About the Course

In collaboration with Nicholas Goodwin, DNP PMHNP, The Elite Nurse Practitioner is proud to announce the release of the How to Open a Psychiatric Practice Course. This is our all-in-one guide for the startup and management of both in-person and digital mental health clinics and is a companion curriculum to our Clinical Psychiatry for the NP Course. Participants can take either the clinic or business option, or bundle them together for some serious savings! Your learning path will depend on your unique goals, and whether you are in need of clinical education, business development skills, or both. Completion of both courses earns a total of 14 CEU hours.

This course is designed for the nurse practitioner who is interested in building their own psychiatric practice. PMHNPs will specifically benefit from this material, but any nurse practitioner can benefit from the wealth of information this curriculum provides!

This course is the only straight to the point business course designed specifically for the nurse practitioner who wants to start either a brick-and-mortar practice, a telepsych practice, or even a hybrid model. Upon completion, participants will have a fully-fledged business roadmap to get their psychiatric practice up and running.

Psychiatric medicine and mental healthcare is one of the most booming medical industries in the U.S., with an estimated $200 billion spent annually on mental health services.  Additionally, it is estimated that one in four adults suffer from a mental health condition. There will always be serious demand for mental health clinicians, and this field gives providers the opportunity to help people overcome lifelong emotional challenges. Any business model that allows NPs to make a difference and grow financially is a win-win!

Starting a psychiatric/mental health clinic is straightforward. Business owners can get a virtual practice set up for less than $5,000, and a brick-and-mortar practice can be established for around $10,000. This is one of the more affordable medical practices to start, with a low barrier to entry and a high profit potential.

With a startup budget of only $5,000, there is no reason why any PMHNP out there shouldn’t start their own successful psychiatric practice.  The benefits of small business ownership are numerous, but the tax incentives, wealth building capabilities, and flexibility are the biggest of them all! Once you become an entrepreneur, you will never look back.

Mental health practices can either be cash-based, insurance-based, or even a hybrid of both. This course will discuss each model and explain how to build an integrative psychiatric practice. This opens opportunities to provide niche services such as HRT or weight loss in addition to your mental health services. We will also touch on practice scope considerations, and how you can best utilize your certifications to provide the most comprehensive care possible.

This course is designed to teach the nurse practitioner with zero business skills how to get their own practice up and running. You will learn all the business startup components you need to know to get started the right way, including business formation, EMR, telepsych procedures, marketing, insurance billing, cash pricing, policies and procedures, and much more! 

Course objectives: 

• The benefits of opening your own practice. 
• The liabilities, regulations, and risks associated with starting your own practice 
• Legal business creation, including LLC formation 
• The types of practice models, including: focused niche, concierge, integrative, and general psychiatric practices 
• The basics of malpractice insurance and how to obtain it 
• EMR logistics 
• Estimated startup and operational costs 
• Telemedicine fundamentals, including controlled substance prescribing 
• The pros and cons of insurance vs. cash practices 
• Cash-based pricing 
• Insurance billing and coding for psychiatric visits 
• How to chart appropriately to maximize billing 
• Marketing your practice to increase patient volume 
• Ways to utilize all practice forms included in the course 
• Preferred vendors, including pharmaceutical distributors, suppliers, and compounding pharmacies 
• The revenue potential of a psychiatric practice 

Plus, this course will award 6 official CEU hours so you can stay up to date with your certifications and licenses! 

There are 4 hours of video and audio content where Nicholas and Justin Allan go over a 160-slide presentation in detail. Recordings are also available for streamable learning on the go.  This course will include all the supplemental documentation you need to get your own psychiatric practice up and running. Materials include informed consent, HIPAA/privacy policies, consent for electronic communication, a lab order sheet, a general treatment intake form, a no-show policy letter, telepsych informed consent, and a visit documentation template. Participants will also receive a policies and procedures manual that can be referred to in the future to help inform business decision making.

If you want to start a high revenue, in-demand, and low barrier to entry practice, then you should seriously consider opening your own mental health clinic. As a PMHNP, you are sitting on a great opportunity to begin building the life you want. Providing mental health services in person or online will only continue to be in demand, and as our population ages and grows. So, get started today and begin working on your terms, and not the terms of your employer!

This course is only $499 and will provide you with the knowledge needed to start your own psychiatric practice! 

See what others have to say...

Gary M., PMHNP: This was a fantastic course for those PMHNPs that are wanting to start their own practice! I already own a psychiatric practice, but I wish I would have had this resource before I started. It would have made the process more manageable and simpler! The policies and procedures were very well done too! Solid course ELITE NP!

April, PMHNP: I loved this course as I love all the Elite NP courses I have taken. I am so happy that The Elite Nurse Practitioner has finally released a course for us PMHNPs! I took this in addition to the clinical psych course and they are both very well done and have a plethora of clinical and business pearls. This course broke down just how easy it is to start your own mental health clinic. Thank you for providing this educational activity to the nurse practitioner community!

Gina S., PMHNP: First I wanted to offer my gratitude to Justin for allowing me to have early access to this course. This course was great! I loved how Justin and Nicholas simplified the process of starting a psychiatric practice. I thought it was going to be more complicated than this, but this course provides a simple model on how to get started quickly plus includes all the documentation you need. I want to start a cash-based telehealth practice focused on anxiety therapies and after this course, I am confident I can get it started within a month. THANK YOU!

Michael, NP: I am a dual certified FNP/PMHNP and I am in the planning stages of starting an integrative practice where I will be providing HRT, IV infusion, and mental health services. This course brought it all together for me. It was concise, free from fluff, and got straight down to business in true Elite NP fashion. Thank you for this course as I am sure it will help many other PMHNPs start their own practice and earn what they deserve. I cannot say how thankful I am for what The Elite NP is doing for our profession!

Frequently Asked Questions

Will I have unlimited access to this course? 

You can access this course however many times you want for however long you want. All Elite Nurse Practitioner Courses are pre-recorded and accessible indefinitely. 

Will this course teach me how to start my own psychiatric practice? 

We go over every detail you need to know to get started on the right foot. We cover everything from insurance billing to LLC formation, to marketing, and everything in between! We are confident you will walk away prepared for success.  

Will this course cover everything I need to know to start a telepsych practice? 

Absolutely! All the same business principles apply to a telepsych practice, minus logistics associated with a physical office.  We cover all the regulatory and logistical aspects of starting a telepsych practice, so you get started correctly and remain compliant. 

How long does it take to start a mental health clinic? 

If you are starting a cash-based practice, you can expect to have a practice up and running within four to six weeks. If you are going to accept insurance, then the credentialing process can take between three and six months. So, it is best to get started immediately if you are going to take insurance. 

Do I need a special degree to start my own practice? 

Outside of your nurse practitioner degree, no! Do not be fooled into thinking you need an MBA or MHA to start your own business. If you are a licensed NP, you already have all of the education needed to establish a psychiatric practice.

Will this course cover marketing? 

Yes! We will cover various marketing techniques to help get patients through the door and increase your practice’s volume.

Do I need a physician collaborator? 

Only if your state requires one. However, it is possible to register a telehealth practice in a full practice authority state and see patients who reside in the state your business is registered in.

I already own a practice. Will this course benefit me? 

It is always important to see different perspectives on starting and operating a business. If you need any documentation or a policies and procedures manual, you can get it through this course.

Would this course benefit me if I plan on starting a practice in the next few years? 

Yes! The topics covered in this course will remain relevant at any time. Plus,you have indefinite access to the course so you can revisit the lessons provided.

Will this offer CME? 

This course offers 6 CE hours. The Elite Nurse Practitioner is credentialed as a  CEU provider through the ANCC. CEU awarded through The Elite Nurse Practitioner applies to ANCC, AANP, and all boards of nursing. 

Will this course provide a certificate of completion? 

A certificate is issued at the end of the course that will display the CEU hours and verify your completion of this course. You can use it for CE reimbursement and as awriteoff on your taxes!