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Why you should consider accepting insurance

Understand the process of working with insurance to help you make the best decisions for your practice — and, just as importantly, for your clients.

November 26, 2024

4 min read

If you’re just starting out in the mental health field, or you’re currently a self-pay therapist, you may be considering whether it’s worthwhile to accept insurance. According to a survey conducted by Headway, most providers who choose to accept insurance do so with the heartfelt intention of offering affordable options to their patients. By treating clients who may not be able to opt for private-pay services, providers work to ensure that quality care remains accessible to all. That being said, it's important to be fully informed when making such an important decision about your practice — for you, and for your clients.

Below, learn more about accepting insurance as a therapist — and how Headway can make it easier for you to help more clients and grow your practice in the process.

Why you should accept insurance

Accepting insurance can make your work, and your clients’ lives, easier in a few important ways. 

You can build your client base more easily. 

People often search through their insurance provider’s network to find a therapist. Being credentialed through an insurance plan makes it easier for people to find you, which is a great way to start building your caseload if you’re a new therapist. Plus, after becoming a Headway provider, you can get credentialed and start seeing patients, typically within a matter of weeks.

Similarly, clients searching through therapist directories may also filter out potential clinicians who don’t work with their insurance plan, so if you’re not in network, you may never get to connect with people you could help. 

Insurance makes therapy more affordable.

One major reason to take the steps toward becoming credentialed with insurance providers is the ability to help more people, including those who may not be able to afford your self-pay rates. 

Wondering whether the process of working with insurance is a good idea for you? If you would like to grow your caseload or expand your practice to a wider range of clients, then accepting insurance could be a great avenue to make that happen.

You can cultivate more community partnerships.

As an in-network provider, you’ll also have more opportunities to build relationships with community partners who can refer potential clients to your practice. Medical clinics, schools, and even in-patient mental health facilities may be more likely to refer people to you if they know you accept insurance.

Practice in-network with confidence

Simplify insurance and save time on your entire workflow — from compliance and billing to credentialing and admin.

Talk to a practice consultant

What to know about accepting insurance

While there are some clear benefits to accepting insurance as a therapist, you may encounter some challenges in the process, too.

Credentialing is a complex and stressful process.

Billing insurance starts with a potentially lengthy process called credentialing, where insurance providers vet your background, your practice, and ultimately decide if they want to add you to their network of therapy providers. This process is sometimes burdensome and time-consuming. It can take months if you do it on your own, and even longer if you’re planning to get credentialed with multiple insurance providers. 

With Headway, we handle the tough parts of credentialing for you. As a Headway provider, you can start seeing clients and billing insurance as soon as possible (many Headway providers are credentialed — and up and running — within a few weeks), which saves you time and stress while ensuring people can get the mental health care they need ASAP.

Get credentialed with Headway

Billing can be time consuming.

Once you’re “in” with insurance companies, you’ll still have to spend administrative time working with the plans day to day. Submitting bills to insurance payers can take up valuable hours that could be spent helping more people in session. Plus, if you encounter snags with billing, you may have to log more hours figuring out how to get paid. 

The good news? Headway takes the stress out of the day-to-day billing process, so you can focus on what matters most to you in your practice. You can offload common administrative and billing work, ranging from benefits verification and claim submission to payment collection.

You might experience payment delays.

When you’re working independently with an insurance provider, you’ll have to adapt your business’ financial plan around unpredictable payment schedules. One company may pay you twice a month, while another may only deposit payments monthly. This process can take even more time if you or the insurance provider make a mistake in the claim process. Either way: Unpredictability with payment can be stressful, when you’d rather be focusing on helping clients. 

On the other hand, Headway offers twice-monthly payments for all sessions delivered during that time.

Practice in-network with confidence

Simplify insurance and save time on your entire workflow — from compliance and billing to credentialing and admin.

Talk to a practice consultant

This content is for general informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute clinical, legal, financial, or professional advice. All decisions should be made at the discretion of the individual or organization, in consultation with qualified clinical, legal, or other appropriate professionals.

© 2026 Therapymatch, Inc. dba Headway. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced without permission.

Starting a practice