Physician Assistant (PA), Psychiatry – SW Community Service Center

The Harris Center for Mental Health and IDD; Houston (TX); On-site; USD 110,000 - 170,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salary

Excellent benefits

Retirement plan with company matching

Generous PTO accrual

Job summary

The Harris Center for Mental Health and IDD in Houston, TX is seeking a Physician Assistant (PA), Psychiatry to deliver direct outpatient care. The PA will assess, diagnose, plan, and prescribe within a team-based setting under a licensed physician, focusing on mental health treatment and prevention.

Experience in psychiatry and prescriptive authority are valued. The role emphasizes collaboration with psychiatrists and the care team to improve patient outcomes, with a strong commitment to

Qualifications

• Graduation from an NCCPA-approved physician assistant program.
• Active DEA license.
• Medication management required; therapy management preferred.
• 1 year clinical experience in a psychiatric/mental health setting preferred.
• Current Texas PA licensure and active state DEA license required.
• CAQ in Psychiatry preferred.
• BLS from American Heart Association required.

Responsibilities

• Provide direct psychiatric outpatient care including assessment, diagnosis, planning, and prescribing within scope.
• Collaborate with supervising psychiatrist and multidisciplinary team to develop and implement care plans.
• Order, interpret, and monitor diagnostic tests and medications per protocol.
• Educate patients and families about medications, disease processes and health management.
• Perform comprehensive psychiatric assessments and documentation.

Skills

Patient assessment

Care planning

EHR documentation

Team collaboration

Patient education

Communication

Education

Master's degree in Physician Assistant Studies

Texas PA license

DEA license

CAQ in Psychiatry (preferred)

Job description

For over 40 years, The Harris Center for Mental Health and IDD (“The HARRIS CENTER”) has provided support to the most underserved communities in Harris County with a vision to empower people with behavioral health and IDD needs to transform their lives. We are seeking professionals and persons interested in joining our organization, who are on a mission to help others, and who are passionate about this population. If you are seeking a fulfilling career that offers a competitive salary, excellent benefit package, retirement plans with company matching, prior service credit towards generous PTO accrual among other things, please search our open positions. Our employees are at the center of everything we do. We put our people first so they can make a difference in the lives of others. Come join our team today!!

Position Summary:

We are seeking a Physician Assistant (PA), Psychiatry that will provide direct client care including assessing, diagnosing, planning, and prescribing pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic treatment of health problems, health promotion and preventive care within this specialized area of practice under the supervision of a licensed physician. The PA is involved in practice activities with the goal of improving the quality of care in an outpatient setting. The incumbent will be a licensed provider with training and certification in advanced medical practice including prescriptive authority, and diagnosis, preferably with a focus in mental health treatment. The focus of care is on health promotion and disease prevention. Such care is delivered within the rules and regulations of the Texas Medical Board (TMB). The PA is prepared to practice in an expanded role to provide mental health care and services to individuals, families or groups in a variety of settings.

The PA’s services include but are not limited to assessment, diagnosis, examinations, ordering, conducting and interpreting diagnostic and lab tests, prescription of psychiatric pharmacologic agents, and treatments and non-pharmacological therapies.

We are looking for a skilled, compassionate, and experienced Physician’s Assistant or Professional Mental Health Nurse Practitioner committed to our mission of providing patients with exceptional, trusted medical services.

Essential Job Functions:

• This position works as part of a multidisciplinary team to provide clinical services and coordinate care to mental health patients.
• Utilizes a systematic process to deliver patient services. This process includes but is not limited to assessment, analysis, planning, implementation of treatment and follow-up of the patient’s condition.
• Demonstrates decision making that is clinically sound, systematic, timely, well researched and reflects awareness of impact including reporting to appropriate members of the management, supervisory and administrative staff and works independently with minimal supervision.
• Completes and documents comprehensive psychiatric assessments and evaluations for assigned patients.
• As a member of the multidisciplinary treatment team and in collaboration with the supervising psychiatrist participates in the development and implementation of plans of care.
• In collaboration with the supervising psychiatrist, provides medication services within established protocol that includes but is not limited to ordering diagnostic tests and tests interpretation, psychiatric medication prescription, and medication monitoring.
• Promotes positive health behaviors and self-care skills through education and counseling of patients.
• Informs, explains and educates patient/family, health care team and community as needed regarding medications, disease processes and health information at level fitting patient, family, team members’, and community comprehension
• Performs related work as assigned, adapts to changing work requirements and complies with Agency policies and procedures

Requirements:

• Graduation from an NCCPA-approved physician assistant program
• Active DEA
• Medication management required, therapy management preferred
• 1-year clinical experience in a psychiatric or mental health setting preferred
• Current Physician Assistant full and unrestricted licensure in Texas and active state DEA License required.
• PA with Psych Certificate of Added Qualifications (CAQ) preferred.
• BLS from the American Heart Association required.

Required Skills:

• Ability to conduct comprehensive patient assessments and develop individualized care plans.
• Ability to utilize EHR systems for accurate documentation and patient tracking.
• Ability to collaborate with healthcare teams to provide optimal patient care.
• Ability to educate patients and families on treatment plans and health management.
• Understanding of diagnostic criteria for dual conditions and ability to conceptualize modalities and placement criteria within the continuum of care
• Excellent communication skills, verbal and written

Preferred Knowledge:

• Texas Medical Board (TMB) professional standards of practice.
• Practice Parameters as set forth by the TMB for PAs with Prescriptive Authority.
• Applicable pharmacy rules and regulations.
• Prescription practices and monitoring related to psychopharmacology
• Health Status Assessments, Physical Examinations, Psychiatric Evaluations, Abnormal Involuntary Movement Scales (AIMS) and Psychosocial Behavioral Assessments.
• DSM 5 diagnostic criteria and formulation.
• Standard Precautions and infection control procedures for dealing with sharp instruments, needles, blood and body fluids.
• Good body mechanics to avoid injury.
• Basic principles of psychiatric/mental health care.