About the role
About Protocol Behavioral Health
Protocol provides cancer-specific behavioral health treatment to patients by partnering with oncology clinics and cancer centers. Oncology patients are at heightened risk of mental health disorders and suicide, and those conditions negatively impact patient outcomes, treatment adherence, and total cost of care. Protocol is built to ensure patients have access to high quality, evidence-based treatments via telehealth while collaborating with the oncology team to ensure seamless care for patients — available when and where they need it.
About the role
The Consulting Psychiatric NP/PA will work within Protocol’s Collaborative Care Model (CoCM), supporting behavioral health care managers (BHCMs) in their treatment of oncology patients. Operating under the supervision of Protocol’s consulting psychiatrist, this clinician will contribute to treatment planning, assist with medication recommendations, and help ensure patients receive timely, evidence-based psychiatric support across our telehealth platform.
Responsibilities
- Join weekly consultation meetings with behavioral health care managers reviewing the Collaborative Care Model patient registry.
- Support the consulting psychiatrist in evaluating treatment plans and contributing to medication recommendations for oncology patients with psychiatric co-occurring conditions.
- Provide direct psychiatric evaluation and treatment, including prescribing psychiatric medications, when indicated and within scope of practice.
- Maintain working knowledge of interactions between psychiatric medications and common oncology treatments, under the guidance of the supervising psychiatrist.
- Communicate treatment support and care coordination to oncology teams in alignment with Protocol’s clinical standards.
- Evaluate psychiatric risk in the context of oncology care, including suicidal ideation, trauma responses, and the psychiatric impact of cancer diagnoses and treatment.
- Collaborate with a multidisciplinary team including behavioral health care managers, oncology providers, and outside psychiatric providers as needed.
- Participate in initial and ongoing training required by Protocol.
- Engage in ongoing supervision and department meetings as needed.
- Maintain licensure in home state and obtain licensure in other states as requested by Protocol (licensure costs for licenses requested by Protocol will be covered).
- Perform other duties as assigned.
Qualifications
- An active, unrestricted license in at least one US state as one of the following, with preference for New York licensure:
- Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP-BC), or
- Physician Assistant (PA-C) with demonstrated psychiatric training, experience, or certification (e.g., CAQ-Psychiatry or equivalent)
- Ability to support a caseload of patients of different diagnoses, backgrounds and cultures, and with varying degrees of acuity.
- Experience with patients in oncology and/or chronic or serious medical illness settings.
- Experience supporting patients with suicidal ideation and/or trauma.
- Comfort treating co-occurring psychiatric conditions including mood disorders, anxiety disorders, adjustment disorders, and ADHD in a medically complex population.
- Ability to practice collaboratively within a supervised care model, with openness to clinical oversight and team-based decision making.
- Strong communication skills and ability to respond to patient and team messages in a timely manner.
This role is a contract role. Total hours per week and working days/hours will be discussed individually to meet patient and team needs for Protocol’s partnerships with cancer centers.