| In today's economy it may seem difficult to maintain a | | | | reimbursements when I accepted many insurance |
| steady income in your private practice. However, with | | | | plans, my hourly rate was significantly lower than my |
| strategic business planning you can actually increase | | | | current rate. Most of my clients use the one insurance I |
| your revenue, help more people, and enjoy your work. | | | | now accept, so not many clients were impacted by |
| Here is a quick summary of the 3 ways any mental | | | | this change. Of those who did not carry that insurance, |
| health private practice can increase revenue. | | | | many have out-of-network benefits, pay me directly |
| 1. Increase the number of clients you serve. This may | | | | and submit their claims for direct reimbursement. Since |
| sound obvious. Of course if you see more clients you | | | | my billing is now streamlined to one insurance plan, I no |
| will increase your income. But sometimes we get stuck | | | | longer contract with a billing agency which is another |
| in a rut thinking that we only want to see 10, 15, 20 or | | | | cost savings, further increasing my bottom line! |
| 30 clients a week and leave it at that. but what if you | | | | 3. Leverage your time to provide services to groups of |
| saw just one more client a week? If we assume one | | | | people, rather than just 1-to-1. Leveraging time is one of |
| client hour is worth $100 in income, one additional client | | | | the quickest ways to increase your income while |
| per week over 49 weeks(we'll assume you take | | | | keeping your working hours stable. Of course, many |
| some time off!) would result in $4900 increase in your | | | | mental health professionals offer group therapy. Other |
| income per year. Not at bad way to add almost | | | | ways to leverage time include offering group coaching |
| $5000 to your income, especially in this economy! | | | | programs, workshops (live or by teleseminar/webinar), |
| 2. Increase the average amount of money you | | | | creating educational products (CDs, DVDs,workbooks, |
| receive from each client. If you accept managed care | | | | self help books, etc.). |
| for reimbursement, this may sound like an impossible | | | | Leveraging time allows you to help more people and |
| task, but with good business planning and some | | | | make more money, which is win-win! You can also |
| creativity you can increase the fees you receive for | | | | offer group programs at a lower fee for each client |
| each client hour, or offer additional services that your | | | | individually, making your services accessible to those |
| clients may be happy to purchase from you. One way | | | | who may not be able to afford your individual therapy |
| I have implemented this was eliminating all managed | | | | fees. |
| care contracts but one from my practice. I take one | | | | By tweaking your business model and implementing |
| insurance that has an acceptable reimbursement rate, | | | | even just one of the above techniques you can |
| rather than accept all insurances, some of which pay | | | | increase your income with little investment in time or |
| at very low rates. When I averaged my previous | | | | effort. |