Mental Health Billing Company for Private Practice: How to Choose
A mental health billing company for private practice takes over the insurance side of your therapy or psychiatry practice. It checks coverage, sends claims, follows up on denials and tracks payments, so you can stay with patients. Here is how to choose one, and what MCM South does.
Short answer: A mental health billing company for private practice submits insurance claims, follows up on denials and keeps payer enrollment moving for therapists and psychiatrists, so the practice is paid for covered visits. The right fit depends on your payer mix, who does billing today and how much follow-up you want to hand off.
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Updated · For therapists and psychiatrists in solo and group practices
What is a mental health billing company?
A mental health billing company is a business that bills insurance on behalf of a psychotherapy or psychiatry practice. You keep the clinical work. The company handles the claim work after each visit.
MCM South Medical Billing Service, LLC is one. We bill only for mental and behavioral health, for psychotherapists and psychiatrists, in solo and medium-size practices. We do not bill for hospital systems. We started in 2010.
In-house, software only, or a billing company?
You have three ways to get claims paid. The right one depends on how much billing work you want to do yourself.
| In-house | Billing software only | Billing company | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who works the claims | You or your staff | You or your staff | The company |
| Who chases denials | You | You | The company |
| What you pay for | Staff time | A software subscription | A fee set by the company |
| Best for | Practices with billing staff | Practices that want to keep the work | Practices that want claims off their desk |
For a closer look, read mental health billing software vs. a billing service.
Behavioral health billing company or general medical billing?
A behavioral health billing company works only with mental and behavioral health claims. Those claims follow different rules from general medical billing: session-based psychotherapy codes, telehealth place-of-service choices, prior authorization for some services, and employee assistance program (EAP) and out-of-network claims.
A therapy billing company that also bills other specialties has to keep more unrelated rule sets straight. MCM South bills exclusively for mental and behavioral health, for psychotherapists and psychiatrists in solo and medium-size practices. Ask any company what share of its work is behavioral health and who handles denials for the payers you bill.
7 essential questions to ask a mental health billing company
- Do you bill only mental and behavioral health? Behavioral health has its own rules: carve-outs, time-based psychotherapy codes, employee assistance programs (EAP) and psychiatric evaluation and management (E/M) codes with add-ons. A generalist can miss them.
- Do you serve both psychotherapists and psychiatrists? A psychotherapist bills by session length. A psychiatrist bills an E/M visit and may add a psychotherapy code. Ask how each is handled. See our psychiatry billing services.
- Which states and payers do you work in? Payer rules vary by state. Ask for the states in writing. MCM South currently serves ten states: Georgia, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Texas, Florida, New York, Colorado, Tennessee, North Carolina and Illinois.
- How do you charge? See the fee models below. Ask for the full fee structure in writing, including anything beyond the main fee.
- Will you sign a business associate agreement? A billing company handles protected health information, so HIPAA generally requires a written contract with the practice. Read the HHS page on business associate contracts.
- What reports do I get? You should see where every claim stands. We provide an aging report (outstanding claims by wait time) and a paysheet report (payments per payer, session by session).
- Can you also handle credentialing? You cannot bill a payer you are not enrolled with. Ask whether enrollment is part of the service. It is part of ours; see credentialing.
Be careful with any company that promises a result, a collection rate or a timeline before it has seen your payers and your claims. We do not.
Take these 7 questions to your calls
Copy the list, paste it into an email or your notes, and ask every mental health billing company the same questions.
Mental health billing fee models explained
Companies price in a few common ways. Each is a different trade.
- Percentage of collections. The company takes a share of what it collects for you. The fee moves with your income.
- Flat monthly fee. A set amount per provider or per practice. It is predictable, whatever you bill.
- Per claim. A set amount for each claim submitted.
- Hourly or project-based. Usually for cleanup work.
Ask what counts as a collection, what happens to denied claims and whether there is a setup or cancellation fee. We do not publish prices on this page. Request a free quote for your practice.
Private practice billing services for therapists: what MCM South does for your practice
We run the full cycle with six services:
- Insurance verification and eligibility checks
- Electronic claims submission
- EAP billing
- Denied and rejected claims follow-up and appeals
- Secondary claims billing
- Insurance credentialing
We also bill out-of-network claims for clients. See in-network vs. out-of-network and the full list of mental health billing services.
Therapy billing company or outsourced psychiatric billing services: match your practice
A therapy billing company and outsourced psychiatric billing services do the same core work: submit claims, work denials and keep payer enrollment current. What changes is the billing rule behind each visit. Pick your practice type to see what to ask any behavioral health billing company before you sign.
Psychology medical billing and therapy billing run on time-based psychotherapy codes, so session length has to be right on every claim. Ask who follows up on denials, who handles out-of-network claims and who keeps your payer enrollment current.
Each clinician in a group practice can bill under different payer contracts. Ask whether reports and denial follow-up are tracked by clinician, and who owns enrollment when a clinician joins or leaves.
Outsourced psychiatric billing services have to handle evaluation and management (E/M) visit codes, with a psychotherapy add-on code on the same visit when it applies. Ask how the company pairs the two and who checks that the note supports both.
If you employ therapists and prescribers, ask for one team that bills both psychotherapy codes and psychiatric E/M codes, so every payer question has one owner.
MCM South is a behavioral health billing company for psychotherapists and psychiatrists, so these are the questions we expect from every practice we talk to. Our mental health billing services cover claims, denial follow-up and payer enrollment.
Is a mental health billing company for private practice the right fit?
A mental health billing company for private practice often fits when claims sit unworked, denials pile up or you bill at night after seeing patients. It fits less well if you have a full billing team that already works every denial. Compare your own costs honestly: staff hours, missed follow-up and the software you already pay for. Terms in a company's contract are defined in the billing terms glossary.
Mental health billing company for private practice: common questions
What does a mental health billing company do for a private practice?
It verifies coverage, submits claims, follows up on denials, bills secondary payers and tracks payments. Some, including MCM South, also handle credentialing.
How do mental health billing companies charge?
Most use a percentage of collections, a flat monthly fee or a per-claim fee. Get the full structure in writing before you sign.
Do you need a business associate agreement with a billing company?
Yes. The company handles protected health information, so HIPAA generally requires a written agreement. Ask for it before sharing any data.
Does MCM South bill out-of-network claims?
Yes. We bill out-of-network claims for clients.
Can a billing company help with credentialing?
Yes. Credentialing is one of our six services and is separate from claim billing.
How do I know the company is doing the job?
Ask for reports. Our aging and paysheet reports show outstanding claims and payments per payer.
The short version: choosing a mental health billing company for private practice
The best mental health billing company for private practice bills only behavioral health, puts its scope in writing and shows how it follows up on denials. Use the seven questions above, compare the fee models, and ask each company how it handles your payers. A good mental health billing company for private practice will answer plainly.
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Get a free quote for your practice, or schedule a consultation. Mental and behavioral health billing only.
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MCM South currently serves practices in Georgia, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Texas, Florida, New York, Colorado, Tennessee, North Carolina and Illinois. Michael Williams has worked in all 50 states at some point.
