features built to get your team ready for whatever comes next.
The headliner: ReportDraftAI
We officially launched ReportDraftAI, our AI-assisted product that takes reporting from first draft through review and sign-off. It pulls the authorization, clinical, and progress data you already keep in CentralReach into a structured, review-ready draft in a consistent format. Providers stay in the loop to make sure every report is accurate, so you get speed and confidence.
The result: hours of reporting time handed back to your team, so they can spend it on patient care.
The numbers are in
Our AI-powered tools are already making a real difference:
- 5 million appointments scheduled with ScheduleAI, cutting provider scheduling time by 95%
- 77% clean claims across our tools, including NoteGuardAI, ClaimCheckAI, and the Care Companion mobile app
- 13.5 million draft session notes created
- 60 enhancements shipped to our core platform, including expanded APIs, data visualization, and architecture improvements
"…sessions on NoteGuardAI absolutely cemented my decision that our team needs to be using this feature!"
- Michele Beckley, Insurance Coordinator, Melmark New England
"I appreciate the cautious approach CR is taking when it comes to AI implementation."
- Sarah Miller, Application Support Specialist, Caravel Autism Health
The Finale: The 2027 Product Roadmap, Connected, Confident, and Ready
We closed CR Unite 2026 with the big reveal. Our 2027 Product Roadmap brings the week's themes together in one plan: Connected, Confident, and Ready. The goal is to eliminate administrative friction, accelerate care delivery, and improve outcomes for ABA and IDD therapy providers.
Connected
Chief Product Officer Peter Boumenot made the case for a connected operating system, one place to plan treatment, deliver care, measure outcomes, and drive sustainable growth. It matters because families managing autism work with lots of providers (RBTs, speech therapists, occupational therapists, and more), and tracking progress across all of them is hard. In 2027, new Care Companion features will help families and providers manage care in a more connected, comprehensive way.
Confident
New features are built to address evolving payer requirements and direct customer feedback, and to put actionable insight in providers' hands:
- Enhanced My Learners dashboard: actionable insights, faster, so providers can focus on the most important skills and goals for each learner
- Assessments 2.0: updated ABLLS-3 scoring, real-time supervision video, and multi-channel messaging that make it easier to connect clinical action to outcomes
Ready
Get your team ready for day one with tools that cut the busywork:
- Intake Hub: a centralized home that streamlines client onboarding
- AI-driven documentation: ReportDraftAI and VoiceDraftAI, alongside the upgraded CR CareCompanion app, to automate session reporting, reduce documentation fatigue, and strengthen real-time engagement between care teams and families
"I love the new intake process that is rolling out soon."
- Darcie Bugden, Operations Manager, Affinity Autism Services
"All the AI talks were exciting. I can't wait to get my hands on the products."
- Lindsay McNeil, Clinical Director, Center for Social Dynamics
Connected, Confident, and Ready: Building the Next Era of Autism and IDD Care | CR Unite 2026 on Vimeo
Celebrating the Best of the Best: The 5th Annual Autism and IDD Care Awards
We saved the biggest celebration for the end. The 5th Annual Autism and IDD Care Awards honored the practice leaders, clinical teams, and operational innovators who raise the standard of care every day.
"This award isn't just mine; it belongs to everyone who has trusted my guidance, challenged me to grow, and shown up alongside me in service of our clients." - Chika Asomugha, M.Ed, BCBA, LBA, Clinical Director, Essential Speech and ABA
Congratulations to our 2026 Award Winners!
Micha'ly Hall, ACES – Clinical Team Excellence
Ria Tirona, ACES – Clinical Team Excellence
Melanie Gacia Macias, ACES – Clinical Team Excellence
Jacqueline Godwin, Beyond Autism Services – Exceptional Leadership Award
Natalie Lovejoy, Lighthouse Autism Center – Innovator of the Year
Matt Henn, Proud Moments ABA – Security Team Excellence
Raven Ford-Lee, Verbal Beginnings – Operations Team Excellence
Christina James, Verbal Beginnings – Operations Team Excellence
Nicole Bazulis, Attain – Rising Star in Autism and IDD Care
Connected, Confident, and Ready: Let's Build the Next Era of ABA Together
CR Unite is proof of what happens when this community collaborates. Together, we can usher in a new era of trust, accountability, and better outcomes for ABA, and give learners, their families, and providers the support they deserve.
Thank you to everyone who joined us in Boston. Your insights were deeply valuable, and we're already fired up for what's next.
"You can tell that CR employees really seem to love what they do and are helpful to one another and clients as well."
- Sara Martens, Operations Coordinator, Behavior Consultants Inc
Missed it this year? Don't miss the next one.
Join the CentralReach community for big announcements, training and networking opportunities, and early-bird registration for CR Unite 2027 in San Diego. Details to come!
Posted in Clinical, Conferences, News, Practice Management
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