University of Alabama at Birmingham Enhances Access to Mental Health Services Through Advanced Practice Provider Collaborations

At the University of Alabama at Birmingham, advanced practice providers are on the front lines of patient care, working in a capacity similar to physicians at UAB Medicine across a diverse range of clinical settings.

The Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurobiology’s Vice Chair of Clinical Affairs Matthew, Macaluso, D.O., explains that an advanced practice provider is a health care provider who is not a physician, but performs many of the same duties as a physician, under a collaborative practice agreement with one or more physician supervisors.

“The Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurobiology has expanded patient care access through hiring, advanced training, and collaboration with APPs,” he said. “We value and wish to grow our APP collaboration to continue the success of the same and promote continued expanded patient access.”

APPs are generally physician assistants or nurse practitioners, and in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurobiology, they account for more than 1,000 arrived patient appointments each year. They also assist with important work on inpatient and hospital consultation services, as well as patient care at the Community Psychiatry Program and Beacon Recovery Program.

“We play a critical role in meeting the community’s overwhelming need for professional, competent, and uniquely compassionate mental health services,” said Valisia Davis, APP supervisor in the UAB Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurobiology. “APPs help to decrease the wait time for patients requiring an initial psychiatric evaluation in the clinic. A plan of care is initiated for the management of current symptoms when seeing APPs because we have been empowered to function at the top of our license, which gives us the ability to independently care for patients seen in the clinic.”

Davis currently supports a team of a dozen APPs who work to provide personalized mental health care at UAB, focusing on advocacy, disease prevention, patient education, and empowerment. Richard Hall, MSPAS, PA-C, expanded on his role as a physician assistant on the team.

“I feel honored to be the first physician assistant in the department,” Hall said. “PAs have not historically worked in the mental health field, beyond a scant few. I hope that my work here demonstrates the value of my profession and leads to further PAs joining the department in the future.”