Director of Behavioral Health Practice - PMHNP

Job Description

Job Description

Overview

The Director of Behavioral Health Practice provides operational and clinical leadership for Abode Care Partners’ behavioral health practice serving older adults in skilled nursing facilities and related care settings. The Director will help build, manage, and scale a high-quality behavioral health model focused on psychiatric medication management, therapy services, behavioral health assessment, screening and management of cognitive impairment and common geriatric behavioral health conditions, care coordination, and support for medically complex geriatric patients.

The ideal candidate is a Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner with experience caring for older adults, working in skilled nursing facilities, and leading or supporting a multi-provider behavioral health practice that includes psychiatric nurse practitioners, therapists, and other behavioral health clinicians. This role is preferably based in the Louisville area, with existing Kentucky and Tennessee licenses preferred. Experience integrating behavioral health into value-based care models—focused on quality outcomes, avoidable hospitalization reduction, medication optimization, emergency department utilization reduction, and total cost of care—is strongly preferred.

Responsibilities

• Provide high-quality behavioral health care to older adults in skilled nursing facilities and related care settings, including psychiatric evaluation, medication management, follow-up care, cognitive screening, and behavioral assessment, in coordination with facility-based teams.
• Lead the day-to-day clinical operations of the behavioral health practice, including provider coverage, clinical workflows, documentation standards, quality expectations, productivity, and patient access.
• Oversee, support, and mentor behavioral health clinicians, including psychiatric nurse practitioners, therapists, and other behavioral health providers.
• Partner with facility leadership, nursing teams, primary care providers, therapists, care managers, families, and interdisciplinary teams to deliver coordinated behavioral health care for residents.
• Support screening, diagnosis, management, and care planning for common geriatric behavioral health and cognitive conditions, including depression, anxiety, psychosis, dementia-related behavioral symptoms, delirium, sleep disturbance, adjustment disorders, substance use concerns, and complex medication regimens.
• Integrate behavioral health into broader value-based care strategies—partnering with primary care, therapy, facility, and care management teams to improve quality, reduce avoidable hospitalizations and emergency department utilization, optimize medication use, and improve resident outcomes.
• Develop and refine clinical protocols, workflows, and best practices for behavioral health care, therapy services, cognitive screening, dementia-related behavioral management, and psychiatric medication management in skilled nursing facilities.
• Promote evidence-based, patient-centered, compassionate care that supports quality of life, dignity, safety, and appropriate medication use for older adults.
• Review clinical and therapy documentation, care plans, prescribing patterns, quality metrics, and clinical decision-making in accordance with company policy and regulatory requirements.
• Support appropriate use of psychiatric medications—including antipsychotics, antidepressants, mood stabilizers, anxiolytics, and sleep medications—with attention to geriatric risk, cognitive impairment, fall risk, polypharmacy, and regulatory expectations in skilled nursing facilities.
• Identify opportunities to expand behavioral health and therapy services across current and new markets, with an initial focus on Kentucky and Tennessee.
• Support quality outcomes across documentation quality, patient experience, provider performance, timely access, medication safety, cognitive screening completion, therapy access, regulatory compliance, and cost-of-care performance, while maintaining strong engagement with providers, facility leadership, patients, and families.
• Ensure behavioral health practice standards comply with applicable federal and state laws, payer requirements, licensure and prescribing rules, privacy standards, therapy practice requirements, and company policies.
• Participate in required trainings, meetings, performance reviews, and clinical leadership forums as directed by senior leadership.

Qualifications

• Master’s degree or higher in nursing required.
• Current certification as a Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP) required.
• Active, unrestricted APRN license required.
• Existing Kentucky and Tennessee APRN licenses preferred; willingness to obtain additional state licenses based on business needs.
• Three or more years of behavioral health clinical experience preferred.
• Experience caring for older adults, medically complex patients, or patients in skilled nursing facilities strongly preferred.
• Experience managing or supporting a behavioral health or therapy practice, multi-site clinical model, or team of clinicians preferred.
• Experience in geriatric psychiatry, long-term care, post-acute care, dementia care, cognitive impairment, or facility-based behavioral health preferred.
• Experience with value-based care, population health, accountable care, or integrated behavioral health models preferred.
• Understanding of how behavioral health integration improves outcomes for older adults—including quality performance, avoidable utilization, medication safety, care coordination, and total cost of care—strongly preferred.
• Experience collaborating with physicians, nurse practitioners, therapists, facility nursing teams, social workers, and care managers preferred.
• Board certification as a Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner required.
• Current Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) registration required, as applicable to assigned scope of practice.
• Must meet applicable credentialing, privileging, payer enrollment, and state-specific prescribing requirements.
• Must be familiar with regulatory and clinical expectations for behavioral health, therapy services, cognitive screening, and psychotropic medication management in skilled nursing facilities.
• Ability to travel within assigned markets, particularly Kentucky and Tennessee, as needed.
• Strong clinical judgment and the ability to manage complex behavioral health and cognitive needs in older adults.
• Excellent communication with patients, families, facility staff, therapists, providers, and interdisciplinary care teams.
• Strong understanding of behavioral health and therapy care delivery in skilled nursing facilities.
• Knowledge of best practices in geriatric behavioral health, cognitive impairment screening and management, psychiatric medication management, therapy coordination, documentation, care planning, and regulatory compliance.
• Strong understanding of the role behavioral health integration plays in value-based care, including its impact on avoidable hospitalizations, emergency department utilization, medication management, resident stability, quality outcomes, and cost-of-care performance.
• Ability to lead, coach, and support clinicians and therapists across multiple facilities or markets.
• Strong organizational, management, and provider-engagement skills.
• Ability to partner effectively with facility operators, nursing leadership, therapy teams, primary care teams, and internal clinical operations teams.
• Excellent decision-making and problem-solving skills.
• Commitment to quality, compliance, patient safety, resident dignity, provider engagement, and scalable behavioral health care delivery.