Hi! I am a therapist in private practice in Springfield, MO. I am about a year into my LPC and I've never taken insurance. This is the blurb I have on my website FAQ page about insurance.... "My practice is setup as self-pay, so I do not bill insurance. The benefit in going this route is that we will not have to operate under the control of an insurance company-- this means that you will not be limited to a certain number of sessions and that I will not be required to diagnose you with a mental health disorder or share your personal information with the insurance company."
When I started out 30 years ago I thought I would just get on insurance long enough to build my practice and then quit all of them. Now I still have a very insurance-heavy practice. You named the reasons well -- part of why I am in the field is to make my services assessable to a more diverse variety of clients, and insurance helps me do this. Also, my practice is always full due to insurance referrals, and clients get to see me more often. I do NOT find that my insurance clients are less motivated -- even my Medi-CAL clients who pay nothing are very motivated. I think a balance of private pay and insurance clients can be a wonderful negotiated compromise, achieving all personal and financial goals.
I've been in private practice for 30 years. I started out taking insurance and worked incredibly hard. I have now changed and I am 100% private pay. Because of the issues I had with insurance companies over the years, I would recommend that if a provider does not have to take insurance, that they don't. In the long run I have been happier not having to deal with insurance companies and their horrible reimbursement schedules. So I'm a NO vote for taking insurance.
I was a contract employee for a group practice where we took multiple different insurances, it was kind of a nightmare. So I recently went solo PP and now I only take one insurance company, which is the most popular in my area and the reimbursement rate is one of the higher ones. I feel good about it so far and I don't plan on getting paneled with any more insurance companies.
I am an independent contractor with an S-corp, so I didn't get the choice (yet) and we don't take insurance except for a few single-case agreements, but prior to me working as a therapist here I was the admin person who had to follow up with the reimbursements of those few clients and it was consistently a pain dealing with the insurance companies. They do not want to pay and will play a lot of games to delay payment. (Hubby was in the insurance field so I know their tricks!) That would be my number one reason to not get paneled with an insurance conpany.
This is a great and balanced overview. I would recommend taking insurance if you need to leave your agency job fast af or are doing fee for service for $25/hr (even insurance-based practice will net you mroe). But if you have time to build, private pay would be a good idea to invest in building. Question below: My one question would be: what about hybrid practice? Is it possible to build a practice that's 50/50 insurance and private pay (ie, only take 1 or 2 panels)? What are the ethics of "reserving" 50% of your slots for insurance and the rest for self-pay? Am I just too wimpy to go full private pay? Haha. (Part of my reason for taking -some- insurance has been the desire for a socioeconomically diverse caseload as you mentioned)
I am only doing private practice 1 day a week while working a full time job elsewhere, so I jumped in doing private pay because I don't want to deal with the hassle with insurance pay when I'm not working that many hours or private practice per week.
I started out private pay all the way for the last two years and I am very happy. I was recently contacted by an HMO insurance company who I'd been subcontracted under previously through a group practice, and they are looking to credential me again (they've been in the news nationally as having major problems with their mental health system and need to credential more therapists FAST). I am only considering it because I'd like to diversify a bit. Still not sure. It weighs on me. I personally feel it's a step backward. However, nicheing down was great for client flow, but I do not feel challenged enough. Ugh.....I don't know....
I'm just setting up my private practice, but my niche is first responders and military service members. Most of the city employers take a local insurance company so I've applied with them. I've also applied with Tricare. I've applied with Medicaid but that's just to start things growing in the beginning.
Hi! I am a therapist in private practice in Springfield, MO. I am about a year into my LPC and I've never taken insurance. This is the blurb I have on my website FAQ page about insurance.... "My practice is setup as self-pay, so I do not bill insurance. The benefit in going this route is that we will not have to operate under the control of an insurance company-- this means that you will not be limited to a certain number of sessions and that I will not be required to diagnose you with a mental health disorder or share your personal information with the insurance company."
So helpful thank you - your awesome!
I started out the gate with private pay and somehow three months later I’m full. So glad I went for it!!
Hell yeah Jenny!!! Good job!
Thanks for sharing! Can I ask how much you charge per session? Thanks so much!
When I started out 30 years ago I thought I would just get on insurance long enough to build my practice and then quit all of them. Now I still have a very insurance-heavy practice. You named the reasons well -- part of why I am in the field is to make my services assessable to a more diverse variety of clients, and insurance helps me do this. Also, my practice is always full due to insurance referrals, and clients get to see me more often. I do NOT find that my insurance clients are less motivated -- even my Medi-CAL clients who pay nothing are very motivated. I think a balance of private pay and insurance clients can be a wonderful negotiated compromise, achieving all personal and financial goals.
That’s awesome, Barbara! I’m so glad your insurance clients are super motivated! Just an added bonus 😊
I've been in private practice for 30 years. I started out taking insurance and worked incredibly hard. I have now changed and I am 100% private pay. Because of the issues I had with insurance companies over the years, I would recommend that if a provider does not have to take insurance, that they don't. In the long run I have been happier not having to deal with insurance companies and their horrible reimbursement schedules. So I'm a NO vote for taking insurance.
I was a contract employee for a group practice where we took multiple different insurances, it was kind of a nightmare. So I recently went solo PP and now I only take one insurance company, which is the most popular in my area and the reimbursement rate is one of the higher ones. I feel good about it so far and I don't plan on getting paneled with any more insurance companies.
I am an independent contractor with an S-corp, so I didn't get the choice (yet) and we don't take insurance except for a few single-case agreements, but prior to me working as a therapist here I was the admin person who had to follow up with the reimbursements of those few clients and it was consistently a pain dealing with the insurance companies. They do not want to pay and will play a lot of games to delay payment. (Hubby was in the insurance field so I know their tricks!) That would be my number one reason to not get paneled with an insurance conpany.
This is a great and balanced overview. I would recommend taking insurance if you need to leave your agency job fast af or are doing fee for service for $25/hr (even insurance-based practice will net you mroe). But if you have time to build, private pay would be a good idea to invest in building. Question below:
My one question would be: what about hybrid practice? Is it possible to build a practice that's 50/50 insurance and private pay (ie, only take 1 or 2 panels)? What are the ethics of "reserving" 50% of your slots for insurance and the rest for self-pay? Am I just too wimpy to go full private pay? Haha.
(Part of my reason for taking -some- insurance has been the desire for a socioeconomically diverse caseload as you mentioned)
I am only doing private practice 1 day a week while working a full time job elsewhere, so I jumped in doing private pay because I don't want to deal with the hassle with insurance pay when I'm not working that many hours or private practice per week.
I started out private pay all the way for the last two years and I am very happy. I was recently contacted by an HMO insurance company who I'd been subcontracted under previously through a group practice, and they are looking to credential me again (they've been in the news nationally as having major problems with their mental health system and need to credential more therapists FAST). I am only considering it because I'd like to diversify a bit. Still not sure. It weighs on me. I personally feel it's a step backward. However, nicheing down was great for client flow, but I do not feel challenged enough. Ugh.....I don't know....
I'm just setting up my private practice, but my niche is first responders and military service members. Most of the city employers take a local insurance company so I've applied with them. I've also applied with Tricare. I've applied with Medicaid but that's just to start things growing in the beginning.
I don't. I found the "less motivated clients" thing is big. They are much more likely to no-show. Also I hate red tape.
I just started and I am private pay, I would like to accept insurance soon, Ive already applied to 2 panels.