How to Evaluate Which Insurances to Get Rid Of
Many therapists have the same thoughts around how to grow a private practice. One of the schools of thought is to get on as many insurance panels as possible and you will grow your practice. However, the realistic result from this method is that you will be overwhelmed by administrative work and not focusing on your clients. At the very least you will not be as engaged in the things that you want to be because you may be on the phone with insurance companies, keeping track of multiple information sources and requirements to upkeep credentialing, among other duties that come with accepting insurance. .
In this blog we want to show you a system by which you can evaluate the insurances that you have taken and potentially eliminate some of the administrative work off of your plate.
The first way to evaluate which insurance to get rid of is to see how many clients you have on your caseload that have a particular insurance. For example, let’s say you have 20 insurance companies that you are in network with. 80% of your clients have Blue Cross Blue Shield and 1% of your clients have a different kind of insurance. What value could you be adding to the 80% of your clients by eliminating the 1% insurance company off of your caseload. It is possible that you are spending time with that one percent that you should be spending with the 80%.
It is important to evaluate whether the time spent with an insurance company is really worth your time. If we take the same example but change some of the numbers. 50% of your caseload takes Blue Cross Blue Shield and 50% Has a different kind of insurance it may not be worth it to get rid of the second kind of insurance. That would be cutting out a significant portion of your caseload and that decision needs to be approached very carefully.
The second way to evaluate when to get rid of an insurance company from your caseload is to evaluate how much revenue that insurance company brought into your practice throughout the year. If an insurance company is not bringing in enough money to be profitable relative to your time and effort with that insurance company then it would be worth evaluating whether that insurance company should remain on your caseload or not.
For example, let’s say an insurance company brings in $100,000 to your practice but another insurance company brings in $100 to your practice. It makes sense to get rid of the second insurance company because they are still taking up administrative time that you could be spending with the majority of your practice.
The last way to evaluate whether insurance companies are worth keeping on your caseload Is by evaluating if that insurance company fits within your clinical objectives. You might be taking an insurance that provides you with clients that you have no skill set with or don’t have training on. It would be a good idea to eliminate those insurance companies so that you can focus on the clients that you have depth with.
We love that there are therapists that want to provide help to as many people as possible and one of the ways to do that is to be on as many panels as possible. However, we also believe that a focused approach to accepting insurance will allow you a better work-life balance, help maintain the health and sustainability of your practice, and therefore allow you to be more helpful to more people. There is a time and place in your growth where taking multiple insurance companies makes sense but we also want to help evaluate when it might not make sense.
If you are in a position where you think you may be on too many insurance panels but have several outstanding claims, Practice Solutions can help you to resolve those claims so that you can leave any insurance panels that you feel are not a good fit for you. Additionally, bringing Practice Solutions on to help with insurance billing can alleviate some of your time spent billing claims and give you even more opportunities to spend with your patients. For more information, reach out to us on our website, at info@practicesol.com or by calling 734-437-9432.
