I am a master's educated RN thinking of going back for psych NP. I currently work in adult psych, but find that I really want more autonomy and flexibility in my job. I would love to establish my own telehealth practice but have not come across any NPs doing this...Is there anyone out there who could offer some insight?
I currently work with the VA and there are expanding opportunities through that organization with telehealth...but again, I want autonomy :-)
Another barrrier I will need to examine...I currently live in a state requiring collaboration and I don't know what the laws would be if I, say, treated patients only in states allowing independent practice? Is this completely out there? I can re-locate if needed eventually.
Any insight at all would be very helpful. Thanks in advance!
I work at an outpatient mental health clinic that uses telepsych PMHNPs. They are licensed in the state where the clinic is located and have a DEA number for that state, even though the NPs live in other states. Both providers work for a company I don't know how much they are paid, but I believe they are happy with the arrangement.
I know that this comment is almost a year old, just so that future people will know. As far as seeing patients at home this can be done thru a secure system called jabber. You can schedule the patient yourself or you can open up slots and the patient can schedule themselves and they can only contact you between the parameters you set. It is made by Cisco. Most all telehealth equipment is made by Cisco. as far as prescribing look into the Ryan Heights act. You have to see the patients at least once face to face before you can prescribe to them via telehealth.
There MAY be state flexibility with the Ryan Heights act, but I'm not too sure. If you want to setup your own online practice, I would count on that you can't prescribe to patients without first a face to face assessment UNLESS they are in a DEA approved clinic or hospital. So really your options for that private practice while traveling or living on an exotic beach seem pretty limited. You can still sign up for jobs with existing clinics in the US where you are licensed, but if you want a practice of your own and you can't meet patients face to face, I don't know that you'll be much more than a counselor. With, that is, a science background replacing the extra psychology training.
entrepreneur_np
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It's my understanding that a spoke site can be a patients home in cash based models (source Amwell)