The Insurance Nightmare That Built a $2 Million Practice with Rebecca Ingram Rowe and Sarah Morris

I mean, one of the things that I see over and over again, and we actually talked about this a little bit before we started recording, is that, you know, sometimes, you know, private practice owners just want to help people, right? Like we get into the field to help people.

And then sometimes people are, you know, maybe not happy at their school or their hospital or wherever they're working.

And they think, or maybe they come to some of my, you know, trainings or whatever else.

They think, oh, I'm going to start a private practice.

And some people, you know, join my Start Your Private Practice program and get a really firm foundation in billing and everything else.

There's a lot of people, you know, who don't do my program.

Totally fine.

But then sometimes people then kind of get down the road and decide, oh, wait, I want to do insurance.

And you can almost tell by how they've worded the post in the free groups that they are really kind of over their heads and have no idea what's going on.

So I do think that a lot of clinicians are interested in accepting insurance, but really don't understand the realities of like, you know, the ins and outs, the time commitment, all of the different kind of things that go into it.

So maybe, Sarah, if that would be a question that you could maybe kind of answer is like, For people who are like kind of just wanting to start taking insurance, what kind of things go into

it? Gosh, so much.

You have to really have to know each individual payer's want sent out the door, making sure you know what addresses they want on their claim forms that match your provider information, knowing what modifiers that they accept or require for certain things, and your taxonomy codes, all of these little nuances that each individual payer needs wants and requires before they'll even touch and read those claims to send them out the door with a payment to you.

So knowing kind of those little requirements up front is huge.

And then once you receive your EOBs back, you know, making sure you're aware of what your fee schedules are and that you're getting paid the appropriate amount, understanding benefit plans with your clients and what responsibilities that they may have, what you can bill your clients and what you can't bill your clients.

And there are... 500 different things that you have to know step by step by step.

That way you're ensuring a smooth process and your receivables are coming in and you're not waiting three, four months for those payments to come in because that can kill a business really quick.

So there's lots of little ins and outs that people don't really think about.

They just think, Let's put those codes on there and send it out the door and we'll get our payments.

And it's not that easy.

I

wish it was.

Well, and another thing that I see is that, you know, again, because we tend to be such kind hearted people who just really want to help everybody.

Another thing that I see happen a lot and I'm curious what your opinion is.

I'll give you my opinion and then it's totally OK if you have a different one.

I mean, one of the things that I see over and over again, and we actually talked about this a little bit before we started recording, is that, you know, sometimes, you know, private practice owners just want to help people, right? Like we get into the field to help people.

And then sometimes people are, you know, maybe not happy at their school or their hospital or wherever they're working.

And they think, or maybe they come to some of my, you know, trainings or whatever else.

They think, oh, I'm going to start a private practice.

And some people, you know, join my Start Your Private Practice program and get a really firm foundation in billing and everything else.

There's a lot of people, you know, who don't do my program.

Totally fine.

But then sometimes people then kind of get down the road and decide, oh, wait, I want to do insurance.

And you can almost tell by how they've worded the post in the free groups that they are really kind of over their heads and have no idea what's going on.

So I do think that a lot of clinicians are interested in accepting insurance, but really don't understand the realities of like, you know, the ins and outs, the time commitment, all of the different kind of things that go into it.

So maybe, Sarah, if that would be a question that you could maybe kind of answer is like, For people who are like kind of just wanting to start taking insurance, what kind of things go into

it? Gosh, so much.

You have to really have to know each individual payer's want sent out the door, making sure you know what addresses they want on their claim forms that match your provider information, knowing what modifiers that they accept or require for certain things, and your taxonomy codes, all of these little nuances that each individual payer needs wants and requires before they'll even touch and read those claims to send them out the door with a payment to you.

So knowing kind of those little requirements up front is huge.

And then once you receive your EOBs back, you know, making sure you're aware of what your fee schedules are and that you're getting paid the appropriate amount, understanding benefit plans with your clients and what responsibilities that they may have, what you can bill your clients and what you can't bill your clients.

And there are... 500 different things that you have to know step by step by step.

That way you're ensuring a smooth process and your receivables are coming in and you're not waiting three, four months for those payments to come in because that can kill a business really quick.

So there's lots of little ins and outs that people don't really think about.

They just think, Let's put those codes on there and send it out the door and we'll get our payments.

And it's not that easy.

I

wish it was.

Well, and another thing that I see is that, you know, again, because we tend to be such kind hearted people who just really want to help everybody.

Another thing that I see happen a lot and I'm curious what your opinion is.

I'll give you my opinion and then it's totally OK if you have a different one.