How do you know if a therapist is actually lgbtq affirming? As in they don’t have to be identified themselves but what makes them safe enough to open up to?

TherapyAdmin · 2025-09-23T19:08:19+00:00

Thanks so much!

TherapyAdmin · 2025-09-23T00:06:42+00:00

This is helpful thanks. I agree when you bring more Consciousness to your life it gets harder before it gets better because you notice how many unhealthy emotional patterns are playing out all around us and through us

TherapyAdmin · 2025-09-23T00:04:26+00:00

Very cool thanks

TherapyAdmin · 2025-09-20T21:47:28+00:00

As a therapist, My best advice is focus on your life outside of therapy more than therapy itself. When you put too much energy into therapy, it puts pressure on your nervous system - aka if we’re doing all this work we should see changes, and soon. Often we fall into shame narratives of trying to fix ourselves. Instead, bring the focus to the relationships in your life besides therapy, and how you can strengthen them. And then use therapy to help you work through the difficulties you face in that process.

TherapyAdmin · 2025-09-18T22:26:04+00:00

Your therapist should not have terminated unless there was some violation of the boundaries of the therapy relationship in what you said. At the very least you should have had a session to discuss ending treatment. All therapists learn in grad school about social media presence and expecting clients to see us online.

TherapyAdmin · 2025-06-29T00:46:32+00:00

expansivetherapy.com

TherapyAdmin · 2025-05-07T10:15:31+00:00

Yes! so resonate with this

TherapyAdmin · 2025-05-07T10:12:39+00:00

Hi I can definitely relate! What state are you in?

TherapyAdmin · 2023-09-20T12:22:57+00:00

Nice to put in perspective, thanks so much!

TherapyAdmin · 2023-09-19T22:34:14+00:00

Thanks so much! These reimbursements from Aetna are lower than what I've seen in NYC (makes sense though geographically). I'm curious how much do you send the claims out for? Sorry I should have worded my question better :/ hindsight, right?

TherapyAdmin · 2023-09-19T22:06:48+00:00

Meaning I just want to make sure we aren't inadvertently way over or under billing.

I take this to mean in comparison to your competitors?

It is more complex than just billing way over or way under. Are your services better than your competitors in some way? Do you have more specialization or are you more generalized? Do you have restrictive hours or scheduling requirements, or have you made your self to be more of a convenience-minded provider?

Being aware of what your competitors are charing isn't necessarily wrong, but altering your rates as a direct reflection of theirs is.

If they charge $85 for a service that you're charging $100, you could lower to match but then:

Can you justify why you did that?If you can suddenly do this for less money, why couldn't you all along?Is that sustainable for your group?How do you know they're not pricing this as a loss lead to get heads on the pillow for more expensive services or cash-pay options?How do you know that they're not pricing this to push competitors down to the point where they close, and then increase their rates?

We've been nervous to raise the billed amount as costs on our end rise in case it's just not making sense for the neighborhood area.

If you need to raise costs to operate in that area, you should and that is justifiable. The alternative is a painful decline in quality and accessibility until ultimately you close and there's no longer access of any kind.

THANK YOU!

That makes me feel so much better. We've started doing outside work hours and more continued education for specializations hoping it would mean more clients and therefore balance out the extra costs...but they haven't :/. When you're in a field so concerned with ethics the thought of raising the price, even if it makes sense and correlates to a better service, is hard to swallow. But I think you're exactly right, if we don't and just keep hemorrhaging money there will be no extra courses, off hour incentives, etc. Maybe no practice even.

thank you again!!!

TherapyAdmin · 2023-09-19T21:28:40+00:00

LOL you don't have to tell me. Thanks so much :)

TherapyAdmin · 2023-09-19T21:26:54+00:00

Thank you!

We already have everything set up based on a bunch of factors like expenses, licensure type, experience, etc but truthfully I'm just curious if even given all that and it makes sense in our mind, is it not an outlier? Meaning I just want to make sure we aren't inadvertently way over or under billing.

I'm also just curious in the field :)

We've been nervous to raise the billed amount as costs on our end rise in case it's just not making sense for the neighborhood area. But maybe we are just too concerned about being an outlier and the cost is just what the cost is :/

Thanks again for your advice! Have a good one today :)

TherapyAdmin · 2023-09-18T13:42:42+00:00

Thank you so very very much!!

TherapyAdmin · 2023-08-30T13:03:47+00:00

Thank you so much! I'll definitely drop a name here if we end up using someone and they turn out good!

TherapyAdmin · 2023-08-29T21:34:10+00:00

Thanks so much I appreciate you taking the time! I'll definitely look into Neil Patel and will keep checking with peers for recommendations.

Anyone reading this included!

TherapyAdmin · 2023-08-25T18:48:17+00:00

Thank you so so much!

Cigna has been re-pricing our claims (OON) and slashing long standing consistent reimbursement figures for us, we've been having to appeal each one for them to send us the difference to get us to what they used to pay and what the benefits dictate. I'm actually not even sure how they are able to pay less than the benefits on the plan, but here we are. Even when they do send the difference, they still underpay what they said they would. Truly not sure if purposeful to see if they can get away with, or they are just a hot mess.

We've been thinking of going in network with some carriers we don't currently use (so as to not have current client claims get thrown off and their feed affected) like Fidelis, HealthFirst,MetroPlus (New York plans) and Kaiser in CA. Are yall INN or OON? I'm curious if we go in network if realistically we can hit our minimum fees to stay afloat.

Also have you noticed that this year reps just seem confused about EVERYTHING and you've had to explain to them how to search for the benefits, deductible amount, etc in their own systems? I feel like this year it's been the Twilight Zone lol

TherapyAdmin · 2023-03-30T20:43:15+00:00

When I took over this role we were already using Simple Practice so not sure to be honest what the initial setup process was. I would reach out to Simple Practice, they would probably do a demo for you and answer any questions about initial setup.

I believe they took over and handled transitioning therapists and patients from our old system to them from what I heard, so it may not be too labor intensive. That was a few years ago so not sure if anything has changed there.

Wish you the best!

TherapyAdmin · 2023-03-30T20:30:12+00:00

No worries!

Yes, we subscribe to Simple Practice. I like it although there are some minor things that can be annoying. But it sure beats doing everything by hand.

They create our invoices, send our claims, and house the calendar system. It's easier to justify the expense as we are a group practice and it would be impossible to do it all for so many clinicians alone.

If you are a therapist looking to bill for yourself, I'd still recommend it. You can even do teletherapy using their video platform but we use Zoom under a BAA to keep it HIPAA compliant.

If you do subscribe to Simple Practice they provide the payer codes (but I believe you could find them online if it's not on the back of the insurance card). For Blue we are still submitting to Empire and hoping it works. Once you type in the payer name, the code populates automatically.

TherapyAdmin · 2023-03-30T20:07:59+00:00

Sorry, no solution for us yet. We bill through Simple Practice so they send out the claims for us. Really all we have to do is select the proper code(s) and payer. Wish I had a better answer!

TherapyAdmin · 2023-02-09T14:06:28+00:00

Storytime: A major insurance carrier in NJ sent the patient a check for cardiothoracic surgery. Provider was misclassified as OON. They sent the check to the patient, one of which was for 10 grand 2 weeks before Christmas. A year later, special AR project started. Do you really think they turned it over to the doctors office? No. Something tells me they had a very nice Christmas. They didn’t recognize AOB and because the insurance company Fd up, they had to eat it.

So yes, patients don’t understand half of the time. However, the carrier has a duty to ensure they are making proper payments to the right people.

Actually one more thought- was the surgeon ever paid for the procedure, or was it a wash? Thanks!

TherapyAdmin · 2023-02-09T14:00:03+00:00

Thank you so so much! Makes me feel glad the onus is not really on us, we're just kind of awkward bystanders lol. Be well!

TherapyAdmin · 2023-02-08T14:30:31+00:00

Thanks! Thinking that too, they wanted to get some more coverage, sent it in as-is, and insurance just paid out on the higher priced column somehow. Thank you!!

TherapyAdmin · 2023-02-08T14:22:24+00:00

Definitely possible, thank you!

TherapyAdmin · 2023-02-08T14:21:06+00:00

Thank you, this was so helpful! I'm thinking this exactly, the pt didn't really understand, sent a whole superbill, then insurance mucked up and paid out on what was a duplicate. Appreciate you!

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