Libsyn Directory

Accepting Insurance and Third-Party Payors In Your Private Practice | TPOT 204

The Practice of Therapy Podcast with Gordon Brewer

Release Date: 11/15/2021

Branding Your Private Practice: How to Stand Out and Get Found | Ritu Riedweg | TPOT 449

The Practice of Therapy Podcast with Gordon Brewer

When therapists think about branding, it’s easy to immediately think about logos, fonts, colors, and websites. But your brand is so much more than what your practice looks like online. It is also the feeling people get when they encounter you, the story they associate with you, and ultimately, whether they feel like they can trust you. In this episode of The Practice of Therapy Podcast, I had the pleasure of talking with Ritu Riedweg about personal branding, marketing, and what therapists can do to make their practices easier to find and easier to connect with. Ritu brings an interesting...

Working With High-Risk Teens in Private Practice | Katie K. May | TPOT 448

The Practice of Therapy Podcast with Gordon Brewer

Working with high-risk teens can feel overwhelming, especially when self-harm, suicidal thoughts, emotional dysregulation, or repeated hospitalizations are part of the picture. So how can therapists provide both compassion and structure without letting fear drive the treatment? In this episode, Gordon talks with Katie K. May about working effectively with high-risk teens and their families. Katie shares why validation matters, how therapists can provide strong clinical leadership, and why caregiver involvement is such an important part of the process. They also discuss proactive safety...

Why Rapport Matters More Than Ever in Private Practice | Nora Anger | TPOT 447

The Practice of Therapy Podcast with Gordon Brewer

Building rapport isn’t just about helping clients feel comfortable. It can play a major role in whether they trust you, open up, and keep coming back. In this episode, I sit down with Nora Anger, LPC, to talk about building stronger therapeutic relationships in private practice. We discuss what clients really want from their therapists, common reasons they leave therapy, thoughtful self-disclosure, creating safety and trust, and how to balance compassion with challenging clients when they need it. Resources Mentioned In This Episode Meet Nora Anger Nora Anger, MS, LPC, is a...

Is Your Private Practice Too Dependent on You? | TaVona Denise | TPOT 446

The Practice of Therapy Podcast with Gordon Brewer

What happens to your private practice when you step away? In this episode, Gordon talks with TaVona Denise about what her Private Practice Vitality Report revealed about owner dependency, burnout, delegation, and the systems that keep a practice running. They explore why hiring more staff doesn’t always create more freedom, how to tell if your practice still depends too heavily on you, and the simple 30-day question that can uncover exactly where your systems need work. If you want to build a practice that can grow without requiring you to be involved in every decision, this conversation is...

The Systems Your Private Practice Needs to Run Smoothly | Lisa Permar | TPOT 445

The Practice of Therapy Podcast with Gordon Brewer

A private practice can look successful on the outside and still feel exhausting behind the scenes. Clients are showing up, revenue is coming in, and everything appears to be working, but the owner may still be answering every question, fixing every exception, following up on loose ends, and carrying far too much of the practice in their own head. In this episode, Gordon talks with Lisa Permar about the small, repeated friction points that quietly drain a practice owner’s time, attention, and energy. They explore how everyday tasks around intake, scheduling, billing, documentation, and team...

Private Practice Money Mistakes That Could Be Costing You | Margo Masri | TPOT 444

The Practice of Therapy Podcast with Gordon Brewer

Your private practice may look profitable on paper, but does the money actually feel available? In this episode, Gordon talks with Margo Masri, founder of Heartfelt CFO and Tax Services, about the financial decisions that can quietly create cash flow problems for private practice owners. They explore the risks of over-hiring, ignoring taxes, taking on office space too soon, and trying to grow without fully understanding the costs involved. Margo also shares why practice owners need to know what they personally need to live on, build financial systems that can grow with the business, and...

The Neurodivergent Therapist’s Guide to Private Practice | Martin Altman | TPOT 443

The Practice of Therapy Podcast with Gordon Brewer

Have you ever wondered how much easier private practice could feel if you stopped fighting the way your brain works? In this episode, I’m talking with Martin Altman, LPC, about his experience as a therapist with ADHD and how understanding his own neurodivergence helped him find a niche that genuinely fit. We get into the strengths and challenges that can come with ADHD, how Martin stays present with clients, and why building the right systems can make private practice feel a whole lot more sustainable. Martin also shares a really helpful perspective on emotional hijacking and why distraction...

The Emotional Weight of Private Practice | Lindsay Benson | TPOT 442

The Practice of Therapy Podcast with Gordon Brewer

Therapists are great at taking care of everyone else, but we are not always so good at noticing what the work is doing to us. In this episode, I’m talking with Lindsay Benson about the hidden toll private practice can take on our nervous systems. We get into therapist burnout, the stress that builds up from sitting with difficult stories all day, and the small practices that can help us reset between sessions. Lindsay also shares her experience moving from insurance to private pay, offering therapy intensives, and building a practice that feels more sustainable. This is a great conversation...

The Mindset Shifts That Make Private Practice Feel More Sustainable | Tyana Tavakol | TPOT 441

The Practice of Therapy Podcast with Gordon Brewer

What if the biggest thing holding your private practice back isn't your marketing strategy but your mindset? In this episode, I'm joined by Tyana Tavakol to talk about the beliefs that shape the way we build our practices. We explore scarcity versus abundance, the value of finding your niche, and why trying to appeal to everyone often keeps you from connecting with the clients who need you most. We also dive into building an online practice, creating meaningful professional relationships, and learning to trust your own expertise instead of comparing yourself to everyone else. If you've ever...

Private Practice Stress: What’s Filling Your Bucket? | Kristin Oja | TPOT 440

The Practice of Therapy Podcast with Gordon Brewer

Are you burning out in private practice without realizing it? In this episode of The Practice of Therapy Podcast, Gordon talks with Kristin Oja, DNP, founder of STAT Wellness, about optimizing stress resilience and preventing burnout. Kristin shares a functional medicine perspective on why burnout is not always caused by work alone. Often, it is the buildup of stressors outside of work, including sleep, caffeine, exercise, relationships, technology, self-talk, and lack of recovery. Kristin explains the idea of the “stress bucket” and how even good things, like exercise, intermittent...

More Episodes

In this episode, I talk about some of the myths and misperceptions people have about being on insurance panels. I delve into this topic and let you know what I've learned about it from my insurance-based practice. First, I speak about the stigma around accepting insurance in private practice. If you accept insurance, you are just as valid and can be just as successful as private practice owners who are cash-based. Tune in as talk about the pros and cons of insurance panels, why I chose to be insurance-based, and where to start when you decide to accept insurance.

The Stigma Around Accepting Insurance In Private Practice

Many people are curious about accepting insurance and if they should or not. There is no correct answer. If you start to delve into your mindset and think about it all, it might just be something that you should consider doing. When you look at all that is out there, there are so many great resources around building a private practice. It seems like most people are encouraging cash-pay. There seems to be a little bit of a stigma against having an insurance-based practice. Many people say that you don't want to be controlled by insurance companies. If therapists don't have a cash-based practice, they're second-class citizens for being an insurance-based practice. I don't agree with that at all! In fact, my success comes from being insurance-based.

The Pros and Cons of Being An Insurance-Based Practice

There are a lot of pros and cons to being on insurance panels. Certainly, one of the cons of being insurance-based is that you've got to have more systems and processes in place. You've got to do more work on the front end to get prepared for insurance. You need specific systems when you start accepting third-party payors and being reimbursed by insurance companies for your services. The biggest con is that there is some work on the front end of being insurance-based.

The pros for being insurance-based are that you've got a built-in referral source by being on insurance panels. I would say at least half the people that we find are from their insurance. In other words, they checked with their insurance provider first to see who would accept their insurance in the area. When making an appointment with us, people ask, how much does it cost? Plus, they ask if we accept insurance. That's why I wanted to be an insurance-based practice. People depend on their insurance, and I want to help those people.

Ready To Accept Insurance? What To Do First

Where do you start? Research your area to find out which are which insurance panels are the most prevalent. In my area, most people have Blue Cross Blue Shield health insurance. Another thing to research is looking at significant employers in the area. Then, check which insurance those companies use. Next, use that data to decide which insurance companies you want to be paneled with. Another thing to note is that when an insurance company offers you a contract, that's negotiable! Make sure to negotiate what rate you will accept.

Systems and Processes Around Filing Insurance Claims

Figure out your systems and your processes around filing insurance claims. If you're on insurance panels, you need a traditional way to send claims off. The best way I know to do that is through an electronic health record system. TherapyNotes helps my practice with this. It's a few clicks of a button to get your insurance claims sent to the insurance companies to be reimbursed. For the most part, insurance companies have a pretty quick turnaround for electronic health claim submissions. Within a week of sending off the claim, we are getting paid. There's a myth that you have to wait a long time to get paid from insurance companies – that's not true! So, make sure you have a way to submit claims and make it as automated as possible.

Cash-Based and Insurance-Based Private Practices

If you're not ready to be entirely reliant on insurance, there's a hybrid option! You can have a mix of cash-paying clients and clients that use insurance. Give people a choice on whether or not they want to pay for therapy through a third-party payor. Remember to set your full fee at a reasonable place; your fee needs to be your FULL fee. The insurance company will pay you what they pay you. Then, you write off the difference between the full fee and the contract rate. If they choose not to use insurance, you can offer a sliding scale based on family income. We don't go and check their income; instead, we go on the honor system. Ensure that the lowest rate on your sliding scale fee schedule is in the ballpark of your average reimbursement rate from insurance companies. If you want more tips about deciding to panel with 3rd-party payors, check out this FREE webinar coming up: https://practiceoftherapy.com/insurancepractice.

Being transparent… Some of the resources below use affiliate links which simply means we receive a commission if you purchase using the links, at no extra cost to you. Thanks for using the links!