Community Highlights: Meet Amy Karamyan of PACC MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES

Today we’d like to introduce you to Amy Karamyan.

Hi Amy, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
PACC Mental Health Care was created in 2018 while I was in PhD clinical phycology program. I have completed my phycology core courses, currently in the process of finalizing my desecration to receive my degree. Ever since I was little I wanted to be in the health field. To make better for humanity. In 2018 I decided to open my business to provide care to Autistic Children, while I was in the process of getting my center Pure Autism Counseling Center DBA: PACC Mental Health Services, I noticed that there is much need for complete mental health care in our communities. In late 2018 I hired licensed Phycologists to care for the patients that had started coming in from nearby hospitals and Insurance Companies, I was still in school at that time. To keep it short PACC Mental Health care has doctorate level clinicians ( over 35 at the moment) and over 5000 patients. One of our top referrals are the VAs, but also from all insurances including Medicare. I can say that PACC Mental health is only a few Mental Health Care centers that has Doctorate Degree providers.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It has not, dealing with payers ( insurances) is a major factor in this line of business, dealing with denials, rejections, etc. Dealing with major hospitals being a competition, where most hospitals have counselors ( LMFTs, LPCCs, MFTs,) and other non doctorate degreed staff conduction psychotherapy which does not have the same effect as a doctoral level clinician on patients. Most of the public does not know the difference and other centers including Major Hospitals take advantage of this. Have has and continue to have lots if work afterhours, sleepless nights just to have the center running smoothly.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
Our center PACC Mental Health Care is built to be a one stop center for personalized service to patients while focus on patient care . PACC Mental health care provides care to patients only by Licensed Doctorate Clinicians. PACC Mental Health Care provides care to all types of mental health conditions, including but not limited to: depression, anxiety, PTSD, borderline personality disorder, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia. PACC Mental Health also has ABA ( autism ) care department, caring for major autism spectrum disorders for all ages. Our ABA department his lead by our BCBA Maria Hamilton. Common disorders for Autism Care includes: functional language and communication, social skills, self-help skills, play skills, cognitive skills, and academic performance. Last year (2024) we expanded to also serve the state of Arizona.

Can you talk to us about how you think about risk?
Going into the health care filed itself is a risk, especially the size of the center I run now. We started with a 1200 sq feet office space and with only 2 providers, now we have our own building we work out of, it’s 10,000 sq feet which. Every day is a risk, dealing with employees, dealing with providers to make sure they are conducting the best care possible to patients. Billing is a major factor that has it’s own risks, insurances look for ever occasion to deny a claim, if it’s the wrong coding or a missing decimal somewhere. Dealing with EMR/EHR software company that are base out of country and have glitches weekly, be it documentation, scheduling, or a billing submission error. Making sure the patients are assigned to a provider that they can click with. The risk in running a center of this size is significant, if I as an owner leave the center to run on its own, it will fall off track within a week. I haven’t taken vacation since 2018 which says allot of me being hands on.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://paccenter.net