A Quick Guide to Starting Private Practice – Third Edition Purchase $29.99 On Sale now $19.99
The Third Edition of the Guide is now available and along with additional resources added, it includes a sample introductory letter and seven (7) common forms. Check out the Appendices at the end of the Table of Contents.
Introduction 1
What You Will Find in this Guide 2
A Quick Note Regarding LLC, PLLC, Incorporation, S-Corp, and Group Practice 2
TIPS 3
Why this Guide? 4
How to Use the Guide 4
First Assignments 4
Success Factors 5
Step One – Consider Your Experience & Regional Area / Name Your Practice 7
TIPS (from an LMFT/PhD who sees children) 10
Insurance Panels in the Area 13
Assignment: Name Your Business 14
TIPS 15
Step Two – Establish Your Tax Id Number (TIN) – SSN vs EIN 17
Assignment: Get Your EIN 17
Step Three – Establish Your Practice Address 18
Ways to Find an Office 18
Things to Think About When Choosing an Office 19
Table 3-A Office Possibilities 20
Assignment: Go get your office! 20
TIPS 20
Step Four – Email, Phone, Fax, Internet Access, Scanning 22
Read: 22
All-inclusive Services 23
Email 24
Read: 25
Assignment: Choose Email 27
TIP 27
Phone 28
Read 28
TIP 28
Assignment: Get Your Phone Number 29
TIP 30
Fax 31
Assignment: Get Your Fax Number or at least have a plan 32
TIPS 32
Internet Access at Office (deciding on this step can wait, but you need to review it now) 33
Assignment: Decide on Initial Internet Access 33
TIP 33
TIP 34
Read 34
Step Five – Get Your Business License 35
Assignment: Search for your city’s business licensing office. 35
Assignment: Get Your Business License / Pay Licensing Fees & Taxes 35
TIPS 35
Step Six – Order Business Cards & Other Signage 36
Assignment: Order Business Cards 36
TIPS 36
Step Seven – Join Your Professional Organization 38
Social Workers 38
Assignment: To Join or Not to Join, That is the Question 40
TIPS 40
Step Eight – Get Insured 41
Assignment: Purchase liability insurance (professional liability, general commercial liability, additional insured, and cyber). 41
Important Note 41
TIPS 42
Step Nine – Get Your National Provider Identification (NPI) 43
Read 43
NPI National Provider Number – National Plan & Provider Enumeration System 43
Assignment: Get Your NPI & Make Note of Your Taxonomy Code 43
TIP 44
Step Ten – Set Up Your Business Checking Account 45
Assignment: Get Your Business Checking Account 46
Assignment: Make a voided check, scan, and upload it to your computer 46
TIPS 46
Step Eleven – Set Your Fees 47
Everyone 47
○ Tip **Medicaid/Medi-Cal may not pay for this service when performed by a master’s level clinician. 48
Read 48
Read 49
Read 49
Read 49
Read (if you are a Medicare-eligible provider) 50
Sliding Scale 50
TIPS 50
Read 51
Assignment: Determine your fees and write them in your spiral notebook. 51
TIPS 51
Read 51
Step Twelve – Decide Who Will Do Your Billing 52
Cash, Co-Pays, and Coinsurance Collection 52
TIPS 52
For Cash 53
Billing Insurance 53
Deciding Who Will Do Your Billing 54
Read 55
TIP (warning) 56
What’s a Clearinghouse? 59
Questions You Should Ask a Billing Agency 60
Assignment: Decide Who Will Do Your Billing Initially 60
TIPS 60
Read 61
Everyone 61
Step Thirteen – Charting – Electronic Health Record (EHR) vs Paper 63
Paper vs EHR 63
Read 63
More About EHR with Integrated Billing 66
Assignment: Decide on Initial Charting Method 66
TIPS 66
Step Fourteen – Create Your Forms & Celebrate! 68
TIPS 70
Assignment: Develop your forms 72
Congratulations! 72
As soon as your forms are ready, you are set up to see clients! 72
That First Client Appointment 73
TIPS 74
Step Fifteen – To Home Visit or Not to Home Visit 75
Assignment: Decide if You’ll Do Home Visits Initially 79
Additional Information 79
Place of Service (POS) 79
TIPS 81
Step Sixteen – Start Applying to Insurance Panels 83
The Paperwork – Don’t Get Discouraged – Practice Patience – Be Here Now! (again, and repeatedly…) 84
● Credentialing 84
● Contracting 84
● CAQH Credentialing and EnrollHub https://www.caqh.org/ 84
Social Workers and Psychologists Start Thinking about Medicare 85
If Eligible, Get Enrolled with Medicare First 86
EVERYONE – Apply to State Medicaid/Medi-Cal (Social Workers and Psychologists – take this step after you receive your Medicare PTAN) 89
Medicaid/Medi-Cal Managed Care Programs 90
EVERYONE – Commercial Insurance Panels 91
A Few Insurance Tidbits Specific to California, Medi-Cal/Medicaid, and/or Medicare 91
Everyone: Back to Determining which Insurance Panels to Apply to 93
Single Case Agreements – side note – a possibility when you are not on the panel 94
TIPS 94
Assignment: Apply to Commercial Insurance Panels, enroll as an Accept Assignment Medicare Provider (if eligible), and apply to Medicaid/Medi-Cal 96
Step Seventeen – Get the Word Out – You’re Open for Business! 97
Assignment: Make a list of potential referral sources. 97
Assignment: Write and Send Your Introductory Letter 98
TIPS – websites 99
Step Eighteen – Establish Your Professional Will 100
Assignment: Read This & Prepare a Professional Will 100
Step Nineteen – Telemental Health/Teletherapy/Telemedicine 101
Read 101
California Regulations/Codes for Telehealth 102
Medicare & Telemedicine 103
Terminology: Originating site and Distant site 103
TIPS 104
TIPS 104
Step Twenty – Compassion Satisfaction, Compassion Fatigue, Burnout 106
Brief Overview of Compassion Fatigue and Burn Out 106
Assignment: ProQoL 106
Assignment: Read Trauma Stewardship by Laura van Dernoot Lipsky with Connie Burk 107
Assignment: Write Out the Nuts and Bolts of Your Self-Care Plan 107
Appendix A Expenses to Expect – Subletting 108
TIPS 109
Appendix B Expenses to Expect – Your Own Office 110
Appendix C Checklist for Success 111
Appendix D User IDs/Names Passwords 113
Appendix E Sample Introductory Letter 114
Appendix F Sample Registration Form 115
Appendix G Sample Diagnostic Assessment / Biopsychosocial Evaluation 116
Appendix H Sample Payment Record for Chart 120
Appendix I Sample Confidential Psychotherapy Notes 121
Appendix J Sample Superbill 122
Appendix K Sample Treatment Plan 123
Appendix L Sample Progress Note 125
About the Author 126