Have you thought about striking out on your own as a therapist? Some elements of setting up your own practice are no different from starting any other small business. Some aspects are unique to the industry. Below are a number of the things to keep in mind.
Legal and Regulatory Issues for Therapists
The credentials that you need and the kind of language that you must use to set yourself up as a therapist or counselor vary from state to state. Make sure that you are compliant with local regulations. In addition, it’s a not a bad idea to carry professional liability insurance, and in many states, you’ll be required to have it.
Make sure as well that you fully understand what’s required of you as far as HIPAA regulations go and that you have a plan to protect patients’ privacy. Another big item to consider is whether you’ll do in-person, virtual or hybrid consultations. If you are doing online therapy, are there additional legal or regulatory issues that you need to consider?
Consider Patient Payments
How will patients pay you? If they don’t pay at point of service, how will you follow up and get payment? Decide whether you’ll take insurance. There are many pros and cons of either decision and you’ll find a wide variety of opinions among people in your profession. Some feel that not taking insurance limits their patient pool. Others feel that accepting insurance isn’t worth it because of low payments, problems with insurance companies and more. Do your research and make the choice that’s right for you.
One option you may want to consider is offering customer financing. Increasingly, people expect flexible, convenient payment options, and customer financing provides this. It ends up being a win/win for you and your patients, increasing their satisfaction and boosting your earnings potential. This may suggest a real competitive edge option even if you decide not to take insurance. You can review a guide to help you figure out which financing options are right for you. You can read up on what’s available, how the different types of financing work, and what you should think about before you get started.
Business 101
Some elements of setting up your own practice are no different from starting any other kind of business. Make sure that you’re familiar with federal, state and local requirements, including any local zoning laws that may affect where you conduct your business. Write a business plan. Even if you aren’t looking for loans, this and other resources can help you in business planning and may even highlight your blind spots. Consider marketing. Who are those you want to reach with your services? How will you reach them? How can you convince them to make the first appointment?
Think about your cash flow and how you can keep some cash freed up to stay on top of expenses even if things are tight. If you aren’t good with figures, consider hiring a part-time bookkeeper. The more you know about where every dollar is going, the better your financial decisions will be. Don’t get stuck in the planning stage forever, but don’t rush into setting up your practice without ample preparation either.
Onboarding and Other Processes
It’s critical to think what your processes will be for getting started with new clients. Will you offer free consultations? What kind of information do you want to gather from clients to start? How will you take notes? What kind of software might help you with your processes?
You’ll also need to think about whether you need to hire any employees, and if so, what the process of hiring and training will be like as well. Don’t be afraid to turn to experts when you have questions. If you need to speak to a lawyer about contracts or an accountant about taxes, it’s better to do it now than when they have a mess to untangle.
Niche and Branding
What’s your focus? Will you treat a specific population of people? Consider where you have the most training and expertise and which modalities appeal to you the most. Are there specific issues that you want to work with people on? Branding isn’t just for influencers. It’s important to establish a sense of who you are. Even if all your work is offline, there’s a decent chance that many of your clients are going to find you online.
That doesn’t mean that you must join the latest social media sites and start making videos if that’s not your thing, but it does mean that you need to think about how you’re going to present yourself online so that people know who you are, what you do and what to expect. If this feels uncomfortable, think of it as helping to guide the right patients to you. You’ll be able to help more people if the right clients can find you in the first place.
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