. . . Has anyone customized a general billing software like QuickBooks?”
[Update 01-28-09] Another reader, Sandy Jardine, in Phoenix, Arizona also wrote in asking for help.
I am a long-time user of Therapist Helper software. I have just been informed that when I switch to Windows 7 my ancient version of Therapy Helper will be useless. I need to get new software. I am looking for something SIMPLE. I have a completely self pay practice, do no direct billing to insurance, submit no electronic claims and need no scheduler. I provide my clients statements they can submit directly to their insurance for reimbursement. I also use it for keeping track of my income receivables, client lists, etc.
Can you please recommend what you have found helpful, affordable, simple and windows 7 compatible.”
If you have experience and opinions about billing software, please introduce yourself, tell us what you’ve used (and for how long) and let us benefit from what you know!
I was researching on line last week when I ran across Dave Dufour’s blog post of 50 Phrases That Kill Creativity. It made me wonder . . . . Which of these phrases keep your business from growing?
I put off building my websites for at least five years simply because I didn’t know where to start. Now that I have two, I thought it might be useful if I shared some of my thoughts to help you get your website started. There are several things you need to consider before you even talk to a web designer.
Why Do You Want A Website? A good website will not be all things to all people. Do you want it to build your credibility? Do you want it to provide information? Is there another reason that you want a website? Get clear about it and stay focused.
Who Is Your Target Audience? Be specific here because it matters. The look and feel as well as the content of my counseling website is geared to women with a particular focus on complex trauma. It’s not necessarily going to be attractive to servicemen or useful to parents of small children. It’s not very focused on addictions or compulsive sexual behaviors. Take the time to identify and speak directly to your targeted audience.
Why Will People Take Time To Visit Your Website? Are they looking for relief? Entertainment? Information? Know why they will take time to visit your website and then use that information to meet their needs.
How Will People Find Your Website? Will they be looking for someone like you or will they be looking specifically for you?Your networking will both affect how and be affected by how others find you / your site.
What Are The Measurable Goals For Your Website? After being up for one year? After five years?
Answering these five questions is critical to developing a good website. Once you are able to answer them, you are ready to begin the next phase of developing your website. Let me know when you’re ready and I’ll walk you through the next step!
Parity, as it relates to mental health and substance abuse, prohibits insurers or health care service plans from discriminating between coverage offered for mental illness, serious mental illness, substance abuse, and other physical disorders and diseases. In short, parity requires insurers to provide the same level of benefits for mental illness, serious mental illness or substance abuse as for other physical disorders and diseases. These benefits include visit limits, deductibles, copayments, and lifetime and annual limits.”
~ National Conference of State Legislators ~
Every therapist in private practice should know how to access information about the laws concerning mental health and the insurance industry. Here is an explanation and a link to parity across the United States.
I’ve mentioned in the past that one of the ways that I keep my marketing fresh is that I borrow ideas from other professions.
This morning I was reading Erika Trimble’s blog, Physical Therapy Biz Success, when I ran across a great little post on setting priorities. She recommends the A-B-C-D-E Method for setting better priorities.
A = Critical and Urgent
These are the things that if you put off, will cost you your practice.
Professional licenses and certifications
The rent for your office
Your mental – physical – emotional – spiritual health
Transportation to and from work
A way for your clients to contact you
Securing your client records (to protect confidentiality)
B = Important
These are the things that really need to be done but they are not critical. If you don’t do them in the short term, there are only minor consequences. However, if you put them off indefinitely, the cumulative effect can bump these into the A = Critical and Urgent category.
Vacuuming the office
Networking
Emptying the trash can
Cleaning the windows
Upgrading your computer to the most current Windows settings
C = Nice to do
These include all the niceties and, often, fun-to-do’s that can so easily distract you from your business-building tasks. They may be of added benefit to you or your clients but if they don’t get done, you don’t incur negative consequences.
Sending birthday / holiday greetings to your clients
Heating up the coffee / tea pot for your clients
Lighting the candle in your office
Writing a new blog post
Facebook chats
Returning friends phone calls
D = Delegate
If you don’t do it easily and well, you need to give serious thought to delegating or contracting to get the task accomplished.
Designing artwork for your new project’s marketing campaign (unless you are artistically inclined)
Writing the copy for your website
Billing clients / insurance companies
Janitorial / building maintenance services
E = Eliminate when possible
These are often acts of repetition or 100% time wasters.
Surfing the Internet
Creating handouts for your clients over and over again
Explaining your policies for payment, no shows, and late arrivals
Some correspondence including letters of introduction, marketing letters, and reminder letters
As you are gearing up for 2010, make sure you take some time to re-think your priorities. Assign each of your to-do’s an A, B, C, D, or E using Erika’s method of prioritizing and then let me know what changes for you.
What is it that you think is important . . . to attend to, to delegate, and to eliminate as you build your private practice?
Change Therapy is a free eBook designed to introduce new business development ideas and concepts for the mental health profession. It is written by my colleague, David P. Diana, a licensed professional counselor and Director of Business Development for a large behavioral health care company.
You can download the book for free at www.davidpdiana.com. Enter your name and email in the sign up section on the top right hand side of his website.
I’m not a big fan of resolutions . . . at least not the ones made for the new year. My thinking is that if you’re serious about making a change or making a commitment, you’ll make it when it is needed . . . not on December 31st. And, you won’t need some day on the calendar to remind you that it’s important.
However, in my opinion, your business will benefit from an annual review. So, after waiting a week or two to let you resolution-friendly folks have your say, I’m here with a quick review of my accomplishments in 2009 . . . .
Because I track my client numbers I know that after a painfully slow start to 20009 (and with a nod to the economic crisis), the last 6 months of 2009 have resulted in my counseling practice seeing a 100% increase in clients
Read at least 6 books related to building my business
Initiated discussions for several new projects
Created 2 new business cards and promotional materials for both sides of my business
Updated my resume
Proposal was accepted to teach Lessons from the Margins: Exploring Difference through the Lens of Augusto Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressedat 2010 Teacher Institute at Western State College (in Gunnison, CO)
Was asked (and agreed) to present Business Planning for Your Private Practice at 2010 Colorado Counseling Association’s Spring Workshop
If you haven’t taken time to review your accomplishments in 2009, take time to do that right now. What is it you have you done for your business in the last 12 months?
Just today I ran across this manifesto on the cult of being done. It fits in nicely with the topics we’ll be covering in the January session of Private Practice from the Inside Out Annual Series so I thought I would share it with you here. See my comment in the brackets below.
The Cult of Done Manifesto
There are three states of being. Not knowing, action and completion. [Which state trips you up most often?]
Accept that everything is a draft. It helps to get it done. [Love this! For those of us who were raised at the knee of perfection, it's easy to forget that first drafts are often acceptable even if they are not perfect. And, when they aren't acceptable, usually you can do them over -- especially when it comes to your marketing!]
There is no editing stage. [This is often true in marketing your private practice. Opportunities abound and they don't always give you a 48 hour notice. Think of the unexpected contacts you meet, the conversations that you find yourself in, and the opportunities you have to promote your business. If you delay taking advantage of those spur of the moment opportunities because you want to clean up your thoughts, your language, your marketing materials . . . it's often too late! There is no editing stage in marketing your practice.]
Pretending you know what you’re doing is almost the same as knowing what you are doing, so just accept that you know what you’re doing even if you don’t and do it. [OK, so I'm talking about marketing here, not clinical work. In your marketing, it's critical that you jump in now to respond to current events and your community's needs. Trust that you'll get better in your marketing by simply doing it.]
Banish procrastination. If you wait more than a week to get an idea done, abandon it. [Procrastination can be your nemesis. Whatever it is . . . do it now!]
The point of being done is not to finish but to get other things done. [YES! When coaching clients on their marketing, I often hear the excuse . . . "I can't do Z because I haven't done X & Y yet." So then I ask about X & Y only to find that they can't do those because they "haven't done V & W." You can't do everything at once to build your private practice but you can complete something to move toward your business goal.]
Once you’re done you can throw it away. [There's no point in hanging on to completed projects. Move on to the next one."]
People without dirty hands are wrong. Doing something makes you right. [Many professionals are struggling because they are trying to figure out what the one right way is to build a private practice. There isn't one right way. There are many ways which is why doing any one strategic thing to build your practice is better than doing nothing.]
Failure counts as done. So do mistakes. [ The great thing about mistakes and failures is that they give you much to learn from. Embrace your stumbles and learn your lessons. The sooner you learn your lessons, the sooner you grow your business.]
Destruction is a variant of done. [Yes! And, that's because if it's destroyed, you get to start over!]
If you have an idea and publish it on the internet, that counts as a ghost of done. [That's because it's dead! You've put it out there, others have seen it, taken it and run with it, and you are in need of a fresh idea.]
Done is the engine of more. [That's right! You get to check it off of your list and move on to the next step in building your vibrant private practice!]
Are you getting things done to build your private practice? If so, drop me a note right here to brag on your accomplishments. If not, then let me know where you are stuck and I’ll see what I can do to help you get things done!
The Cult of Done Manifestowas written by Bre Pettis and Kio Stark. Here is a link to the original online post as well as a link to printable posters right here.
As 2010 gets under way, I hope you’re planning for your professional development needs. I am excited to say that will be attending (not presenting at) the annual conference of the Association for Women in Psychology February 11-14, 2010 in Portland, Oregon. AWP is a terrific professional organization open to all mental health students and professionals.
If you are also planning to attend this conference, I hope you’ll take a moment to let me know so that we can meet face to face and possibly share a bite to eat together!
Teaching is a great way to establish yourself as an expert . . . so what do you know?
"Teacher" by Ben Russell / ben110
What body of information or skill set comes naturally to you? What is so common sensical that you marvel that others don’t know it? That’s what you need to be teaching! Teach clients; teach children; teach physicians; teach teens; teach teachers; teach therapists; just teach.
If you are reading this blog, my assumption is that you are a mental health professional with a minimum of a master’s degree. Don’t tell me, and more importantly, don’t tell yourself that you don’t know enough to teach. You have more formal education than 98% of the population in the United States so you know something and I choose to believe you know something of value.
So what is it you know right now that you can teach? And, more importantly, why aren’t you teaching it? What do you need in order to leverage that natural skill set or body of knowledge to boost your image and name recognition?
What keeps you from inviting more clients into your practice?
The purpose of a professional disclosure statement is to inform clients about your professional background and the limitations of your professional relationship. It is sometimes referred to as a document of informed consent.
It is important to note that the state you practice in may dictate what must be included in your statement of disclosure.
The professional code(s) of ethics that you adhere to
How to file a complaint against you
Your professional disclosure statement is a living document. By that I mean that it will grow and change as your experience, training, and practice changes. It’s a good idea to review (and amend as needed) your disclosure statement at least annually.
When writing your disclosure statement, you may find it helpful to gather samples of other professionals statements. You will find a copy of my disclosure statement here at my counseling website.
Tamara G. Suttle, M.Ed., LPC has maintained a private clinical practice since 1991 and founded Private Practice from the Inside Out in 2003. She has spent almost 20 years consulting and teaching marketing strategies to health care professionals like you. You can learn more about her clinical practice at her website.
Email Tamara
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