Why don’t you want to take insurance?
If you’re like most therapists I talk to, it’s just not worth it. In fact, one of the biggest goals therapists share with me on my free clarity calls is the desire to be completely private pay.
But, most therapists also express a pang of sadness at not being able to help people who need help. After all, it’s not the client’s fault that dealing with insurance is a huge headache for you.
Clients don’t understand just how little an insurance panel pays you — and how YOU have bills to pay, just like them.
Now, there is another option.
I recently had a wonderful conversation with Christine Li – the founder of a company that is helping therapists take more insurance clients without actually having to deal with insurance panels.
I could write a detailed description of how it all works. But instead, I asked Christine to write an article for me 🙂 After all … she knows her amazing platform far better than I do.
So, without further ado, here is an overview of Mentaya.
The benefits of leveraging out-of-network benefits
Are you a therapist looking for ways to attract more private pay clients without turning away those who may not be able to afford it?
A lot of therapists are deciding not to take insurance, or are making the move to leave insurance panels.
Why?
Many therapists are opting out of insurance panels due to the difficulties of getting paneled and the undervaluation of services by insurance companies. But this leaves the question of affordability for clients.
How can a therapist be affordable and still not have to deal with insurance?
I’ll give you a hint: out-of-network benefits.
Mentaya helps you leverage out-of-network benefits to make high-quality mental health care more accessible by bridging the gap between in-network and out-of-network therapy. That way, you can collect the full fee you deserve while significantly lowering costs for your clients.
How to convert insurance clients to private pay clients
Let’s take a look at a real-life scenario of someone who is looking for a therapist, let’s call her Claire.
After finding a therapist she connects with, she expresses concern about the price point. Claire brings this up during their introductory call.
The therapist tells Claire that she can use out-of-network benefits to get reimbursed for therapy, and gives her a script to call her insurance. Claire procrastinates on calling her insurance. She ends up finding an in-network therapist instead.
But that isn’t how the story should end.
If Claire’s therapist partnered with a service like Mentaya, she would have been able to check her benefits even before the introductory meeting.
It would have saved them the back and forth of dealing with insurance and trying to understand and explain the tedious intricacies of insurance benefits.
Claire could have verified her benefits in seconds, realized how much she could get reimbursed, and been fine paying out of pocket to see her therapist.
There are two simple steps to follow to leverage out of network benefits to attract more clients as a therapists:
1. Educate your clients on their options
Many people are unaware that they can get reimbursed up to 80% for out-of-network therapy. Even if you are not in network with their insurance company, you can explain to your clients that they can use their insurance to cover the cost of therapy sessions.
How can you easily educate and explain out of network benefits?
Using Mentaya’s instant benefits checker is one option. By embedding this widget on websites for therapists, sending a personalized link to clients, or adding it to your directory profiles. Clients simply input their insurance information and in seconds understand how many sessions it will take to meet their deductible – and sometimes see that the actual cost of therapy can be closer to a copay.
2. Help them get reimbursed
Educating your clients on their OON coverage is not enough. They also need to know how to access and use these benefits. This is where Mentaya comes in.
We not only verify your clients’ benefits but also help them submit claims. Instead of providing your clients with superbills, which they may forget to submit or get denied, we create a claim that is sent directly to insurance.
We deal with everything from the submission to fighting denials. All you need to do is verify the session information. All your client needs to do is sit back and relax.
The Mentaya mission
Being a private pay therapist can be challenging when it comes to balancing the needs of clients who may not be able to afford therapy and the need to make a living.
Insurance billing can be a hassle and often undervalues therapists’ services. At Mentaya, we understand this pain point and have created a solution that leverages out-of-network benefits to bridge the gap between in-network and out-of-network therapy.
Our mission is to make high-quality mental health care more accessible to everyone.
By helping therapists market themselves and increase their conversion and retention rates of clients, while also helping clients understand and access their out-of-network benefits.
So, if you’re a therapist looking to attract more private pay clients while still being able to help those who may not be able to afford it, Mentaya is here to help.
How much does Mentaya cost?
The cost for therapists to use our benefits verification is $29/month, and our claim submission service has a 5% processing fee/claim that can be charged to either the therapist or the client.
As clients are guaranteed reimbursement (if they have OON benefits), they are more likely to seek private pay therapists and stay in therapy for longer. Talk about a win-win situation for both therapists and clients!
Try Mentaya FREE for 30-days
If you want to see how Mentaya helps YOUR therapy practice grow, they are offering a free 30-day trial for readers of this blog. With that trial, you get unlimited checks of our benefits calculator. Here’s the scoop on the Mentaya promo code.
- Sign up for Mentaya here
- Enter the Mentaya discount code GOODMAN at checkout
That’s it!
*** In case you were wondering, I do get a small commission for sharing this with you. That said, when I posted this article I got nothing in return other than a new way to help therapists get more clients and fill their practice. tl/dr – Mentaya is awesome.
