Trying to become credentialed with
insurance companies but it's going
like
this?
You’re a mental health care provider trying to begin your own therapy practice, and you want to be able to accept your client’s insurance, but the process of credentialing is too intimidating. It sucks
Is having your own practice even worth it? Everything seem just too hard.
But guess what? It doesn’t have to be this way!
You can begin your practice worry-free and focus on your clients while someone else does all the dirty work of credentialing. Yep. I said ALL the dirty work.
Get More Info!
my Introduction/beginnings
During the pandemic in 2020, my husband was working as an LCSW at a hospital. He was becoming increasingly burnt out as the bureaucracy steadily became more and more demanding while providing less resources. They were burning out their therapists. My husband was becoming more disheartened and disillusioned with his job and desperately wanted to create his own practice where he could provide the kind of mental health care he could be proud of. He wanted to work with the people who needed him the most, but those people could not afford to pay him out of pocket. He looked into becoming credentialed with insurance companies on his own, but quickly realized the work that would take would be nearly impossible to do while also seeing a full client load.
I didn’t have a full time job at the time so I offered to take on all that work for him. I was overwhelmed with the amount of information and work it was going to take to work through the incredibly complex task of working with each insurance company to meet their specific criteria. I thought that I could do it by myself without any guidance, but it only took a couple of days before I despaired at how difficult it was.
However, I was determined to find a solution. I found a someone who had years of expertise with credentialing mental health therapists and interacting with insurance companies and she walked me through the process with competence and kindness, and trained me how to do it. Once my husband got his practice off the ground and was able to work with several insurance companies, I realized that now I have a skill that could help alleviate the stress and overwhelm many mental health professionals feel. I could support them through this incredibly complex work so they can focus their full attention on their clients, especially those who would not be able to receive mental health care if it wasn’t for their kind efforts to accept health insurance. I am so excited to be a part of the support system for so many people, even if it’s behind the scenes in an otherwise mundane way. I want therapists and LCSWs to be able to focus on the passion for the work that brought them to that career in the first place.
Meet Me!
Click here for a list of all the information you need to gather before you begin.
(It’s a LOT)
ENDLESS DIY RESOURCES
Already credentialed, but sill need occasional insurance guidance and advice? You don’t need to start from 0. Here is a monthly subscription for answers to those questions that always and inevitably pop up
Billing questions
Contacting insurance companies
General problem solving
FULL SERVICE CREDENTIALING
Unsure of where to begin? Let’s talk and I can guide you in the right direction.
I’ll guide you every step of the way!
Call 801-367-9143
Uplevel your practice today!
Gwen had been a mental health therapist for 8 years. She had been working at a larger practice for many years, but had always had the dream to begin her own therapy practice. She was scared to go off on her own because she knew it would be a lot of work, especially becoming credentialed with insurance companies, so she kept putting it off. Her bosses at the larger practice she had been working for were starting to make more demands and she was no longer able to treat her clients the way she wanted to. Eventually she built up the courage to start off on her own, even though she was scared.
At the beginning, she was having a difficult time keeping her schedule full due to her only accepting cash pay, and wasn’t making enough money to support her family. She was so stressed, that she considered going back to a larger practice. Gwen began to realize she really need to be able to accept insurance so she could accept more clients. When she took a look into what it entailed, the amount of paperwork and information she tried to sift through made her start to despair that there was no way she could do it correctly. She heard from one of her colleagues that they hired someone to completely take over the process of insurance credentialing and as soon as they were able to accept insurance, they had to start a waiting list because their schedule filled up quickly. They didn’t even need to advertise.
Gwen got our name from this person and contacted us for a consultation. The stress in her voice was palpable. Once we talked through her hopes for her practice, she sent us all the important information and we got to work on the application process right away. She was so relieved that she didn’t have to navigate this process on her own, and she was able to put all of her time attention on her clients.
As soon as she was credentialed with her first insurance company, we sat down with her and trained her on how to manage her practice with her practice management platform and how to correctly file claims and receive payments. The client referrals came in more frequently, and by the time she was fully credentialed with all the companies she applied for, she filled her schedule within and was receiving more clients inquiries than she knew what to do with! She was credentialed, but still needed some guidance on the finer details of practice management, so she signed up for the monthly subscription where she could continue to ask questions and receive support from specialists.
Today, Gwen confidently runs her own therapy practice and never has a difficult time filling her schedule.
Do you feel like your practice is limited because you can only accept cash pay clients?
Are you sick and tired of seeing people that really need therapy, not be able to get help because you don’t take their insurance?
Are you scared out of your mind of the load of paperwork and tears that credentialling will bring?
Are you worried that your clients are burdened by the cost of therapy?
Do you have questions about practice management?
Already credentialed but would love some ongoing, knowledgeable and support?
Need quick answers to questions regarding billing and claims?
You take the time to lead each of your clients on their own healing journey. You know everything doesn't happen all at once. I'm looking forward to being your guide on this "fun" journey.
Every step of the way, I’ll be with you and taking care of each part of this puzzle.
One on One consultation
- Everyone is different when it comes to how they want to manage their practice and we can begin to get a sense of what you want your practice to look like and which insurance companies you’d like to align with.
Before we can start make sure you have:
- LLC
- Official business address and a billing address
- CAQH (We can help set this up if needed. If you don’t know what this is, I gotchu. Call me.)
We’ll work together to finalize the list of insurance companies you would like to become credentialed with.
I’ll help guide you to know which pieces of information you need to gather.
We will begin the legwork of applying to insurance companies
– Once they are submitted it can take up to 90 days for them to review and accept.
We will intermittently check in with you to answer any questions you have.
Finalize your credentialing! Yay!
We’ll train you on how to use your Practice Management system and get you set up with EFT.
We can provide ongoing practice management and training about how to file claims and bill clients.
We can help you troubleshoot special circumstances or complications that may arise.
Ready to get fully credentialed?
Free Phone Consultation
– Give us a call and we can help you get started or send you on your way armed with useful information
So let's do this! Here are your possible paths:
Full Service No Upfront Cost - Free credentialing and 15% of each session post-credentialing.
– Do you have trouble with the administrative end of running your own practice?
– If you only want to focus on therapy and nothing else, we can do that!
– We can take care of all the credentialing, claim filing, claim disputes and resolutions, and problem solving
– You won’t need to stress about finding any time outside of your therapy schedule to learn how to manage the insurance process
Full credentialing - Base rate $400 (includes 1 insurance company). Every additional insurance company $200.
– I’m not just a virtual assistant, I’ll be with you from beginning to end and beyond
– Become credentialed by knowledgeable and competent people with knowledge of local insurance companies
– Receive quick and thorough responses to questions
– 2 hours one-on-one teaching you how to run and manage your private practice
○ Initial set up
○ File claims
○ EFT/ERA enrollment
○ Resolve denied claims/claim disputes
– 1 free month subscription to ongoing support once credentialed
Let us take care of you while you take care of your clients
Post Credentialling Monthly subscription for ongoing support
$50 a month
- Can ask unlimited questions during business hours regarding credentialing or practice management (anything that takes 15 minutes or less to resolve)
- For more complicated problems, you’ll get 1.5 hours of free assistance and then $40/hr after that
Insurance doesn’t pay as much as self-pay clients.
That is true. Insurance companies vary on what they will pay, and in most cases (but not all) it is less than you would get out of pocket.
It is absolutely possible to obtain a full load of self-pay clients, though it usually takes some more marketing and advertising to reach the demographic that can afford it
As a therapist that can accept insurance, you will be able to help people who’s only viable option for mental health care is through their insurance
That's a lot of money to pay just for credentialing!
It may seem a little steep at first, but when you look closer, you will see that you are getting an incredible amount of work for what you pay. You may have seen some cheaper options, but what we offer is personalized.
It takes a minimum of 10 hours just to apply to insurance companies, and that’s if you already know what you are doing. This doesn’t take into account the one on one hours we will spend with you answering your questions, assisting with provider portal onboarding, and training you how to use your practice management software
Once you’re credentialed, we also provide practice management training and ongoing support. We want to make sure you feel completely ready to handle any curves insurance companies throw at you
I can just do it by myself!
Yes, it’s possible to do it on your own. That’s how I started! It was a full time job for months while I tried to understand all the information
If you have no idea how to interface with the process of credentialing, there is a firehose of information to try to sift through and understand. The chances of making a mistake that will take days, or even weeks of backtracking are high.
Taxonomy code, remittance, clearinghouse, EOB, EFT/ERA, EIN, NPI superbill, CP575, reattestation, allowed amount, fee schedule.
If you already know all these words, you are probably ready to forge ahead on your own. If these words make no sense to you, you may save yourself lots of time, energy, money and headaches, and hand the reins over to us, so you can relax and focus on your clients.
