Collaborating Psychiatrist: The Complete Guide for Collaborating with Nurse Practitioners

Example H2

A wave of psychiatric nurse practitioners are entering the workforce. Not only are they taking jobs in more traditional group settings, but they are also creating their own practices, or working on telemedicine platforms. All you need to do is look at the growth in NP owned practices to see the accelerating trend.

Most psych NPs are working in states where physician collaboration is required by state law. For psychiatrists, this rapid growth has created a whole new type of role, the collaborating psychiatrist. This can be a meaningful role, but it should be approached carefully. To feel confident in starting a collaboration, a psychiatrist needs to understand the clinician, practice, regulatory and professional duties, malpractice coverage, and expected compensation.

This report is written for psychiatrists interested in taking on collaborations with psych NPs. We use Single Aim marketplace data and feedback from psychiatrists to provide guidance on which states have the most collaboration demand, what psychiatrists are being paid, and what physicians should evaluate before agreeing to collaborate.

Key Takeaways

Psychiatry is the largest collaboration category on Single Aim: In many states there are more collaboration roles than psychiatrists. Psychiatrists who want collaborations have no problem finding them.
Compensation depends on state rules and practice scope: Average pay is $590 per month per clinician. Higher-paying roles often involve more regulatory friction, more limited physician supply, or a more hands-on collaboration structure.
The best collaborations are clear before they start: Psychiatrists should confirm prescribing expectations, chart review, meeting cadence, malpractice coverage, and state-specific requirements before signing.

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Where are collaborating psychiatrists most needed?

Psychiatry has become one of the main areas of collaboration demand on Single Aim. Internal Single Aim marketplace data indicates that roughly 60% of jobs posted on the platform now involve mental-health services and are seeking a collaborating psychiatrist, making this the largest category of NP collaboration requests. Psychiatrists interested in this work can review current opportunities through Single Aim collaborating physician jobs.

The states with the most requests for collaborating psychiatrists are, not surprisingly, often large states with more stringent collaboration or prescribing requirements. In Texas, for example, NPs generally need a physician relationship for prescriptive authority. In California, standard NPs furnishing medications under standardized procedures are subject to physician supervision, and a physician may supervise no more than four furnishing NPs at one time.¹

More stringent regulations can also create supply constraints. In some states, demand for collaborating psychiatrists appears to exceed the number of available psychiatrists willing or able to take on these roles.

The chart below shows the percentage of Single Aim mental-health jobs where no psychiatrist responded. States like Alabama, Mississippi, and Georgia stand out. In several high-need states, licensure, proximity, chart-review, or meeting rules can reduce the pool of psychiatrists who can perform the role.²

For psychiatrists taking collaborations in these high-need states, there may be more opportunities, giving psychiatrists more ability to evaluate clinical and personal fit. These roles can also require more time or logistical commitment, which is often reflected in higher compensation.

Collaborating Psychiatrist Pay

What do collaborating psychiatrists get paid?

Compensation for psychiatrist collaboration varies based on the state, the services being provided, how many patients the NP is seeing, and the time commitment expected from the psychiatrist. For a broader benchmark, see Single Aim's collaborating physician pay data.

In Single Aim confirmed collaboration data, single-clinician psychiatrist collaborations had a median monthly rate of $590. The most common range was $501 to $700 per month, which accounted for over a third of confirmed psychiatrist collaborations.

Pay by State

Rates also vary meaningfully by state. Georgia, Texas, California, and Florida had some of the highest median monthly psychiatrist collaboration rates in the Single Aim data. These higher rates may reflect more stringent state requirements, such as limits on how many NPs one physician can supervise or additional collaboration responsibilities for the physician.¹

Pay Compared to Other Specialties

Psychiatry collaborations fall in the middle of collaboration rates by specialty. Two forces likely pull rates in opposite directions: the limited supply of psychiatrists pushes rates higher, while the fact that many psychiatry collaborations are telemedicine-based and for lower-risk clinics pushes rates lower.

Types of NPs & Clinics

What kind of psych NPs are seeking collaboration?

Most psych NPs seeking collaborating psychiatrists on Single Aim are building practices that are remote-first or hybrid. In the data, 94% of mental-health collaboration requests were either fully telehealth or hybrid, while only 6% were fully in person.

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These are often individual or small practices with one or a few clinicians. Many get patients through local referral networks and also work on mental-health platforms like Headway, Alma, Grow Therapy, and Rula, often for billing support and sometimes for patient acquisition. Single Aim has a related guide to partnering with mental-health platforms as a nurse practitioner.

Controlled Substances

A major diligence point is controlled-substance prescribing. Different states give NPs different prescribing authority, especially for Schedule II medications. In states like Texas and Georgia, NP authority to prescribe some Schedule II drugs can be limited or protocol-dependent, which may require tighter protocol language, consultation, or physician involvement. This is an important point for psychiatrists to understand before agreeing to collaborate.³

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The Collaborating Psychiatrist Role

What does a collaborating psychiatrist actually do?

The role of a collaborating psychiatrist depends heavily on the state and the specific practice. In some states, the role is mostly defined by the collaborative agreement. In others, there may be specific requirements around meetings, chart review, prescribing, or in-person availability. You can reference Single Aim state FAQs for Texas, California, Florida, and Georgia, plus the collaborative agreement templates and 50-state guide.

At a high level, the psychiatrist is not usually treating the NP's patients directly or managing the practice. The role is more about being clinically available, providing feedback, and helping the NP meet state requirements.

Area	What to clarify before agreeing
Communication	When the NP can contact you, expected response time, and what types of questions should be escalated
Chart review	Whether chart review is required, how many charts are reviewed, and how access is documented
Meetings	Required cadence, whether meetings can be remote, and whether the state requires in-person meetings
Prescribing	Whether controlled substances are prescribed, and whether state rules require physician involvement
Documentation	Whether you will have EHR access and how collaboration activity is recorded
Agreement and filings	Whether a state filing is required, who prepares it, and who tracks renewal or termination requirements
Malpractice	Who provides coverage, what activities are covered, and whether the collaboration role is explicitly included

The best collaborations are usually clear before they start. The psychiatrist should understand the clinical scope, the NP's patient population, the documentation process, and what would happen if a patient needs a higher level of care.

Collaboration Process

How does the collaboration process work?

The process for starting a collaboration is usually straightforward, but the details matter. A good process gives the psychiatrist and NP time to confirm fit before anyone signs an agreement.

Step	What happens
Review the collaboration	The psychiatrist reviews the state, services offered, clinician background, and proposed compensation
Meet the clinician	The psychiatrist and NP discuss the practice, patients, prescribing, documentation, and expectations.
Confirm fit & compensation	Both sides decide whether the collaboration makes sense clinically and professionally
Finalize the agreement (CPA)	The collaboration agreement (CPA) defines the relationship: communication, meetings, chart review, prescribing, compensation, and termination
Complete state requirements	Any required filing, notice, or documentation is completed before the collaboration starts
Begin the collaboration	Meetings, chart review, consultation, and documentation follow the agreement and state requirements

Single Aim helps structure this process so psychiatrists can evaluate the collaboration before committing. The goal is not just to fill a role, but to make sure the collaboration is clear, compliant, and workable for both sides.

Malpractice Coverage

How should psychiatrists think about malpractice coverage?

Malpractice coverage should be decided before the collaboration starts. On Single Aim, psychiatrists typically handle coverage in one of three ways.

Coverage option	How it works
Collaboration platform policy	Single Aim and other collaboration platforms may have a platform policy which can cover psychiatrists setting up collaborations on their platform. See more info on the Single Aim physician membership.
Group practice policy	If the NP works for a larger organization or medical group, the group may add the collaborating psychiatrist to its malpractice policy. The psychiatrist should request a Certificate of Insurance to verify coverage.
Individual policy	Some psychiatrists use their own malpractice policy. If doing so, they should confirm with their carrier that collaborative or supervisory work is covered.

The important point is that coverage should be explicit. Before starting, the psychiatrist should know which policy applies, what work is covered, and whether the coverage matches the collaboration being performed.

How to start accepting collaborations on Single Aim

For psychiatrists interested in collaborating with psych NPs, Single Aim is designed to make the process easier to evaluate before committing.

The process is straightforward:

Create your profile: Add your licensed states, specialty, and information about yourself.
Review matches: As soon as your profile is approved, Single Aim starts matching you with collaboration requests from NPs and practices looking for psychiatrists in your states.
Meet the clinician: You can speak with the clinician or practice, review the scope, and decide whether the collaboration is a fit.
Move forward: If both sides move forward, Single Aim provides collaborative agreement templates, payment processing, collaboration tracking, and malpractice coverage options.

This gives psychiatrists a way to compare opportunities and choose collaborations that fit their license, clinical interests, and availability.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need to be board-certified in psychiatry to collaborate with a PMHNP?

It depends on the state and the services involved. Texas does not impose a psychiatric board-certification requirement solely to collaborate, while Florida requires psychiatric controlled-substance prescribing by a psychiatric nurse to occur within an established protocol with a psychiatrist. Confirm the specific state rule and role before signing.⁴

Even when board certification is not legally required, PMHNPs often prefer to collaborate with psychiatrists, and some payers may require specialty alignment for certain clinical services. Board certification can make a psychiatrist's profile more attractive on the marketplace.

Can I collaborate with NPs in states where I'm not physically located?

It depends on the state, your licensure, and the collaboration model. Some states impose licensure, proximity, chart-review, remote-site visit, or meeting requirements that can affect whether an out-of-state psychiatrist can collaborate. Georgia's principal-place-of-practice rule, Mississippi's quarterly quality meetings, Alabama's on-site/remote-site requirements, and Tennessee's Tennessee-license requirement are examples to check before accepting a role.²

How many NPs can I collaborate with at one time?

This varies by state. Some states set explicit ratio caps. For example, California limits a physician to supervising no more than four furnishing NPs at one time under BPC 2836.1. Texas generally limits prescriptive delegation to seven FTE APRNs/PAs outside facility-based hospital practices and medically underserved populations. Florida's APRN protocol framework does not use the same simple NP-count cap, but physicians should verify any office, specialty, protocol, or autonomous-practice rules that apply to the specific arrangement.¹

Other states do not impose a specific cap. On Single Aim, psychiatrists set their own availability and capacity, so they can start with one collaboration and expand when they are ready.

Citations

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