What are you worth? $50 per hour? $200 per hour?
How did you decide you are worth that much?
When I launched my counseling private practice in Traverse City, all the insurance panels were closed. Let me give you a flavor of the private practice environment in Traverse City:
We’re a small northern Michigan town.
We have around 90,000 people that live within the county and 200,000 within a 30-minute drive.
It’s a counselor-saturated area. We have three satellite graduate programs here in social work and counseling, meaning that every year we have 30-50 new clinicians joining the workforce.
The average private pay session goes for $80 and has not gone up since I moved back in 2009.
What an environment to start a private pay, private practice. But, Mental Wellness Counseling has nine counselors in the Traverse City office! Why do I start with this information?
Know Your Area
If you don’t know your area, it’s hard to know if you are charging enough. The going rate for private pay is only one factor to consider when determining your cost for sessions, but we’ll get to that.
“You aren’t charging enough!” is what I told the lady on the phone. We were chatting about her practice and the subject of fees came up. Counselors, more than most business folks fear being seen as money hungry. At the root, though, is a misunderstanding of what money is and how to run a business. I try not to insult my readers, so consider yourself warned.
It seems that most counselors that I talk, email, consult, befriend or just hang out with,have worked in a non-profit at some point in their career. They have seen life…real life. When you work at Community Mental Health, a reduced cost clinic, with kids in foster care or a residential program, you see a lot of things that make you thankful for simple things in life.
Being able to return home to your family, however it looks, to your home, however it looks, to a refrigerator, however it looks is often better than some of the clients with whom we’ve worked.
What often happens is that we think that we have to live in a such a way to align ourselves with hurting people.
Or maybe the flip side, if we become ultra-rich or even successful, we are somehow dismissing the experiences we have. We counselors fear losing ourselves in business. Somehow, our hearts might get ripped out and we’ll become big bankers talking about hedge funds more than people, if we make more money.
It’s not going to happen…
…unless you let it happen.
Money and Counseling
I went into counseling to help people. Having travelled to Haiti, Nepal, and numerous other developing countries, I have seen the tough lives that people live around the world and in our own country. Yet, I chose counseling, not social work, not community organizing, and not NGO work…counseling.
Why? I did it because I see the potential of the individual to make decisions that can affect an entire community, whether that community is their partner, kids, family, friends, town, state, nation or world. That is why I decided to be a counselor.
I say all of that to paint the backdrop of this discussion, so that you know my heart and where I come from as a counselor. There are counselors that are good at business, but not great at counseling and ones good at therapy but not business. I seek to have a balance in both areas.
Why Charge More?
Here are some reasons that you should consider charging more:
If you charge more, you can always give a discount. For example, I say to clients that if they are struggling with my going rate that I can offer a $30 discount. I don’t ask for taxes or income. I just ask that they pay the full amount when they can. Make sure this fits into your own code of ethics and if you’re on insurance panels, you want to make sure it aligns with your contracts.
With my newer 1099 contractors, their rate is typically lower. This does two things, it allows them to build a practice quicker, while also showing myself as the “expert” or premier counselor to see.
I can take on free or significantly reduced clients. For example, when I took Medicaid I was paid $53 per session. I don’t know what the rate is in our area now. Say I did three sessions. Of those three, there would usually be a no show that I could not bill for and at least an hour of phone/faxing to either get paid or get authorization to get paid eventually. So $159 for at least five hours of work. Or, I could see one client for $160 and see four for free.
When I raised my rates, I actually saw more growth. My rate increases also coincided with writing for the local paper and being on local radio, so there was an increase in the “perceived expert” status.
You can always lower your rates!
Plan for October
Every October, I raise my rates. Actually, I send an email about raising rates on January 1. The email looks like this:
Subject: Open Enrollment
Email Body:
Dear ________,
During the months of November and December, most people have open enrollment for their medical benefits including HSAs (Health Savings Accounts) and FSAs (Flexible Spending Accounts). Since you are probably discussing FSA and/or HSAs I wanted to let you know that there is a small rate changes that will be occurring so that you may elect to add an additional amount.
As you know, I have been able to keep your rate below what new clients pay. Currently, new clients are charged $195 per session. I have no intention of raising your rates to that amount. However, due to an increase in insurance rates and other factors, I would like to move your session rate to $180 on 1-1-17.
If this change will affect your ability as a family to receive services, please let me know. My primary goal is to offer quality services to help your family; that is why I went into counseling. Please let me know if this proposal seems reasonable. I look forward to continuing to work with you and your family!
Thanks!
Joe
Whether you are in counseling or some other business, try changing your rates. It will allow you to continue to grow and often will help you have more clients!