Who We Serve
Mental Health Billing for Solo and Independent Providers
An independent practice still needs a real billing operation behind it: claims prepared and submitted, payments posted, balances kept straight, and payers followed up with. Billshrinkers is that operation for solo therapists, social workers, psychologists, psychiatrists, nurse practitioners, and counselors, so you can run a professionally organized practice without hiring billing staff or becoming your own billing department.
Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Eastern.
Full-Cycle Billing
The whole billing cycle, with a clear owner
Billshrinkers handles the billing cycle from start to finish. We verify eligibility and benefits, prepare and submit claims, track those claims after they leave, work rejections and denials, post insurance payments and patient responsibility, and support patient statements. The billing work has a clear owner, with Billshrinkers responsible for managing the cycle and keeping it moving. You have a complete billing process behind the practice without needing to build and manage that process yourself.
See how our billing services work from claim to payment.
Who Does What
What you handle, and what we handle
A good outsourcing relationship is clear about who does what. You provide the practice activity and patient information, and then we take it from there. When a claim genuinely needs something only you can supply, a note, a correction, an answer to a payer question, we come to you directly and specifically. That’s the only time it goes back to you. The goal is not that you never touch billing again; it is that billing stops being a second role you carry on your own.
Behavioral Health Fluency
Behavioral health billing handled by people who know it
Behavioral health billing carries payer and coding requirements that differ from other specialties. Our team understands how those requirements affect the way claims should be prepared, submitted, and followed. Two examples of what that knowledge looks like in practice:
The payer on the card is not always the right payer
Many plans carve out their behavioral health benefits to a separate administrator, so a claim sent to the insurer named on the member’s card can come back denied even when the client is fully covered. We check where a behavioral health claim actually needs to go before it goes anywhere.
Telehealth has its own rules
Telehealth visits carry their own place-of-service coding, modifiers, and payer-specific requirements, and those requirements are not uniform across payers. We bill telehealth the way each payer expects it, so a routine part of a modern practice does not turn into a routine source of denials.
If you are a psychiatrist or psychiatric nurse practitioner in solo practice, your claims follow additional rules. See our psychiatric billing page for how we handle those.
Getting Started
Starting out or moving from another arrangement
Most independent providers come to us in one of two situations, and we handle both as an organized process rather than a leap.
Opening a practice or accepting insurance for the first time
We establish an organized billing process from the start, so the practice is not left to create one under pressure later.
Moving away from self-billing or another billing company
We coordinate the transition so you understand how claims already in progress and new claims will be handled. You will know what is happening with your billing while the change takes place, not be left guessing.
The Arrangement
A straightforward arrangement
Our fee is based on a percentage of what your practice collects, or a flat rate in the states where that’s required by law, with no additional monthly fees. Where the fee is percentage-based, our compensation moves with your collections, keeping our work connected to the financial activity of the practice.
Billshrinkers was founded by a practicing psychotherapist, so the value of a clinician’s time and the administrative demands of running a practice have shaped how we approach the work.
Scope
What we handle, and what we refer out
Billshrinkers handles billing. Credentialing, meaning getting enrolled with insurance panels in the first place, is a separate specialty that we refer to an outside credentialing specialist rather than handling in-house. Once you are enrolled with your payers, your billing runs through us.
Learn more about the practices and providers we serve.
Questions
Questions solo and independent providers ask us
Is my practice too small to work with Billshrinkers?
No. We support solo and independent providers as a core part of our work, and an independent practice is treated as the real business it is.
What parts of billing will Billshrinkers handle?
The full cycle: eligibility and benefits verification, claim preparation and submission, follow-up after submission, rejections and denials, insurance and patient payment posting, and support for patient statements.
What will I still need to provide?
The practice activity and patient information you provide, and your input when a specific claim needs something only you can supply. Day to day, the billing work sits with us.
Can you help if I am currently billing for myself or changing billing companies?
Yes. We coordinate the transition from self-billing or another company so you understand how existing and new claims will be handled as the change takes place.
How do your fees work?
A percentage of what your practice collects, or a flat rate in the states where that’s required by law, with no additional monthly fees. Where the fee is percentage-based, our compensation moves with your collections.
Do you handle credentialing?
Credentialing is handled by an outside specialist we refer you to, so our full focus stays on the billing. Once you’re enrolled with your payers, we take it from there.