(Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) Hi, welcome to the Abundant Practice Podcast. I'm Allison from Abundance Practice Building. I have a nearly diagnosable obsession with helping therapists build sustainable, joy-filled private practices, just like I've done for tens of thousands of therapists across the world. I'm excited to help you too. If you want to fill your practice with ideal clients, we have loads of free resources and paid support.
Go to abundancepracticebuilding.com slash links. All right, on to the show. So I've talked about therapy notes on here for years. I could talk about the features and the benefits in my sleep, but there are a couple of things I want you to know about therapy notes that doesn't typically make it into an ad script. First is that they actually care if you like their platform. They don't only make themselves available on the phone to troubleshoot so you don't pull your hair out when you get stuck.
They also take member suggestions and implement those that there's client demand for. Like therapy search, an included listing service that helps clients find you, internal and external secure messaging, clinical outcome measures to keep an eye on how your clients are progressing, a super smooth super bill process, real-time eligibility to check on your client's insurance.
In my conversations with the employees there at all levels, they all really believe in their product and they want you to love it too. Second, they are proudly independently owned. Why should you care about that? Because as soon as venture capital becomes involved, the focus shifts from making customers happy to making investors happy. Prices go way up, innovation plateaus, making more money with as little output as possible becomes the number one focus.
With over a hundred thousand therapists using their platform, they've been able to stay incredibly successful and they don't have to sacrifice your experience to stay there. You can try two months free at therapynotes .com with the coupon code abundant. Some of y'all aren't sending HIPAA compliant email and it's a problem. Even if you're paying for a business Google workspace account and have a signed BAA, your emails still aren't a hundred percent compliant. That's where Palbox comes in.
You can connect Palbox to your Google workspace or Microsoft 365 email one time and you're completely covered. No one has to sign into portals. It sends and it shows up like any other email. Behind the scenes, Palbox software checks the security settings of the recipient and ensures that the email is sent properly so you're not violating HIPAA in the ways you may accidentally be now. I know HIPAA isn't sexy, but we don't avoid compliance in an abundant practice.
We check the boxes we need to check and this is the easiest way to do that with email. Check out my friends at palbox.com. That's P-A-U-B-O-X. Use code abundant to get $250 off your first year of Palbox. That makes it less than a hundred dollars for your first year. Again, that's P-A-U-B-O-X .com. Use code abundant. Hi Allison. Hi Keri, how are you doing? I'm good. I was so excited about today.
I've been trying for like three months to get on your schedule and I was really into my note, which never happens. Just something I wanted to talk to you about and I lost track of time. I'm so glad I got that email. How are you? I'm doing well. Yeah. What about you? Good. Yeah. Yeah. Happy to see you. And I just wanted to say, I know you're in, are you in Asheville?
Yeah. I just, I wanted you to know you're, you've been in my thoughts and my sister's in the area and I've been there recently to see her and just been thinking about y'all. Yeah. Well, thank you. I appreciate it. Yeah. Well, what would be most helpful today? Yeah. So I was thinking about, I'm new in private, in solo practice. I left a group practice in July, actually June and started this practice in August.
So it starting to feel like I'm getting the hang of it, but there are some things I'm wondering if I should outsource or things that I'm outsourcing that I should do. So that's where I got really, I think, thrown off at the beginning. And I wanted to talk to you about that. Yes. Let me get my pen. Okay. Tell me all about it. So I was under the, just knowing my personality type and my work style just felt like I wouldn't be so great at the credentialing process, at the billing.
I really wanted to just focus on welcoming my clients into my practice and the clinical work. Obviously there's like a whole very important business side of things, but I thought, you know, it's worth my money to pay someone to help me with this. What ended up happening was the folks I hired to help me with the credentialing, it was a really stressful and not very productive relationship. And I was left in the dark a lot. It wasn't clear on if I was paneled, I got paneled with the wrong folks.
Like it was just kind of a mess. And I just, I went into this like spiral the first month or two, just being really angry at them, but just also feeling stuck and like, I don't know what, what they're working on, what I'm working on. And so it just kind of set me off on this bad note. Like I just came into this, just feeling frustrated and, and I'm still working out kinks and insurance and all of that.
So I'm not really making the money that I, I mean, I think the money's out there and their claims unpaid. I just, it's all kind of a mess right now. I do have someone that's helping me with billing. Oh, so coming back to the credentialing piece, I fired them and I said, I'm going to just take over, just send me like the status of everything. And that was helpful.
And it just got me thinking like, what it, like I should have listened to Alison's podcast and just, I could have done this myself if I just believed in myself more and then like set aside time to do it. Cause it's not like the credentialing piece doesn't sound that complicated when it comes down to it. Yeah. So I think I'm okay on that front for the most part. And I know like I need to go in and check the CHQ is it CHQ and QH and just maintain those contracts and everything.
But I don't think I'm going to have anybody help me with that piece anymore. I've got my foot on the ground when it comes to that. With billing, there's someone that I've never met in person. She's local and was recommended by a couple other therapists. And she's been helping me with submitting claims through a simple practice. And she's also helped me. She's kind of stepped in and helped with insurance, like to help me get those EFTs set up and so that I could get paid.
But she's kind of the only person I go to now when I have any questions about insurance and billing. Although I think I'm getting stuck with like, at what point should I just see what I can do myself? I mean, what are some of the simpler things that I can do to save money? I'm just like bleeding. I feel like I'm bleeding money. Sometimes for an hourly rate. Yeah. I mean, if you're using simple practice, like any of the major EHRs, it literally takes you seconds to bill, seconds.
So I think, I don't know how she would charge an hourly rate unless she's actively on the phone with the insurance companies a lot, trying to track down those claims that you haven't gotten. So I might hold on to her to get that part done. But after that, I mean, it's so easy. It's so easy. Like when you start doing the billing, you'll be like, oh, why was I paying for this?
Okay. But if she is doing a lot of the call and like verifying benefits and things like that, it depends on the insurance company. A lot of them are like portaled through the major EHR system. So you can look and see like, what are their benefits while you're in your system? Some of them you have to sign into the insurance company, but it literally is just like a quick check that you could do, you know, while you're on the phone onboarding somebody or before their first appointment.
So that everybody's real clear. And what I've done in the past is just said, like, I want you to check with your insurance. Like I've put the onus of responsibility on them because I didn't want to be messing with insurance all the time. Yeah. I'm paying her to do the verification of benefits for every client. And so I would look into what that process actually is.
Cause if it is a sign into a portal or sign into simple practice and just look and it takes you less than a minute, I would so much rather you do that because if that's the case, she should be super cheap and shouldn't be talking to me about this. She's charging you per hour. Okay. Yeah. Unless she is the one waiting on hold saying we still have not gotten these. She's doing some of that. Yeah. And the simple practice is still not showing correctly, like which claims have been paid.
So I think that's on the simple practice side of end of things to the EFT. Yeah. Yeah. It's just, it was a lot. Cause I started with a full practice because I was able to take my clients with me, which is awesome. Yeah. But I just, I just underestimated the amount of time that I needed to get everything in place. And so now I just feel like I'm backpedaling a lot and going back to learn.
I mean, I need to, so going into simple practice too, and looking at the billing, how billing works and through there. And then with all my panels kind of learning that process on my own. Yeah. Okay. That's good. So, so you're saying like, it really shouldn't be taking that long to submit claims. It's just. No, no, it's literally less than a minute. Every claim maybe, I mean, some of it's probably even automated. Okay. So yeah, she should be super cheap except for her time talking to them.
Okay. Okay. Thank you. And the other thing I had mentioned the notes, I get really stuck in figuring out I'm a little bit of a perfectionist and I delayed actually transferring my handwritten to the system until I had the perfect template. I don't have the perfect template in my old job. We have one that I liked. I didn't love it, but I used it and I was familiar with it. And now I'm like putting together my own based on what I'm seeing in simple practice.
And I just, I'm behind, I'm very behind. I know you probably hear this a lot because it's the bane of a lot of our existences, but maybe it just needs some motivation or like clarity from you on the documentation, not being as big of a deal as I'm making in my head or like letting go of some of that. Yeah. I mean, you have it documented. You have everything documented. It's just on paper. So like worst case scenario, you got audited right now. You're just like, here you go.
Like it's been behind two locks. Like I'm not leaving it on my desk in my unlocked office. So you're still abiding by HIPAA. So I want you to know that you're not in trouble. I hadn't even considered that. I didn't even think about that. Thank you. Yeah. And so honestly what I do, I believe simple practice has a feature where you can just scan things in.
You could hire a college kid, have them sign a BAA business associate agreement, which basically says like, I will abide by HIPAA and you can just pay them an hourly rate just to scan and pop them into the right folders. Or you could do that while watching TV. Okay. So just to get caught up. Yeah. Instead of like hand typing out everything that's already written, I would just get to a place of caught up and then take it from there with your good enough template.
Yeah. Okay. Like as long as you've got medical necessity in there, you're like hitting the primary points, then you'll be solid. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I have that. I have a proof of like the codes reflecting the service provided. So that frees me up, but I'm like future self is going to want a template that's perfect. Yeah. So here's my question. You're a business owner now. Mm-hmm. The perfectionism is going to slow you down and make your life a lot harder as a business owner.
I want it to be the same kind of good enough attitude you might've had as an employee or contractor. Cause it doesn't have to be perfect. That's just like business owner anxiety getting in the way. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know why I'm expecting more of myself now, but it's true. It is like, um, like it's a mind game a little bit or mindset. Yeah. So what about treatment plans and what is your view on using like the soap notes and the full bio psychosocial first visit having that all completed?
That takes me almost an hour per client. One thing you may want to consider. Oh, and hold on. I have a book right here. Hold on one sec. Okay. So I just got this book, stress-free documentation. Ah, Melissa McCaffrey runs QA prep. Uh, and it's like one of the documentation gurus, but she keeps it light and fun. And this is cool because it has templates. Let's see. I've just thumbed through. I haven't really looked at it, but this is treatment plan components, intake assessment forms.
So this might calm your perfectionist. If you were to get, I don't know if it's out yet. They just sent it to me. Okay. I think I saw, I heard a podcast with her, maybe or a training. What's her name? Melissa McCaffrey. It's M a E L I S a M C C a F F R E Y. And it's stress-free documentation for mental health therapists.
Okay. So that might be something like not a fun read necessarily, no offense to Melissa, but like something that could at least help you feel like, okay, I'm doing this the right way. I don't have to reinvent any wheels. I'm making sure that all my I's are dotted and my T's are crossed. So that that makes just part of you that's like, but what Yeah. It's calmed. Yeah. Okay. I'll get it when it's out. Awesome.
Yeah. And I think probably when you've been an employee or a contractor throughout your career, you've just kind of like gotten your notes done. It wasn't like, how do I do this exactly? Right. And, and I love that there's this part of you that's like, okay, like I am the one responsible. I'm the one in charge. I have to make sure this is done properly. I love that that's coming up, but the fact that it's freezing you, that's the problem. Yeah. Yeah. Not the desire to do it right.
But the freeze response is the, is the tough part though. It's heavy. It's really icky. And then I just feel worse talking about it because it's so silly to be obsessed about it. It's so like, I want to normalize that we all have that thing for some people it's notes for some people it's, I have to have the right headshots for some people. It's I can't get the right template for my stupid website.
Everybody has this one thing that feels really important, but it isn't really about the thing we think it's about when you're getting your practice where you want it. Yeah. So this is just yours. It's a very like legal ethical one. It's nice. Yeah. Thank you for that. I think in maybe it was the training with Melissa what one of the speakers said, it's usually about a confidence issue.
Like when we get stuck or maybe it was you in one of your sessions, but it sounds like me, but yeah, yeah, no, I can hear that right now. And what you're saying, it's just something that gets stuck on. And yeah, I think what's, what's helpful is that question of like, why make it so much harder on myself when I was fine as an employee doing this and I was okay with my work there. Why is this expectation? Because now I'm on my own that it has to be bigger and better.
I want this to feel sustainable. It just, it has been stressful. Well, starting private practice is already really stressful. I know a lot of people are like, if only I had all the clients, then it would feel better, but it's a different stress because now you're trying to like build the plane while you're in it. Right. And that's tough because you're, you're doing a lot of clinical care while you're trying to build it.
Yeah. And I took time off, but I had my kit, you know, it was the summer and I had my kids like, this is not what I envisioned for my hiatus. So, okay. Yeah. Any other, like any advice that, I mean, you have a lot that you've shared through your recordings and everything, but what about when you start to feel lonely? Like there's no one in my building that I see on a regular basis. I went from having like 20 coworkers to then five to zero over the last five years.
Are there therapists in your building? There's one who I sometimes will see like on a Tuesday afternoon. Okay. Okay. And not my person. Yeah. Yeah. So I wonder about reaching out to therapists that you respect in town and just saying like, Hey, how would y'all feel about like a zoom clinical consultation meeting once a month or, and this is like my, this is, so I used to feel very similar. I'm extroverted and I'm outgoing. Right.
So like my need for people is like this deep well, the kind of things that introverts hate. I'm like, thank God. So I recognized that for me, I started with a lot of, like, I need to spend, I need to find colleagues. I need to like create a way to see them regularly.
But what I ultimately found was I needed people in my real life more so than I needed in my life because in your clinical life, you've got a person every hour, you know, like you do have people, their clients, it's a different boundary, but I would rather you make your, your real life, your non-work life so rich with exactly the people you want instead of trying to fit some therapists that may be friends and may be great into like a round peg in a square hole. You know what I mean?
Like if you need more interaction, I, I vote in your real life. Okay. Hmm. I love, I like that. Yeah. We all need to be having a lot more fun than we're having. And we have lots of reasons why we're not. Yes. Very serious and around here. Yeah. Yeah. Stress will do it. Yeah. So I was reminded yesterday of the definition of stress and how it is when the demand exceeds your resources. And the truth is the demand is not exceeding your resources. You have so many resources.
You've got me, you've got the Facebook group, like you've got all these people you can, somebody's got your answers. Yeah. And not everything has to be implemented right this second. Yeah. So I think what I've been doing since I was reminded of that, I've heard that and I was feeling super stressed and I was like, wait a minute. Hmm. I have access to every support and answer that I actually need. Maybe I'm not stressed.
Maybe I just don't like, maybe I just simply don't like some of the things I feel responsible for right now. Cause they're not fun. Yeah. Or they're not fulfilling. It's just like annoying tax shit, you know, just like, maybe I just don't like that and that's okay. But instead of labeling it stress and putting it in my basket of all the times in my life, I've been terribly stressed and all the baggage that comes with that.
If I can just be like, oh, yeah, I hate having to get back to my accountant and this health insurance guy is annoying me. And I'm like, that's just one of my, these are not my favorite moments. Right. And it actually made me feel a lot less stressed. Yeah. I'm nodding. That's thinking this is recorded, right? Yeah, it is. I'm going to play this back when I need it. Okay. Awesome. Thank you. I'm sorry. I was too. That's a bummer on my end for both. I mean, I'm sorry for that time. You got here.
I'm glad you did. It was not because I didn't want to be here. So thank you for your time and everything that you offer. Absolutely. Yeah. Take care. All right. You too. Bye. Bye. If you're ready for a much easier practice, therapy notes is the way to go. Go to therapy notes.com and use the promo code abundant for two months free. Make sure your email is actually HIPAA compliant with Powebox use code abundant to get Powebox for less than a hundred dollars your first year at p a u b o x .com.
If you're listening, you probably need some support building your practice. If you're a super newbie, grab our free checklist using the link in the show notes. I'd love for you to follow rate and review, but I really want you to share this episode with a therapist friend. Let's help all our colleagues build what they want.