Psychiatry Department Team Lead

Backpack Healthcare | Fully Remote

About Backpack Healthcare

Backpack Healthcare is a clinician-led, Medicaid-first behavioral health organization dedicated to making high-quality mental health services accessible to children, adolescents, young adults, and families. Through innovative telehealth services, we are committed to meeting individuals where they are and helping lighten the emotional load they carry.

We are seeking an experienced and clinically driven Psychiatry Department Team Lead to provide clinical leadership, team management, and operational oversight for our growing remote psychiatry department.

Position Overview

The Psychiatry Department Team Lead is a licensed Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP) responsible for overseeing a team of psychiatric clinicians while maintaining a direct patient care caseload.

This is a hands-on leadership position that combines approximately 50% direct clinical care with 50% clinical leadership and administrative responsibilities. The Team Lead will support clinicians in delivering safe, effective, evidence-based psychiatric services while ensuring adherence to clinical standards, regulatory requirements, documentation expectations, and organizational performance goals.

Reporting to the VP of Clinical Operations, this individual will serve as the primary clinical and operational leader for Backpack Healthcare's remote psychiatry program.

Key Responsibilities

Clinical Care & Medication Management

• Conduct comprehensive psychiatric evaluations, diagnostic assessments, and risk assessments for new and existing patients.

• Develop and manage individualized treatment plans for pediatric and adult patients.

• Provide ongoing medication management for patients with routine and complex psychiatric needs.

• Maintain a direct patient care caseload of up to 20 hours per week.

• Ensure timely and accurate clinical documentation within the EHR.

• Assess the appropriateness of telehealth services and coordinate transitions to higher levels of care when clinically indicated.

• Deliver safe, evidence-based psychiatric care within applicable clinical standards and scope of practice.

• Participate in interdisciplinary collaboration and care coordination.

Clinical Leadership & Team Development

• Provide day-to-day clinical leadership, mentorship, and support to psychiatric clinicians.

• Conduct regular individual meetings focused on case consultation, clinical decision-making, medication management, workflow, and professional development.

• Facilitate team meetings, case consultations, and clinical discussions to promote consistency and collaboration.

• Serve as the primary clinical escalation resource for complex cases, patient safety concerns, urgent clinical situations, and medication-related questions.

• Provide guidance on psychiatric assessments, treatment planning, prescribing practices, risk management, and appropriate levels of care.

• Conduct routine chart audits and clinical practice reviews to identify opportunities for improvement.

• Provide timely coaching, feedback, and education to address clinical or documentation concerns.

• Support onboarding, orientation, competency development, and continuing clinical education.

People & Performance Management

• Provide administrative and people leadership for a fully remote team of psychiatric clinicians.

• Establish clear performance expectations and monitor adherence to clinical, operational, productivity, documentation, and scheduling standards.

• Conduct quarterly performance reviews and support individual goal-setting and professional development.

• Address performance concerns through coaching, corrective action, performance improvement plans, and additional training as appropriate.

• Participate in interviewing and hiring decisions, evaluating clinical competency, judgment, communication, and organizational fit.

• Partner with Human Resources and Clinical Leadership to address staffing needs, employee concerns, turnover, and coverage.

• Support clinician retention, professional development, and internal advancement opportunities.

• Review and approve timesheets in accordance with established payroll deadlines.

Patient Experience & Escalation Management

• Serve as an escalation point for patient and caregiver concerns, complaints, and service-related issues.

• Communicate directly with patients and caregivers as needed to understand concerns and support appropriate resolution.

• Collaborate with internal departments to investigate and resolve concerns while maintaining appropriate clinical boundaries and confidentiality.

• Ensure patient complaints and escalations are properly documented, communicated, and addressed.

• Support continuity of care when concerns involve clinical needs, medication management, patient safety, or access to services.

Compliance, Quality & Risk Management

• Monitor compliance with state-specific mental health regulations, prescribing requirements, scope-of-practice standards, and organizational policies.

• Ensure clinicians follow required patient identity and location verification, emergency procedures, safety protocols, and telehealth risk management practices.

• Oversee adherence to DEA requirements, PDMP monitoring, e-prescribing standards, controlled-substance management, and medication safety practices.

• Monitor clinical quality indicators, documentation standards, risk management practices, and patient outcomes.

• Conduct and support routine clinical audits, identifying trends, risks, and opportunities for improvement.

• Participate in clinical incident reviews and risk management initiatives.

• Ensure compliance with admission, discharge, scheduling, and continuity-of-care standards.

• Escalate significant clinical, regulatory, compliance, and operational concerns to appropriate leadership.

Department & Operational Leadership

• Oversee daily clinical workflows and operational needs within the Psychiatry Department.

• Monitor clinician caseloads, productivity, capacity, staffing, and coverage across operating states.

• Utilize reporting and performance data to guide coaching, staffing decisions, and departmental improvements.

• Support the implementation of new clinical workflows, systems, tools, and departmental initiatives.

• Maintain and improve departmental resources, clinical guidance, knowledge bases, and standard operating procedures.

• Identify opportunities to improve operational efficiency, patient access, and clinician experience.

• Contribute to department-level quality improvement initiatives and strategic clinical projects.

Qualifications & Experience

• Master's or Doctoral degree in Nursing (MSN/DNP) with a psychiatric/mental health specialization.

• Active, unrestricted Nurse Practitioner license with psychiatric/mental health specialization (PMHNP or equivalent).

• Multi-state licensure, or the ability and willingness to obtain additional state licenses as organizational needs require.

• Minimum of 4–5 years of post-graduate clinical experience in outpatient psychiatric care.

• Previous experience leading or managing a clinical team, including administrative and performance management responsibilities.

• Strong working knowledge of DEA requirements, controlled-substance prescribing, PDMP monitoring, and e-prescribing practices.

• Familiarity with state-specific scope-of-practice requirements and telehealth prescribing regulations.

• Experience with EHR systems, telehealth platforms, and clinical reporting tools.

• Strong organizational, documentation, communication, leadership, and time-management skills.

• Ability to independently manage competing priorities and clinical responsibilities in a fully remote environment.

• Demonstrated ability to provide clinical mentorship, manage escalations, and support clinician performance.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Previous experience leading psychiatry teams within a telehealth or virtual behavioral health organization.

• Experience with reporting and analytics platforms such as Tableau.

• Familiarity with Collaborative Practice Agreement (CPA) structures.

• Experience supporting multi-state psychiatric operations.

• Familiarity with accreditation, regulatory readiness, and quality improvement initiatives.

• Clinical experience serving both pediatric and adult populations.

Work Environment & Schedule

• Work Location: Fully remote.

• Travel: No regular travel required. Occasional virtual participation in organizational meetings, trainings, or conferences may be expected.

• Schedule: Generally aligned with standard business hours, with flexibility to respond to urgent clinical escalations and departmental needs.

• Technology: Requires comfort with EHR platforms, video conferencing, telehealth technology, and standard office equipment.

• Work Environment: This position operates in a home-office setting and requires regular virtual communication with clinicians, patients, caregivers, and internal leadership.

Why Join Backpack Healthcare?

At Backpack Healthcare, we believe exceptional patient care starts with supporting the clinicians who provide it. We are building a collaborative, innovative, and patient-centered organization where clinical leadership plays an essential role in improving access to behavioral healthcare.

As our Psychiatry Department Team Lead, you will have the opportunity to shape the growth of our psychiatry program, mentor a talented team of clinicians, influence clinical quality, and help expand access to meaningful mental health services for children, adolescents, and adults.

If you are an experienced PMHNP with a passion for clinical leadership, team development, and delivering high-quality psychiatric care through telehealth, we encourage you to apply.

Backpack Health is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We believe that the strength of our care depends on the diversity and wellbeing of our team. We celebrate differences in age, color, disability, ethnicity, gender identity or expression, national origin, physical and mental ability, race, religion, sexual orientation, veteran status, and other traits that make each person unique. We welcome and encourage diverse candidates to apply for any position for which they are qualified and to bring their unique perspectives, experiences, and talents to our team.