About
Hi. Hello.
Simplify is a niche subscription-based billing service that helps Massachusetts-based solo and private group mental health practices get paid and navigate the confounding horrors of insurance billing and contracting.
We focus on small, community- and regionally-focused providers that want to stay in-network so they can remain accessible to everyone and anyone.
How did we get here?
Simplify Therapy Billing & Practice Management LLC was founded by me, Julia Martin, in 2021 because (1) I discovered quite by accident that I was good at it, (2) I needed a way to support my family that didn’t involve a $300/mo 75min-one-way daily commute to/from Boston following a glorious year of working from home in sweatpants, and (3) I strongly believe in the value of mental health to save lives and build a safer/healthier society for all.
Once I realized there was a growing need for my specific set of executive functioning skills and that meeting that need would allow me to more fully parent my two young children…well, it was an easy decision to make. I launched my business with the starry eyed enthusiasm and dewy complexion of all young and impressionable newcomers to the independent mental health field.
What I have witnessed since then is an enraging, overly complicated system whose traps and triggers routinely keep caseloads low, waitlists long, and provider income irregular and unsustainable.
The American healthcare system is a notoriously (some might say nefariously) complex, administratively burdensome, and contractually terrifying for-profit network where corporations make money from denying or delaying claims until providers give up or accept less just to get anything at all.
Unfortunately many clinicians are not trained in contract review/negotiation or revenue cycle management as part of their licensure training which leaves them unprepared for and vulnerable to the shockingly dismal reality of making a living as a solo provider.
The results for private practice mental health is a losing cycle of incorrect or conflicting contracting, unappealable denials, unrecoverable income, unreliable reporting/forecasting, unrealistic expectations, and ultimately practices close or leave networks to become private pay only.
Clinicians narrow their clientele to those that can pay in order to make ends meet or only accept the highest-paying, commercial-only insurance payers.
Ultimately, the most vulnerable among us with the most complicated care and the highest need lose access because providers have been administratively beaten out of the network just to survive.
Meanwhile…healthcare CEOs and shareholders keep profits from all those denied claims and unused premium dollars.
Doesn’t seem fair.
And it’s been frankly infuriating to watch.
So I’ve redesigned Simplify TBPM to step in and break this unfair cycle.
Because this isn’t just a billing problem—it’s a societal problem. If clinicians can’t sustain their practices, access to care drops and those who need it most, go without.
In Massachusetts we have some of the best access to healthcare in the country and some of the country’s best graduate programs in social work and counseling. This should be a winning combination for everybody (professionals needing work and people needing care) yet time and again the arbitrary red tape of a capitalized healthcare system keeps practices from thriving.
Over the past five years, I’ve helped solo providers start from scratch and grow into functioning practices. I’ve worked with group practices to correct contracting issues, rebuild revenue cycles, and get billing back on track after it’s been destroyed from improper contracting and unclean billing practices.
The practices that succeed don’t necessarily work harder or are better clinicians—but together we work to build a better revenue cycle structure that is flexible enough to withstand the bullshit that comes our way and stable enough to support a thriving practice.
Clear workflows. Clean billing. Accurate reporting. Systems that actually make sense.
And it works.
My clients that have worked with me from the start of their practice through now have average denial/rejection rates of 1-3% when the industry average is 5-15%.
Why?
Because I am determined that we send our claims out clean the first time and get them paid out faster. We ensure this by including verification of benefits and eligibility for all patients in our billing services. New patients, returning patients, patients with updated coverage, prospective patients… we will check their benefits in advance to ensure the highest possibility of a clean claim from the very beginning of services.
Because we know the payers for Massachusetts and Ohio inside and out including the carve-outs, mergers, the payer IDs, the tricks they pull, the dust they kick up, and how to navigate/argue clawbacks (because it’s not a matter of if, but a matter of when). We know the most common denial codes, the proper modifiers, the timely filing windows, appeal windows, and prior authorization requirements for our specific niche areas:
Outpatient mental health
Outpatient medication management (E&M w/add-on therapy)
Psychological & neuropsychological testing
Because we know there is no shortage of demand for mental health care and, in Massachusetts in particular, there is no shortage of decent payers, and a number of clinicians trying to get contracted and paid a living wage so they can see those who need it.
Because we understand that the true problem is the system that is (not) helping the supply stay around to meet the demand.
Because we want to work with you to build a practice that can last and make a difference for the populations and specialties you wish to serve. We want to step in and fill the revenue cycle gap so you can focus on treating your patients and growing your practice.