Mental health medical billing: run your own billing without joining a network
Independent mental health practices have a fork in front of them. Networks like Headway, Alma, and Grow Therapy will take the billing off your desk, but they hold the payer contract and take a cut of every session, which quietly turns the practice owner into a subcontractor on their own patients. The alternative is to keep your own contracts and rates and have the billing run for you. That is what Altair does.
The billing itself fails in specific, avoidable ways. The longer therapy session pays more but is reviewed harder, so a note that does not record the time gets downcoded to a shorter one. Couples and family sessions deny when the diagnosis on the claim is not the covered condition that justifies them. Authorizations lapse mid-treatment. Behavioral benefits are often carved out to a separate administrator, so coverage and authorization have to be checked with them, not the plan on the card, and getting that wrong stalls payment. None of it is hard to get right, and all of it costs money when there is no biller watching.
Altair is the done-for-you billing service, run by AI, backed by our expert in-house billers, on your contracts, not a network's. We verify benefits, submit the claims, and work the denials and appeals.
For the code-by-code detail on any mental health service, see the behavioral health billing reference.
Talk to us, and we will show you what your practice is losing to downcodes and denied sessions.
Common questions
How is Altair different from Headway or Alma?
Those networks bill for you but hold the payer contract and take a share of each session. Altair runs your billing on your own contracts and rates, so you keep the payer relationship and the full reimbursement, and just hand off the work.
Why does my longer therapy session keep getting downcoded?
The longer session pays more and gets reviewed harder. If the note does not clearly record the time spent, payers drop it to the shorter code and claw back the difference. The fix is documentation, not a different code.
Can Altair bill for a solo practice with no biller?
Yes. Altair is the done-for-you billing service for independent practices with no billing team, run by AI, backed by our expert in-house billers. We verify benefits, run submission and appeals, and track each payer's policies.
Sources: CMS behavioral health billing and telehealth guidance; CPT psychotherapy time-based code definitions; payer behavioral-health medical-necessity policies.