Top 5 Paperwork Resources for Therapists
Oct 20, 2014
You became a therapist because you love helping people, not because you love paperwork!
Likewise, I got into quality improvement because I love helping therapists make their paperwork more manageable. Through my years of teaching therapists I’ve acquired a list of places I commonly go for answers, ideas, and inspiration. I’ve compiled five of them that will help you with starting out your practice and getting continued support:
While very similar, each discipline has their own ethical requirements for completing and maintaining records. These are basic guidelines for your profession and do not include state laws or HIPAA regulation. I recommend you start here because the principles are easily accessible and brief. Then, seek out laws specific to your state or recommendations from your state’s licensing board or professional association. HIPAA is a whole other deal… I’d encourage you to check out Zur Institute’s online courses specific to HIPAA if you want that information specifically.
•Private Practice Paperwork Crash Course
Yes, I’m going to toot my own horn for just a minute. I created a crash course on clinical documentation. In a series of videos sent out over a one week period you’ll learn tips on administrative forms, writing assessments, treatment plans, progress notes and billing to insurance. My goal with this mini course is not to give you forms to copy. Rather, I want to help you gain the mindset and skills to write quality documentation that’s less time-consuming and makes you feel confident for years to come!
This book has a ton of sample forms and a very affordable price tag! It is very detailed but don’t let that scare you. Use the forms as a starting point and pick and choose what you like. They are based mostly on insurance billing so if you have a private pay practice you can overlook a lot of the details.
•Private Practice from the Inside Out
Tamara Suttle provides a multitude of practice resources on her website. She has an extensive blog where she frequently highlights experts in specific areas. This includes articles related to client records, HIPAA, insurance and other topics. She’s also super friendly and responds to comments and questions on blog posts with record timing!
•Zynnyme’s Insurance Outsourcing Video
If you decide insurance billing is for you then one of the most important things you can do is outsource your billing to an expert. It only takes one problem claim to eat up 10 hours of your time and a large chunk of your profit. Check out this blog interview posted by Kelly and Miranda from Zynnyme where they interview Tiffany, owner of a medical billing company so you can see what it’s all about.
I hope you find these resources helpful. There are lots more out there but I think these are some of the best. What other resources do you use? Leave a comment below so we can continue building our resource lists!
