Lynn’s Picks: Helpful Resources for Your Practice Needs
We all need help with our practices from multiple sources. Here is a list of resources that I can suggest, many are not known to me first hand but passed on from others who were happy with the results. Please note: I offer no guarantees for any link or company listed and take no financial incentives from any companies. Have a resource you want me to add to the list? Just email me and let me know about your experience.
Printed materials (business cards, stationary, presentation packets), try:
Merchant accounts: With many ways to accept credit cards, do your homework. Look at the contracts offered. The fee range (usually between 2-5% per charge plus additional fees) can mount up quickly. Watch your bank account to see the total amount of fees that may be taken from your account each month as the card charges are settled. At the very least, read the contract before you sign. Don’t accept a contract with a time period or cancellation fees. Be cautious of bundled or tiered programs! To set up a merchant account and take credit cards, try these online, no equipment needed solutions:
therapypartner.com – TherapyPartner, like Quickbooks, is itself a merchant account and allows you to use its accounts to bill for cards too. This makes it easy but does present an extra layer of cost to you.
costco.com through elavon offers lowest rate contracts of 1.99% for costco members
www.psyfin.com — order the back issue from Feb 2010 issue and see the table comparing rates for card processors
paypal is very basic but fees are higher
square makes it simple, but also has higher rates
integritymerchantsolutions.com promises no hidden fees and has transparent “cost plus” fees (you see the true cost plus the actual added on small fee.) I use this agent: jerry@jerrywistrom.com
For scheduling, admin, billing, note taking and client management software, try:
Practicefusion.com easy to use, needs update for non-medical users, good for electronic billing
therapynotes.com for note taking, reminders, and more
simplepractice.com is helpful for integrated billing/credit card processing via Stripe, generate CMS1500 and superbill forms quickly, note taking and calendar.
timetrade.com to manage your calendar and set appointments online
fullslate.com to set appointments
officeally.com for a free software for electronic billing
macpractice.com is good for those who use a mac
A+Delphi gets good reviews for small practices for ease of billing
carepaths.com is another option for a complete system for practice management.
therapyappointment.com is a practice management system that goes month to month, without a contract.
insightnotes.com is a note-taking application for ipad users that gives you an encryoted and hipaa-compliant template that you can export as needed.
therascribe.com offers a full service approach to administrative needs.
Need more information? This blog posting: https://tameyourpractice.com/blog/cloud-practice-management-system-reviews offers analysis of all the software platforms and their pro and cons.
therapypartner.com ties all administrative processes together including scheduling, billing, automated/encrypted statements, progress notes, and complete revenue tracking.
www.practicesol.com is a high-touch cost-effective solution for the billing needs of solo and group counseling practices.
Virtual Assistance (admin from companies that do it all, from outside your office) contact:
avapowerup.com is a group of smart, professional admin assistants who can handle a lot of tasks for you on an hourly or part-time basis, depending on your needs.
For website design and hosting (DIY programs that are easy and fun and professional) try:
webpowertools.com (about $600) Easy to use and additional coaching available for those who need some virtual hand-holding.
therapysites.com Pay a monthly hosting fee of $59/month with no long-term contracts. They offer credit card processing, appointment requests, search engine optimization, all included.
squarespace.com New on the scene, squarespace makes it easy to get up and running with diy templates and monthly hosting for only $18/ or $26 if you want to sell product from your site.
Also see: wix.com and weebly.com for website building templates.
For designers who will create a site for you, try:
Allan Tellington at www.aatgraphics.com is creative and comes recommended by others
Another option to look at: aldebaranwebdesign.com
For helping writing your website copy or text, contact freelance writer: Kathleen Smith at kathleensmith.net
Jennifer Breslow specializes in sites for therapists at www.designfortherapists.com and does SEO.
Jo Cooper does mobile-friendly websites, helps with writing website text and can set you up with blogging and even blog posting. www.jocooperstudio.com
High end design by http://www.richtaylordesigns.com
Need a website template right now that is very low cost but requires some comfort with Internet templates?
Try godaddy.com (under $50.)
Even better website results: wordpress.com
Optimize your website with a company like:
Need help with the Insurance Maze?
Barbara Griswold, LMFT, has 2 decades of experience dealing successfully with insurance companies. Read her book, Navigating the Insurance Maze and see articles, forms, and other very helpful advice at her website: www.theinsurancemaze.com
Need a listing service beyond Psychology Today?
www.mytherapistmatch.com helps people to find the right therapist, using compatibility-based matching.
www.goodtherapy.org is another referral site for therapists that helps clients find you via the internet.
Want to produce good audio? Try
The Chill Sessions (thechillsessions.com) for low cost ways to produce audio and video, including scripts to use and training to improve your production quality.
Or download free Audacity software (http://audacity.sourceforge.net) and become your own recording studio.
Other helpful resources:
Surveys to assess your clients’ needs: surveymonkey.com
Set up a free conference call: freeconferencecall.com
Manage a marketing campaign: contactually.com
Branding, logo design, Google adwords, social media help from: http://innovatinglab.com
Need help conceptualizing a writing project? Try: Naomi Rose
See a long list of other possible software (record keeping, tracking, billing, report writing, research models, project tools, etc. used by psychologists here: http://www.psychology.org/links/Resources/Software/
Have suggestions to add to the list? Email: info@privatepracticesuccess.com