TABLE OF CONTENTS
Why this Guide? 1
How to Use the Guide 1
First Assignments 1
Success Factors 2
I Wrote this Guide for You and Me 3
About the Author 4
Disclaimer 4
Introduction 10
What You Will Find in this Guide 11
A Quick Note Regarding LLC and Group Practice 11
TIPS 12
Step One – Consider Your Experience & Regional Area / Name Your Practice 13
TIPS (from a LMFT/PhD who sees only children) 15
Insurance Panels and Other Notes about Psychotherapists in the Area 18
Assignment: Name Your Business 20
TIPS 21
Step Two – Establish Your Tax Id Number (TIN) – SSN vs EIN 22
Assignment: Get Your EIN 22
TIP 22
Step Three – Establish Your Practice Address 23
Ways to Find an Office 23
Things to Think About When Choosing an Office 24
Assignment: Go get your office! 25
TIPS 25
Step Four – Email, Phone, Fax, Internet, Scanning 27
All-inclusive Services 27
Email 29
Assignment: Choose a HIPPA Compliant Email 29
TIP 29
Phone 29
Assignment: Get Your Phone Number 31
TIP 31
TIP 31
Fax 31
Assignment: Get Your Fax Number (or at least have a plan) 33
TIPS 33
Internet Access at Office (deciding on this step can wait but you should review it now) 33
Assignment: Decide on Initial Internet Access 34
TIP 34
TIP 34
Step Five – Get Your Business License 36
TIPS 36
Step Six – Order Business Cards & Other Signage 37
Assignment: Order Business Cards 37
TIPS 37
Step Seven – Join Your Professional Organization 38
For Social Workers 38
Disclaimer For Other Clinicians 38
Assignment: To Join or Not to Join That is the Question 39
TIPS 39
Step Eight – Get Insured 41
Assignment: Purchase liability insurance (professional liability, general commercial liability, and cyber). 41
Important Note 41
TIPS 42
Step Nine – Get Your National Provider Identification (NPI) 43
Assignment: Read this
NPI National Provider Number 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 45
Assignment: Make a voided check, copy (scan), and upload it to your computer 45
TIPS 46
Step Eleven – Set Your Fees 47
For Social Workers 47
For Everyone 47
Assignment: Read this article 48
Sliding Scale 48
TIP 49
TIP 49
Assignment: Determine your fees and write them in your spiral notebook. 49
Step Twelve – Decide Who Will Do Your Billing 50
Cash, CoPays, and Coinsurance Collection 50
TIP 50
Billing Insurance 51
Who Will Do Your Billing? 51
TIP 52
What’s a Clearinghouse? 54
Questions You Should Ask a Billing Agency 54
Assignment: Decide Who Will Do Your Billing Initially 55
TIPS 55
Step Thirteen – Consider Electronic Health Record (EHR) vs Paper Charting 56
Paper vs EHR 56
More About That EHR with Integrated Billing Thing 58
Assignment: Decide on Initial Charting Method 58
TIPS 58
Step Fourteen – Create Your Forms & Celebrate! 59
TIPS 60
Congratulations! You are set up to see clients! 60
That First Client Appointment 60
Chapter Fifteen – To Home Visit or Not to Home Visit 63
Assignment: Decide if You’ll Do Home Visits Initially 65
Place of Service 65
TIPS 66
Step Sixteen – Start Applying to Insurance Panels 67
Assignment: Apply to Commercial Insurance Panels, Medicare, and Medi-Cal (California) 67
The Paperwork – Don’t Get Discouraged – Practice Patience – Be Here Now! 67
Credentialing 67
Contracting 67
CAQH Credentialing and EnrollHub 67
Insurance Panels 68
Start with Medicare 70
TIP 71
A Few Insurance Tidbits Specific to California, Medi-Cal, and Medicare 72
Single Case Agreements – side note 74
TIPS 75
Step Seventeen – Get the Word Out – You’re Open for Business! 76
Assignment: Make a list of potential referral sources. 76
Assignment: Write Your Introductory Letter & Mail or Hand Deliver It 77
TIPS 77
Step Eighteen – Establish Your Professional Will 78
Assignment: Read This & Print a Professional Will 78
Step Nineteen – Telemental Health 79
California Regulations/Codes for Telehealth 80
Medicare & Telemedicine 80
Terminology: Originating site and Distant site 81
TIPS 81
Step Twenty – Compassion Satisfaction and Compassion Fatigue 83
Brief overview of Compassion Fatigue 83
Assignment: ProQoL 83
Assignment: Write Out the Nuts and Bolts of Your Self-Care Plan 84
Expenses to Expect – Subletting 85
TIPS 86
Expenses to Expect – Your Own Office 87
Checklist for Success 88
User IDs/Names Passwords 89
Bonnie’s Story 90
Bonnie A. McKeegan 2018-20 ©All Rights Reserved
A Quick Guide to Starting Private Practice