My name is Lena Najjarian, PA-C, and I am a Psychiatric Physician Assistant with over 10 years of experience providing outpatient mental health care to patients across New York.

In my current role, I provide ongoing psychiatric medication management for individuals living with anxiety, depression, ADHD, mood disorders, and trauma-related conditions. Through consistent outpatient care, I have supported patients in achieving clinical stability, returning to work or school, reducing reliance on emergency services, and engaging more effectively in psychotherapy and daily functioning.

As demand for outpatient mental health services continues to rise across New York State, experienced providers like myself are increasingly limited by administrative structures that do not reflect the care we are trained and licensed to deliver.

Despite extensive training and licensure, Physician Assistants in New York are currently unable to independently credential with insurance plans unless services are billed under a physician-owned professional corporation (PC). This requirement creates unnecessary delays in care, restricts access to outpatient psychiatric services, and prevents qualified providers from delivering timely treatment, even while managing high-volume patient panels in underserved communities.

We urge New York State legislators to modernize credentialing and billing pathways for Physician Assistants in mental health care by allowing experienced PAs to independently enroll with insurance carriers for outpatient services within collaborative practice agreements.

Removing these outdated administrative barriers would help:

• Expand access to psychiatric care across underserved communities
  Reduce wait times for medication management
• Decrease emergency department utilization
• Improve continuity of care for patients with chronic psychiatric conditions
• Support workforce sustainability amid the ongoing mental health provider shortage