Medication care & Psychiatry

Athena Care offers psychiatric medical management for children, adolescents and adults as part of our comprehensive services.

Medication care includes the initial evaluation of the patient’s need for psychotropic medications, prescribing medication, and providing ongoing medical monitoring by a qualified physician/prescriber such as a psychiatrist, nurse practitioner, or physician assistant.

We treat people ages 6 and up, and we accept most commercial insurance plans and Medicare for these services.

Offering In-Person and Telehealth Sessions

Medication care and psychiatry sessions can happen in-person at any of our seven locations throughout Tennessee, including Nashville, Franklin, Murfreesboro, Hendersonville, Clarksville, Memphis, and Knoxville.

Additionally, we offer medication care and psychiatry sessions virtually over telehealth. Note the patient must be in the state of Tennessee during the telehealth session. During a telehealth session, your provider will confirm where you are located.

How Prescribing Works at Athena Care

Medication at Athena Care is prescribed only by licensed clinicians acting within Tennessee law. This includes psychiatrists, who are physicians licensed by the Tennessee Board of Medical Examiners, and psychiatric nurse practitioners, who hold Tennessee advanced practice registered nurse certificates with prescriptive authority from the Tennessee Board of Nursing and practice under a collaborative agreement with a physician. The same standards apply whether your visit is in person or by telehealth, and your clinician must be licensed in the state where you are located at the time of your visit.

Before prescribing any medication, your clinician will take your history and perform an appropriate evaluation, make a diagnosis, and discuss your treatment plan with you, including the reasons for it and the risks and benefits of your options. Physicians must also make sure follow-up care is available to you. Medication is never prescribed automatically, and it is never prescribed based only on a questionnaire, quiz, or online form. Those tools can help start the conversation, but they do not replace an evaluation by a licensed clinician.

Some situations may require an in-person visit. Controlled substances, such as certain ADHD medications and benzodiazepines, are subject to additional state and federal requirements, and your clinician may ask to see you in person before prescribing them. Federal telehealth rules for controlled substances are temporary and may change. If you have questions about who your prescriber is or what credentials they hold, please ask your care coordinator.

What to know about telehealth sessions

If you are receiving virtual care at Athena Care, you can expect to your first appointment to be an evaluation of your current symptoms, as well as a review of your history (family, medical, social, and mental health history), and then time will be spent determining a treatment plan based on these reported issues. Depending on the symptoms you are experiencing and the medication that might be prescribed, you might be required to come into a local office for vitals, urinary screenings, or lab work, but this will be discussed with your clinician.

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