{"id":41690,"date":"2021-08-06T06:30:53","date_gmt":"2021-08-06T13:30:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/?p=41690"},"modified":"2021-07-26T07:45:05","modified_gmt":"2021-07-26T14:45:05","slug":"billing-best-practices-when-should-i-bill-clients","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/Billing-Best-Practices-When-Should-I-Bill-Clients","title":{"rendered":"Billing Best Practices: When Should I Bill Clients?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"GoodTherapy<\/h1>\n

Billing Best Practices: When Should I Bill Clients?<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h1>\n

For therapists, there are few better professional feelings than opening your own practice.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Not only do you get to determine the communities you serve, the office you work out of, and your own schedule, but you also get a much bigger slice of the revenue your work brings in.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Having your own business also enables you to figure out exactly how you want to structure your practice, including what kinds of clients to take on,\u00a0<\/span>which insurance providers to work with<\/span><\/a>, and what areas of practice to emphasize.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Yet at the same time, running your own practice also exposes you to a number of significant challenges. Chief among them? Billing.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In an ideal world, clients would pay you predictably, and you would never have to track down late payments. Unfortunately, it rarely works out that way. Unless you make it a point to prioritize your billing process, you\u2019re bound to run into billing issues sooner or later.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

To answer the question posed in the headline, there\u2019s no rule that says you need to bill clients on any particular cadence. It is, however, important to bill clients consistently \u2014 whether that\u2019s weekly, biweekly, monthly, or even quarterly is up to you.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Before we take a look at some actionable tips you can use to improve your billing processes, let\u2019s first turn our attention to some of the reasons why successful practices prioritize consistent billing experiences.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Billing Therapy Clients: 5 Reasons Why Consistency Matters<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

While the following list is by no means exhaustive, here are some of the more persuasive reasons why you should do everything you can to deliver a consistent billing experience to your clients.<\/span><\/p>\n

1. You won\u2019t catch your clients off-guard.<\/h3>\n

Ever get hit by an unexpected bill in the mail? It\u2019s not the most thrilling experience in the world, to say the least.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As a therapist, your job is to help clients move past traumas and become the best version of themselves. The last thing you want to do is be the source of stress or grief.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

By billing clients consistently, they will know when to expect bills and how much they\u2019ll have to pay. In other words, no surprises \u2014 the way it should be.<\/span><\/p>\n

2. You\u2019ll avoid the appearance of fraud.<\/h3>\n

If you\u2019re not in the habit of billing clients consistently, you might fall into the trap of billing them whenever you feel like it. For example, maybe you send a client a bill after two sessions, then after five sessions, then after three sessions.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

With no rhyme or reason to your billing practices, you might raise red flags for credit card companies \u2014 or even your clients themselves!\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In most other areas of our lives \u2014 whether it\u2019s insurance payments, rent or mortgage expenses, or utility bills \u2014 we\u2019re billed once a month, like clockwork. By sticking to a predictable billing cycle, you can avoid the appearance of fraudulent accounting behaviors.<\/span><\/p>\n

3. You\u2019ll never leave a big pile of invoices on your desk.<\/h3>\n

As every small business owner knows too well, invoicing can be quite the bittersweet activity. On one hand, you\u2019re getting paid for your work, which is exciting. On the other, if you put the task off long enough, you\u2019ll have to deal with a mountain of paperwork (or tons of emails if you bill electronically), which is probably not on your list of favorite things.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

By building a consistent, repeatable billing system, you can make the process as efficient as possible.<\/span><\/p>\n

4. You won\u2019t work for free.<\/h3>\n

The longer you put billing off, the higher the chances you\u2019ll miss charging\u00a0for\u00a0 a\u00a0session or two, and maybe even more.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

While you went into your line of work to help people, you knew\u00a0this\u00a0 would\u00a0also be your job, and you didn\u2019t sign up to work for free. Consistent billing processes significantly reduce the likelihood you\u2019ll forget to bill a client for a session.<\/span><\/p>\n

5. You\u2019ll have a steady income stream.<\/h3>\n

Cash flow issues<\/span><\/a>\u00a0are one of the main reasons small businesses fail, and therapy practices are no exception. After all, you need money to pay your utilities, office expenses, taxes, and any wage expenses you might have.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Unless you are sitting on a massive pile of cash, you need to bill your clients consistently to avoid cash flow gaps. Generally speaking, the faster you send out invoices, the sooner you\u2019ll get paid.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

By billing at regular intervals, you benefit from a predictable cash flow. This makes it much easier to help your clients to the best of your abilities \u2014 instead of worrying about how you\u2019re going to pay next month\u2019s energy bill, for example.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Now that you have a better idea about why billing clients consistently is the right thing to do, let\u2019s take a look at some of the specific steps you can take to get your billing function in a better place.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

4 Steps to Take Now to Transform Your Practice\u2019s Billing Processes<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

Ready to take your practice\u2019s billing process to the next level? Here are four simple steps to make that happen.<\/span><\/p>\n

1. Change the way you think about billing.<\/h3>\n

First things first: You need to treat billing as the most critical part of your business, because it is. If your clients don\u2019t pay you promptly, it\u2019s going to be that much harder to fulfill the mission of your practice: helping clients live their best lives.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

If billing\u2019s been an afterthought to date, it\u2019s time to change your mindset and treat it with the importance it deserves.<\/span><\/p>\n

2. Communicate transparently.<\/h3>\n

Before you take on a client, it is imperative that they know exactly\u00a0<\/span>how much you are charging<\/span><\/a>, whether their insurance covers it, and how much they can expect to be billed for each session.\u00a0 By outlining your billing processes as early as you can, you reduce the chances there will be any confusion when it comes time to settle the account.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For the best results, be responsive to client concerns and answer any questions they might have. If you\u2019re planning to raise your fees at any point, communicate those increases well ahead of time.<\/span><\/p>\n

3. Invest in your billing function.<\/h3>\n

There\u2019s no rule that says you have to run your billing department yourself just because you own your own practice.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As your business begins to scale, consider making smart investments in billing to lessen your load. For example, you might decide to hire an accountant, invest in billing software, or even bring in new in-house staff to take care of billing.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

When you don\u2019t have to manage billing yourself, you can bring a clearer mind to each session \u2014 and achieve better client outcomes because of it.<\/span><\/p>\n

4. Set automatic reminders.<\/h3>\n

You might decide that you like handling billing on your own, and that\u2019s perfectly okay. If you continue with this setup, be sure to set automatic reminders that will let you know that it\u2019s time to send out invoices.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

By doing so, you won\u2019t have to worry about forgetting to bill your clients on time, which improves the client experience while strengthening your cash situation.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Ready to Upgrade Your Billing Function?<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

As a therapist, you went into business to help clients live more rewarding lives \u2014 not to crunch numbers and stare at spreadsheets.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

If you\u2019re struggling with billing, look into a practice management solution like Therapy Partner, which gives you all the tools you need to manage your schedule, document each session, and bill your clients with ease.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For more information on how Therapy Partner can transform your approach to billing and ultimately help your practice get to the next level,\u00a0<\/span>check this out<\/span><\/a>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Billing Best Practices: When Should I Bill Clients?? For therapists, there are few better professional feelings than opening your own practice.?? Not only do you get to determine the communities you serve, the office you work out of, and your own schedule, but you also get a much bigger slice of the revenue your work […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3168,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[627,1509,542,1899],"tags":[31,1752,1753,1503,217,219,1754,211,1789],"class_list":["post-41690","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business-of-therapy","category-entrepreneur","category-featured-articles","category-for-therapists","tag-psychotherapy-practice","tag-best-practices","tag-best-practices-for-therapists","tag-billing","tag-build-a-practice","tag-grow-a-practice","tag-practice-management","tag-private-practice","tag-psychotherapy-practice-management"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41690","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3168"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41690"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41690\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41690"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41690"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41690"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}