|
Go to the best source for practical
ideas—successful therapists
The biggest potential waste of your time is reinventing the
wheel. Our editors help you avoid that by spending most of their time seeking out
therapists who are selling new services and finding more effective ways to sell
traditional services.
Then we give you the benefit of their experience. What
works, what doesn't, what additional training it takes, what problems to avoid. And we're
not embarrassed to mention the "M" word. How much money do you charge? How much
money do you make on that service?
And talking about money, over the past year, our telephone
bills and other communication expenses to gather information came to over $25,000. We
spent another $20,000 going to professional meetings to find innovative therapists. And we
spent many thousands more on publications, consultants, free-lance writers, etc., to keep
track of an industry that's going through gut-wrenching changes.
In just the past three months, we reported the practice
success stories summarized below. What they all have in common is the identification of a
practice niche, effective marketing, and a mainly self-pay patient base. The therapists
involved and their phone numbers are provided in the newsletter to help readers get
further information.
Case #1: Infertility is much more than a medical problem
A therapist in Southern California, where managed care is
decimating the incomes of mental health professionals, is fully booked. In a little over a
year, she went from a typical practice mix to a situation where more than 50% of her
patients have problems related to infertility. Two-thirds of them pay out of pocket: $80
for an individual session; $40 for a group session.
Case #2: How a therapist turned his own hearing problem
into an asset
"The hearing-impaired are hungry for services but
don't know where to turn." This therapist learned that the hard way as his own
hearing grew worse. He now sees these specialty patients not only in his private practice
but also in local hospitals and other settings. Rates for self-pays range from $65 to $80
a session.
Case #3: Helping singles get what they want most
Group therapy usually means one clinician and 8 to 10
participants. A therapist in the Midwest decided to expand the idea. So he set up a
drop-in group for singles who want to deal with relationship issues. Soon he had 40 people
dropping in every Friday night at $5 a head. He then added a monthly communications group
for couples, also with a $5 fee. Of course he's not offering intensive group therapy but
"sort of guides the conversation and sees that things don't get out of hand."
The main payoff: about $3,000 a month in billings from group members who come to him for
individual therapy.
Case #4 --> Case #30: The rest of what you'll get
during a typical year's subscription
The list of niche markets included in this package will
give you an idea of the range of practice areas we've looked at recently or are working on
for future issues. I'd be amazed if you can't find ideas that will be of immediate,
practical use to you, either in a new practice area or one where you're already working.
Investigative reporting geared to
readers' immediate concerns
Psychotherapy Finances is an interactive service. The editors talk to members every day and follow up on
their story ideas. For example:
New network panel: "Should I pay $195 to be a
member of new network being set up in my state?" We checked it out and reported in Psychotherapy
Finances that the new company had no clients for behavioral health services, didn't
plan to negotiate contracts for its network providers, and had sales people promising a
refund policy that the company's chief executive officer told us he wouldn't honor.
Telephone referral service: "I've seen glowing
articles about a service in my professional organization's newspaper and other media and
have just received a proposal that I pay a substantial annual fee to get patients from the
service. Is it worthwhile?" We tracked down therapists all over the country who had
participated--both with positive and negative results. We reported that fees for
participating therapists varied widely as did the effectiveness of local plan managers.
With our report in hand, readers could make an informed decision about whether or not to
get involved. Incidentally, when we checked out other publications' stories about this
company, they turned out to be little more than reprints of the company's press releases.
Medicare patients: "I've been told that people
who are eligible for Medicare can become my therapy patients and self-pay any agreed-on
fee as long as I am not a registered Medicare provider. Is that true?" We answered
the question in detail and may well have saved our reader from practices that could have
subjected him to a fine of $2,000 and six months in jail for each therapy visit.
Surveys of fees and practice issues
For the past 25 years our extensive surveys of therapists
in private practice have been a primary source of data for mental health professionals.
Therapy fees, incomes of private practitioners, average number of sessions, etc., are
broken down by profession and region. In recent surveys we've added managed care topics
such as managed care company fees, and the influence of managed care on therapy practice.
A new subscription entitles you to the current survey plus our next one.
Managed care information with a
critical difference
Just because our new game plan is focusing on non-managed
care and self-pay patients doesn't mean we'll be ignoring managed care. It's just that
we'll be focusing on subjects that will pay off for you on the bottom line.
Managed Care Alert is a monthly feature where our
editors dig out openings on networks and report them to you. In a recent issue, we
reported openings in the following 20 states: AL, AR, AZ, CA, DC, FL, GA, IL, LA, MA, MI,
MO, MS, NY, OR, TN, PA, SC, TX, WI. And that's just one issue.
In addition, recent articles have reported on: 1) practice
purchases by managed care companies; 2) what's happening with capitated rates; 3)
"Dear John" letters from provider panels; 4) the primary care physician
connection; 5) practical ways to do outcomes research. And that's just scratching the
surface.
Internet contact with experts and
other subscribers
If you have access to the Internet: Give us a call
at our World Wide Web site: http://www.psyfin.com
Here's why you must get involved with this
communications medium soon:
The essence of the new medium is not that we can get
information to you faster (although we will) or that you can get information from around
the world in seconds (although you can). Rather, it is your ability to carry on personal
communication with thousands of your colleagues.
I can't go into details here but becoming a member of
Psychotherapy Finances will enable you
to exchange ideas and advice with your colleagues, question consultants and other experts
about your problems, send E-mail anywhere in the world, and a lot more.
Here's the offer!
- Become a member for one year at a very favorable price. This
entitles you to 12 monthly issues of the newsletter.
- Receive the current Fee, Practice and Managed Care
Survey as a free bonus--and the next survey when it comes out.
- Receive a free bonus Special Report: How to increase
your self-pay practice in an era of managed care (see below).
- Receive full member access to Psychotherapy
Finances Online. This will let you use
features of the new system that will not be open to non-members.
- Receive a full money-back guarantee. If at any time
during your subscription year you decide you are not getting your money's worth, you can
get a full refund of the subscription price. And you get to keep the free bonuses and
whatever issues you have received.
Please act without delay. Join the thousands of
therapists who are already receiving the full benefits of membership.
Free Bonus Report (partial table of contents)
How to increase your self pay practice in an era of managed
care
- Building collaborative relationships with primary care
physicians
- 5 strategies for working with the public sector
- Effective strategies for building therapy groups
- Are you taking full advantage of all referral sources?
- ...and much more
|
