Traversing the Labyrinth of 3rd-Party Payers
A Mental Health Clinician's Guide to Provider Paneling, Assistant Networks, and the General Finances of Working With Insurance
Enroll in Course
Questions about credentialing and billing with 3rd-party payers come up frequently for mental health providers. This course is here as a guide. In this course, we will cover:
- An introduction to 3rd-party credentialing and how to do it
- How to research the needs of your community demographics
- Finding the right insurance companies to be credential with
- Developing a clear 3rd party payment policy to communicate to your clients
- Getting the right systems and processes to handle the task
- Creating in-network vs. out-of-network payment policies and procedures.
- The in’s and out’s of CPT codes and medical billing
- Learning when to outsource and contracting with billing companies
- Understanding types of insurance plans, co-pays, coinsurance and deductibles.
- Options for checking benefits and what you can expect to be paid
- Third party payment flowcharts and templates
- How to increase and get higher average per session rates
- How to negotiate insurance contracts for higher reimbursement rates.
- Using dashboards to track payments and receivables.
Your Instructor
L. Gordon Brewer, MEd, LMFT
Gordon is the owner and president of Kingsport Counseling Associates, PLLC in Kingsport, TN, a small and dynamic group practice serving a rural population. Gordon is a licensed marital and family therapist and is an AAMFT approved supervision. Gordon is also the host of the Practice of Therapy Podcast and provides consulting for practice owners looking at financial planning, improved organization, and leading a insurance based practice.
S. David Hall, PsyD, LMFT, LPC
Dr. Stephen "David" Hall is the founder and director of Haven Counseling Center in Knoxville, TN where he leads a team of over 10 therapists in serving their community in a mid-size city. David is licensed in marriage & family therapy and in mental health counseling, and serves as a supervisor for post-graduate therapists. David also leads a continuing education and consulting group called PsychMaven, and helps practice owners looking at private pay client growth and alternative income sources such as medication management and workshops.