What a Billing Service Does for Your Therapy Practice, Month by Month
Billing services for therapists do more than send claims. A good one checks insurance before sessions, files claims, chases unpaid ones, posts payments and reports back every month. Here is what that work looks like, step by step. Good billing services for therapists follow the same cycle every month.
What do billing services for therapists do before the session?
The first step is insurance verification and eligibility checks. A billing service confirms that the plan is active and looks up the benefits that apply to behavioral health, so you know what to expect before the first claim.
What happens after the session?
Once your note is done, the claim goes out. Electronic claims submission sends it to the payer through a clearinghouse, which checks the claim for errors first. Our guide to the clean claim explains why that step matters.
Who follows up on unpaid and denied claims?
Claims that stall or come back denied are the largest source of lost income, so billing services for therapists spend much of their time here. The service checks claim status, corrects what it can and files appeals. See denied and rejected claims follow-up and appeals. When a second insurance applies, secondary claims billing sends the balance to the next payer.
How are payments posted?
When a payer pays, someone matches the payment to the claim, records the adjustment and flags anything short-paid. The glossary entry on payment posting describes the process.
What do you get at the end of the month?
MCM South sends two reports. The Paysheet Report is the list of every patient whose claim was finalized, with the reimbursement from insurance, along with our billing service invoice. The Aging Report shows outstanding claims tracked by how long they have waited, so nothing slips past timely filing.
Read our guide to timely filing for how deadlines work, and how medical billing services get paid for how billing services are paid.
How is your client data protected?
A billing service handles protected health information, so HIPAA requires a written business associate agreement. Read the HHS guidance on business associates and ask for the agreement before the service sees a claim. Also ask how the service limits who can see your data and what happens to your records if you leave. The HHS HIPAA Security Rule summary describes the safeguards a service should have.
What do you still own?
With billing services for therapists, you keep clinical documentation, your fees and your decisions about which payers to accept. Tell your billing service when anything changes: a new payer, a new address, a new clinician or a change in your schedule. Accurate information in means accurate claims out. Good billing services for therapists welcome these questions. Weighing options? Read the 7 questions to ask before you outsource therapy billing, and see how electronic claims for therapists reach payers.
What should you ask a billing service for?
- A list of each task it handles and each task it leaves to you.
- What reports you receive, and how often.
- Who your contact is when a claim looks wrong.
- Which billing and EHR systems it works with.
If you are weighing options, start with our mental health billing for private practice page and our services overview.
Frequently asked questions
Do I still have to write my notes?
Yes. Clinical documentation stays with you. The billing service turns your documented sessions into claims.
Will my billing service work with my EHR?
Ask which systems it works with before you sign. Ask how session information reaches the billing service.
Does a billing service handle credentialing?
Some do. MCM South offers a separate credentialing service for psychotherapists and psychiatrists.
Who do I contact if I think a claim is wrong?
Your billing service should name a contact. Ask who that is and how to reach them.
Where MCM South Medical Billing Service Works
MCM South Medical Billing Service, LLC works with psychotherapists and psychiatrists in our ten currently served states: Georgia, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Texas, Florida, New York, Colorado, Tennessee, North Carolina and Illinois.
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