[Transcript] Episode 441: What the Rate Cuts for Headway and Alma Mean to You

 

Evan Dumas

You’re listening to Group Practice Tech, a podcast by Person Centered Tech, where we help mental health group practice owners ethically and effectively leverage tech to improve their practices. I’m your co-host, Evan Dumas.

 

Liath Dalton 

And I’m Liath Dalton, and we are Person Centered Tech. 

 

Liath Dalton 

This episode is brought to you by Therapy Notes. Therapy Notes is a robust online practice management and electronic health record system to support you in growing your thriving practice. Therapy Notes is a complete practice management system with all the functionality you need to manage client records, meet with clients remotely, create rich documentation, schedule appointments and bill insurance all right at your fingertips. To get two free months of Therapy Notes as a new Therapy Notes user go to therapynotes.com and use promo code PCT.

 

Evan Dumas 

Hello and welcome to Episode 441: What the Rate Cuts for Headway and Alma Mean to You.

 

Liath Dalton 

Oh, yes. Now know that the vast majority of our listeners do not have relationships with Headway or Alma and are not contracted with them. But in the bigger context of trying to run a successful and thriving private practice, whether it be a group practice or a solo practice, over the last few years, there has been a kind of existential anxiety present, right, Evan?

 

Evan Dumas 

Yeah, definitely.

 

Liath Dalton 

For a lot of folks, as we’ve increasingly seen, these different mental health platforms, teletherapy platforms that are really corporate and kind of funded by and run by venture capital firms getting into this space, there has been the understandable and natural concern of, well, wait, how can I possibly compete with the Amazons of telehealth, basically, and what does that mean for the long term viability of my practice and my work?

 

Evan Dumas 

Yeah.

 

Liath Dalton 

So in that context, we have been saying for a long time that these outfits, what they provide, and the sort of promise that they’ve been giving to lure, yeah, to lure clinicians into working with them, is stating, we can get better rates for you than you could get on your own if you were just getting credentialed as a individual with the different insurance companies.

 

Liath Dalton 

But the sort of too good to be true part is that what they have been promising is not something that a lot of us think is possible or viable to sustain long term. So the big news that has recently come out from Clear Health Costs in part, broke the story, and we’ll put the link to the articles in the show notes. But it’s it’s come out that there are some really significant rate cuts for therapists that are working with Headway and Alma specifically for the Optum insurance. And those rate cuts really range in size from a few dollars to up to $43 per session, which is massive.

 

Evan Dumas 

Yeah.

 

Liath Dalton 

So now, like massive, like 30, 30% and you know, if they were saying, well, the aggregate annual income loss could be 6,000 13,000 28,000. A number of therapists are saying they will now no longer work with Alma or Headway, and it’s also brought more, folks into recognizing the other things that they are giving up and compromising when working with these outfits and bringing up the privacy and security concerns as well.

 

Liath Dalton 

So why does this matter to you?

 

Liath Dalton 

Well, if you are a group practice owner, I think you will be heartened that the the cracks are are starting to show. And it also becomes something where you know, we know that there’s been a struggle to hire over the last while in particular, and that partof what has created that struggle is that a lot of clinicians who typically would be working in a group practice because they don’t want to run a solo practice have felt like the promise of of Headway or Alma is that all the hard parts of running a practice are and dealing with insurance and getting credentialed and so on, are taken care of so they are able to have their own practice without doing the less pleasant bits of it, and without working in a group practice.

 

Liath Dalton 

And now they’re starting to realize, wait a minute, that’s not really a reality, or as it seems, and compromising a lot of of things for it.

 

Liath Dalton 

And so hopefully that is going to mean that folks who otherwise would have been in the hiring pool for your practice and haven’t been because of this, are going to be back in that hiring pool.

 

Evan Dumas 

Yeah.

 

Liath Dalton 

And then in the bigger picture, I think it, it is something that is going to weaken these companies, which then, in turn, reduces the kind of bigger picture existential threat, or experience of threat that is present for you as a group practice owner.

 

Liath Dalton 

And then for those of you that are listening, who are solo practitioners, this is a moment to say there really is value in, if you are a solo practitioner, and having that autonomy and control and the ability to advocate for yourself so that you are not just at the mercy of someone who, you don’t have really any rights for. It’s a take it or leave it sort of situation right?

 

Liath Dalton 

And then going back to group practice leaders, part of the pitch you make to to your staff is we fight hard. We have the same vested interest

 

Evan Dumas 

Yeah.

 

Liath Dalton 

as you, we aren’t just going to settle for a like $43 a session, rate cut. That’s not survivable. And as clinicians leave these other outfits, your bargaining power increasesas well. So it really is good news overall, for the profession, for practice owners, group and solo alike.

 

Liath Dalton 

And hopefully, hopefully, this feels like a little bit of a bright spot in terms of we’re starting to see the cracks appear and the response be more commensurate with what is actually going on.

 

Evan Dumas 

Yeah, yeah, hopefully.

 

Liath Dalton 

Yeah, exactly. So we would like to also wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving, for next week, at the at the time of recording this episode, we wish you and yours a happy timetogether, and we will chat to you next week. Take good care, everyone.

 

Evan Dumas 

Yeah, talk to you next week, everybody.

 

Liath Dalton 

This has been Group Practice Tech. You can find us at personcenteredtech.com. For more podcast episodes, you can go to personcenteredtech.com/podcast, or click podcast on the menu bar.