How to set up a private practice
1st. Rent a cheap office. You will need an office address for insurance companies. They will not accept a home address or a PO BOX.
2nd. Credentialing or “Paneling” as some therapists call it.
2a) go onto the insurance company website and click on the provider page. Under the provider page you will see a link “become a provider.” Fill out the information. They will send you a packet to fill out.
2b) fill out the packet when it arrives a week or two later. Its not anymore complicated than the applications and paperwork that you turned in when applying for a therapy job.
2c) wait 1-6 months for the paperwork to clear and for them to send you a contract
3) You don’t actually need a contract if you want to submit claims as an out of network provider
3rd. EAP
3a. Signing up with EAP as a new therapist is a good way to get your name out there. Other therapists will not want to take EAP because they do not pay as much as insurance companies. This means that you will get a lot of clients headed your way. You can always discontinue your contract with the EAP companies, if you are completely full with self-pay or insurance-based clients
4.) Fax
4a) There are a lot of online faxes like efax.com. These are cheep and you don’t need an expensive phone line.
5.) Phone
5a) You can get a number from cheap pay as you go cell companies. Cricket offers phones for 30$ a month.
6.) Appointments.
6a) There are many applications available that allow customers to make appointments through an online portal.
7.) Electronic Medical Records (EMR)
7a) These programs are getting sophisticated. Some programs, like TherapyNotes.com will store your therapy notes, submit your billing, remind your customers, check if the insurance is current, let you know why claims are rejected, allow you to take credit card payments, and allow you to submit paperwork for clients to sign online.
8.) Virtual Conferencing
8a) Some EMR like TherapyNotes.com will have their own built in program for virtual conferencing, but Zoom.com is still ahead of the game in regards to picture quality and ease of use. It’s cost is around 25 dollars a month.
9.) Encrypted Email
9a.) Hushmail is around 15 dollars a month and handles encrypted emails. The email can be tailored to look like a customized business address.
10) Website
10a) Website providers like Squarespace already has pre-built websites. A therapist just needs to plug in what they want and the website provider does the rest.