WP 87 | Thrive & Bill: Using Thrizer to Master Out-of-Network Billing with Sanjana Sathya
Master Out-of-Network Billing with Thrizer: Insights from Sanjana Sathya
Introduction
Welcome to another episode of the Wise Practice Podcast! I'm Whitney Owens, your host, and I'm dedicated to helping you grow your faith-based practice and enjoy your life outside of work. Today, we're diving into a crucial topic for cash pay practices: mastering out-of-network billing. Our guest, Sanjana Sathya, co-founder of Thrizer, shares how their innovative platform transforms how therapists handle billing.
The Importance of Feedback
Before we dive into today's interview, thank you all for your incredible support. Your feedback means the world to me. It helps me tailor the content to your needs and ensures I provide the most valuable information possible. Please keep those reviews coming on iTunes and send your suggestions directly to me at Whitney@WisePracticeConsulting.com.
Introduction to Thrizer
Today, we have Sanjana Sathya from Thrizer, a company revolutionizing out-of-network billing for therapists. Thrizer aims to simplify the billing process, making therapy more accessible for clients and ensuring therapists receive the full rate they deserve. Sanjana shares her personal journey and how it led her to co-found Thrizer.
Sanjana's Personal Journey
Sanjana's passion for mental health advocacy stems from her own experiences. Growing up in a supportive yet not fully informed environment about mental health, she faced challenges that many can relate to. Her professional background in healthcare and her personal therapy journey led her to Thrizer, where she now works to make therapy more affordable and accessible.
Challenges in Mental Health Access
One of the significant barriers to mental health care is the financial burden. Sanjana highlights how out-of-network benefits can alleviate this burden but acknowledges the complexities involved in accessing these benefits. Thrizer's mission is to streamline this process, ensuring clients can afford therapy while therapists receive timely payments.
How Thrizer Works
Thrizer offers a payment platform similar to Stripe or Square but designed specifically for therapists. Here's how it works:
Payment and Claim Submission: When a therapist charges a client, Thrizer automatically submits an out-of-network claim, eliminating the need for super bills and follow-ups with insurance companies.
Managing Claims: Thrizer handles all interactions with insurance companies, from submitting claims to managing denials, ensuring therapists and clients don’t have to navigate this complex process.
Client Payments: Clients can pay their co-insurance after meeting their deductible, while Thrizer covers the remaining fee and is waiting for reimbursement from the insurance company. This reduces the financial burden on clients and ensures therapists are paid upfront.
Benefits for Therapists and Clients
Thrizer's platform benefits both therapists and clients by:
Simplifying Billing: Therapists can focus on providing care without worrying about insurance paperwork.
Reducing Financial Stress: Clients can afford therapy without the cash flow burden of paying out-of-pocket and waiting for reimbursement.
Increasing Accessibility: More clients can access high-quality therapy, and therapists can attract more private pay clients.
Free Trial Offer
For listeners of the Wise Practice Podcast, Thrizer is offering a fantastic deal: the first $2,500 in payments free of credit card fees. Use the wisepractice code when signing up to take advantage of this offer. This is a great opportunity to experience Thrizer's benefits firsthand.
Conclusion
Sanjana's insights into Thrizer provide a clear picture of how their platform can revolutionize out-of-network billing for therapists. By simplifying the process, Thrizer ensures therapists can focus on what they do best—providing excellent care—while clients can access affordable therapy without financial stress.
Get Started with Thrizer
Ready to simplify your billing process? Visit the show notes for the link to get started with Thrizer and use the code Wise Practice for your free trial. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to Sanjana directly at Sanjana@Thrizer.com.
Final Thoughts
Thank you for tuning in to this episode of the Wise Practice Podcast. Your journey to a successful and fulfilling faith-based practice is important to us. Stay tuned for more insights and practical steps in our upcoming episodes. Remember, you can have a thriving practice, a strong faith, and a fulfilling life outside of work.
Join Our Mastermind Groups
If you're looking to grow your solo practice or hire your first therapist, consider joining our mastermind groups starting in July. These groups offer tailored support to help you achieve your goals. Visit Wise Practice Consulting for more information and to apply.
Guest Resources
Try Thrizer for free with this link or code wisepractice and receive waived credit card fees for your first $2500 in charges. Transform out-of-network therapy into an in-network experience for your clients. Use Thrizer to instantly verify your clients' OON benefits, automatically submit claims for them, and allow them just to pay their co-insurance for sessions. All while you earn your full rate upfront.
Instagram: @thrizer.app
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thrizer
Links and Resources
Looking for support and connection? Join the Wise Practice Community
Learn More about Whitney Owens Consulting
Connect with Whitney Ownes on Instagram
Connect with Whitney Ownes on Facebook
Check the podcasts on the PsychCraft Network: PsychCraftnetwork.com
Podcast Production and Show Notes by Course Creation Studio.
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Thrive & Bill: Using Thrizer to Master Out-of-Network Billing with Sanjana Sathya
[00:00:00] Whitney Owens:
[00:00:03] Whitney Owens: Hi, I'm Whitney Owens. I'm a group practice owner and faith based practice consultant. And I'm here to tell you that you can have it all. Want to grow your practice? Want to grow your faith? Want to enjoy your life outside of work?
[00:00:16] Whitney Owens: You've come to the right place. Each week on the Wise Practice Podcast, I will give you the action steps to have a successful faith based practice while also having a good time. Now let's get started.
[00:00:31] Whitney Owens: Hello, and welcome back to the wise practice podcast. I'm so glad that you're here and that you take the time to listen to me and the interviews that I bring to the table. It means a lot. In fact, not too long ago. I was in my last practice membership meeting and chatting about the podcast and several of you've said that I was a part of your lifestyle waking up in the morning, having a cup of coffee and listening to my voice.
[00:00:54] Whitney Owens: That just meant the world to me. And it means so much when you share with me what the podcast means to you, what you want to hear more of, maybe guests that you want on the show. So please provide that feedback. Shoot me an email, Whitney and wise practice consulting. com or go to iTunes and rate and review the show.
[00:01:11] Whitney Owens: I go in and I read those reviews. They mean a lot to me. So take just a second, write me a sentence or two. Let me know what it means to you. And it helps other faith based practice owners. Learn more about the wise practice community. So I appreciate that from each of you. This episode today, I interviewed, um, someone from Thryser and Thryser is a company that helps with that out of network billing, which is specifically helpful for the cash pay practice.
[00:01:37] Whitney Owens: Y'all, they gave an amazing offer and yeah, I could say to you, wait till the end of the show and I'll tell it to you, but I'm going to tell it to you now, because I was like, dang, this is so generous. So. You will learn a lot more about thrizer by listening to the episode, but they did provide me a link in the code wise practice.
[00:01:55] Whitney Owens: So if you use the link that's in the show notes and the code wise practice, and you become a new customer of thrizer, you are going to be waived the credit card fees for your first 2, 500 in charges. That's right. 2, 500 in charges. That is money in your pocket. So make sure you use that link. Wise practice so that you can gain those benefits.
[00:02:20] Whitney Owens: I also have that information on my website, wisepracticeconsulting. com slash. I think it's practice resources. If you just go to the top menu and hit practice resources, you'll find thrizer and a bunch of other companies that I love working with. So make sure you do that. And then just to shout out real quick, we do still have some room in our mastermind groups.
[00:02:41] Whitney Owens: If you're interested as a solo practice center and growing your practice, increasing your caseload, automating things to make it easier for you, we have a mastermind that's for you. And then I also have a mastermind for those that are looking to start a group practice, because these are things that you want an expert ahead of you to be able to tell you how to do now, if you're listening and you're thinking Yeah, Whitney.
[00:03:02] Whitney Owens: I'm not really sure. Just head to the website and check out more about the group. We do offer free consult calls just to make sure that you're a good fit for the group. So that's wise practice, consulting. com slash masterminds. All the time people ask me, Whitney, how did you get to where you are? And the truth is I got a lot of coaching, a lot of coaching.
[00:03:22] Whitney Owens: And in fact, I was in a mastermind for two full years. That's how I started my own group practice. And then I started my group practice. I stopped coaching for a little bit. And then I did coaching again, as my group practice was growing, because I had a lot to learn about leadership and systems and automations.
[00:03:38] Whitney Owens: Coaching can really take your practice to the next level. So if you're thinking about it. You will make more money because of it. Like you will look back and be like, wow, I make it three to four times that I made only because I did this coaching program and it will make a big difference. Um, in fact, when I was at a conference last week, I was at meet you in Kentucky and one of the girls that I helped her start her group practice, she was there.
[00:04:03] Whitney Owens: Um, so I'm going to give a shout out. That's Nikki Winchester. She's awesome. And she has a dbt special. Specialized group practice, she reached out to me for individual consulting, and we always touch base at this event. And the last practice some, it's always good to hear from her. And then I get updates on her practice.
[00:04:19] Whitney Owens: And so her practice hit the 1, 000, 000 dollar mark and I was like, wow, like, you were a solo practice owner when I first met you. And now you've got. I don't know. It was like seven or nine therapists in her practice and doing over a million dollars. And y'all, the money is great. Of course, think about all the clients that she's serving because of that.
[00:04:37] Whitney Owens: There was another practice owner there that now has two locations for her group practice. And I met her when she was starting her group practice and coached her to her first two to four therapists, I believe. Um, so it's really cool to, to look at that and say, Hey, this was where it started. You know, and I think we all kind of have those stories and I look back at my own journey and I'm like, wow, I remember when I was just me, you know, and now I'm at this large practice and it's because I made the investment, energy, money, all the things.
[00:05:11] Whitney Owens: Somebody was telling me the other day now, I wish I could remember who it was. It's Oh, yes, it was. This was David Frank actually at the conference. I was just at it, meet you in Kentucky. We were talking about, he's the owner of turning point financial, which is a summit sponsor this year. We were talking about things in life that we think we want to do, and then we don't do them and then we finally do them and we think to ourselves, why didn't I do that sooner?
[00:05:35] Whitney Owens: You don't want to look back on that and be like, you know, I could have grown my practice and I just wasn't really sure or I was scared or, you know, the money and all these things. And then I think to myself, what if I hadn't done it? What if I hadn't joined that first mastermind group? I maybe wouldn't have never started a group practice.
[00:05:52] Whitney Owens: I maybe never would do coaching. I maybe never would have had a podcast or known you. So I want you to be thinking about that. What is it that you need to have the practice of your dreams? And really more importantly, to do the calling that God's put in your heart. And that's the whole purpose behind wise practice consulting is to help you do just that.
[00:06:12] Whitney Owens: I love this community and I love helping faith based practice centers. That's what we're here for. All right, I will get off my soap box because I love it and I get emotional about it. And, uh, I am also very excited about this episode. When I got done with this interview, I was like, wow, I love this company.
[00:06:28] Whitney Owens: So I'm looking forward to sharing more about the riser with you guys. And so here we are at episode number 87 and make sure you check out that link again in the show notes to get the 2, 500 off the credit card fees. But today we're going to talk about how to thrive and bill using the riser to master your out of network billing.
[00:07:07] Whitney Owens: Hello friends and welcome back to the last practice podcast. Looking forward to my interview today with Sanjana. She is from Frizer. She is the co founder and she's passionate about helping people access quality and affordable mental health care. Frizer help hopes to create a win win for clients and therapists.
[00:07:27] Whitney Owens: The mission is to build a system that helps clients pay less for therapy, all while therapists earn the full rate that they deserve. Sanjana is a long time therapy goer herself, and credits her own mental health journey and the role therapy has played in her life in bringing her to the riser. Outside of her work, she has the three F's.
[00:07:48] Whitney Owens: Food fitness and family and friends to keep her sane. Thanks for coming on the show. Thank you so much for having me, Whitney. Wonderful. Well, I know today we're going to kind of talk about your own journey, um, as your personal life and mental health, and then we're going to kind of get into the riser and how you co founded it, what it's all about and how you're helping therapists.
[00:08:07] Whitney Owens: So why don't we just go ahead and get started and you kind of share with us a little about yourself and your journey.
[00:08:12] Sanjana Sathya: Yeah, absolutely. Thank you so much for having me on. Uh, I'm Sanjana. I am based in San Francisco. I've pretty much grown up here, uh, for my whole life, uh, except I kind of did move around a bit in childhood.
[00:08:25] Sanjana Sathya: I feel like that really shaped me as a person as well across, you know, various parts of the U. S., but also in India. Um, so definitely a big part of my journey. Um, I have kind of been in health care for a while. So I think that, you know, I've, I worked at Genentech, uh, doing some marketing pricing work there.
[00:08:43] Sanjana Sathya: Um, I also was at One Medical, uh, helping kind of advance quality primary care. Um, and I think the, you know, my professional journey kind of merged with my personal journey. You know, I'm a very strong mental health advocate for, you know, Folks and myself, um, you know, longtime therapy goer. And so when Thryser kind of came into the picture, it felt like the perfect kind of blend between my professional journey in healthcare, but also my personal passion for mental health.
[00:09:09] Sanjana Sathya: Um, and so, yeah, it's been a great ride at Thryser. I've been here for around five to six months now, so not too long, but it's been, it's been a wild ride. So excited to, to have that be a part of my, uh, process in life.
[00:09:23] Whitney Owens: Yeah, that's, that's wonderful. So was mental health on your radar before you kind of had a personal encounter with it?
[00:09:29] Whitney Owens: Or is it something that kind of came up because it kind of bit you in the butt or got in your face
[00:09:35] Sanjana Sathya: a little bit of both? I would say, um, as a child, like I always found psychology very interesting. So I would read a lot of just books around and like a lot of Ted talks around it. Um, but then honestly, I think the big part of it was my own personal journey.
[00:09:48] Sanjana Sathya: I kind of had this crash and burn moment that I think a lot of people have. Um, and that brought up just a lot of things from my childhood that I hadn't really resolved or dealt with. Um, and so I think that's where I took more of kind of like a, you know, uh, fine tooth comb through mental health of really just using myself as a case study, figuring out what's working for me, what's not working for me.
[00:10:08] Sanjana Sathya: Um, and then from there really became my, my advocacy work. So a lot of just, you know, making sure that, you know, folks who are curious about therapy learn about it from my own experience. Um, and just, you know, finding other ways to, to help myself and my friends. So that's kind of how, uh, the whole thing started.
[00:10:27] Whitney Owens: Yeah, yeah, definitely. So when you're thinking back, and you started seeing those challenges that mental health was bringing to people or access to services, I should say, what were some of the challenges that you were finding that made you kind of get into this field?
[00:10:43] Sanjana Sathya: Yeah. Um, I think a big part of it is, um, A few things.
[00:10:48] Sanjana Sathya: One, I think, is that, uh, it's gotten better over the years. I think all of us can acknowledge that the stigma is going down, right? So I think my generation, like, we are definitely more willing to talk about it. Um, but there was a bit of that stigma, to be honest, because my family, right, like, um, South Asian family, we didn't really talk about mental health that much.
[00:11:09] Sanjana Sathya: Um, I had very supportive parents, right? They definitely were there for me. Um, they listened to me. You know, listen to all my struggles and all that, but they never actually, like, connected the pieces to say, hey, like, Maybe this is anxiety, right? Like maybe this is where this is heading. Maybe this is how we should support her.
[00:11:27] Sanjana Sathya: Maybe this is how, you know, we should talk about it. Um, and so I think there was a little bit of lack of education and just maybe a little bit of that stigma. But then once I did kind of cross over that hurdle and start going to therapy, um, I did start being, Being very honest about my therapy journey, right?
[00:11:44] Sanjana Sathya: I did say, Hey, like, here's how it's helping me. Um, so that became great. But I think after that, honestly, that's where it's kind of comes into the risers territory of paying for therapy. And so when I was kind of in the height of everything, I was going to weekly therapy. I was seeing an out of network therapist because I found her to be a great fit for me.
[00:12:03] Sanjana Sathya: Um, that kind of paying 150 every week, week after week after week. When I didn't know about, you know, out of network benefits and other financial resources that exist, it became kind of a financial burden and it's, you know, as much as it was helping me, I feel like what ended up happening was after each session.
[00:12:21] Sanjana Sathya: It was, hey, do I want to pay another 150 dollars? Right? It became that checkpoint after every session and that just added a lot of financial burden and just, you know, a little bit of guilt of, hey, do I need therapy? Do I really want to do this? Right? And so there was a little bit of that. Um, so those are kind of just the early signs of, hey, like, you know, therapy should be something that if people want, they should be able to afford it, right?
[00:12:44] Sanjana Sathya: It's, it's really, they're supporting themselves holistically. Um, it should be more accessible. And so I think that's where my personal journey also led me to thrizer where it's like, let's try to fix this thing, right? Let's try to make it easier, not just for clients, but also in a way that supports therapists.
[00:13:00] Sanjana Sathya: Um, because, you know, we need them to take care of themselves before we can, you know, kind of have, have them take care of us. Uh, so that's kind of how that, that whole thing went,
[00:13:10] Whitney Owens: I, I'm just listening to everything you're saying. And I totally agree. Like it does become difficult and you do have to really think about your sessions and what you put your money into.
[00:13:18] Whitney Owens: And, and it's true. So, I mean, there's obviously lots of great therapists that take insurance, but there's a lot of great therapists that don't, you know, and, and you, and once you find that fit, it is so vital, you know, that you keep with it because it's hard to find the best fit therapist for you. So I can see how that was a struggle.
[00:13:36] Sanjana Sathya: Absolutely. And I think a big part of it also was, um, if you think about how clients find their therapist, right? Even that is another, a whole bunch of different services and organizations kind of fixing that problem, right? How do you find the right therapist for yourself? And for me, like, I was overwhelmed enough, right?
[00:13:52] Sanjana Sathya: I was like, Hey, I just want to start therapy tomorrow. Right? Um, and so I kind of asked, um, a friend and I was like, Hey, like, and she had been honest about her therapist and how she really had been supporting her. So it was honestly a referral. Right? So it was like, I didn't even want to go through the whole psychology today or like directory and all that.
[00:14:10] Sanjana Sathya: It was just too stressful for me. And so it was a personal, you know, referral. Um, I had a. Couple sessions with her. I really enjoyed it. And I was like, I think I'm going to stick with her. Right? And so that's probably a lot of how the journey looks. And if it ends up being, like, you said, a private paid therapist, um, it's a shame to be like, I can't afford this.
[00:14:29] Sanjana Sathya: I don't want to, you know, not to go through my directory or insurance to find an in network therapist. Um, and so that can be a little stressful.
[00:14:37] Whitney Owens: Yeah, and at least this moment, you know, we're recording here at the beginning of May, but. Uh, it is such a wait list right now everywhere, you know, and so I even think especially for in network providers, getting even harder to get in.
[00:14:50] Whitney Owens: And so sometimes out of network is really the only option that somebody might have exactly
[00:14:55] Sanjana Sathya: 100%.
[00:14:56] Whitney Owens: Yeah. Okay. So can you share a little bit about how did you start the riser and I want to hear the origin story. Okay.
[00:15:04] Sanjana Sathya: Yeah, um, as much as I would love to credit myself, my wonderful co founder, um, Ronak is the one who started thrizers, uh, two years ago.
[00:15:11] Sanjana Sathya: So February, 2022 is when we launched. Um, and a lot of the stuff that you're hearing me say is very similar to his experience. So he also long time therapist got very frustrated with needing to deal with super bills, submitting super bills, never in here, never hearing back. And he was going to frequent therapy.
[00:15:30] Sanjana Sathya: Um, and he was like, there has to be a better way. And so that's kind of where thryser started. Um, we, you know, met through mutual friends and that's how, you know, my personal passion and his whole journey kind of collided. We were, you know, very honest about our own mental health journeys with each other, which I think is what brought us closer together.
[00:15:49] Sanjana Sathya: And then ultimately, Um, you know, uh, both of us expressed interest that it would be great for me to join full time. And so Thryser, I would, I like to say is kind of founded and run by two long time therapy goers. Um, that's kind of, you know, outside of everything else, that's what we're really passionate and, and very honest and vulnerable about, right?
[00:16:09] Sanjana Sathya: Like telling people that we still go to therapy. It's a huge part of our life. Um, and, uh, you know, that's where we have so much gratitude for therapists and we're really building this tool as a way to help both therapists and clients better access therapy.
[00:16:24] Whitney Owens: Yeah. Well, the best ideas come from the need.
[00:16:27] Whitney Owens: Right. We see a need and we, and we meet that need. Usually it's a need within us. Absolutely. Um, that's great. Okay. So let's talk more about the company. What, what is Thryser?
[00:16:37] Sanjana Sathya: Yeah, absolutely. So Thryser is a platform, uh, created to kind of make therapy work for everyone. Right. Like kind of alluded to that, make it a win win for both clients and therapists.
[00:16:48] Sanjana Sathya: And the way we do that is through out of network benefits. So out of network benefits, you know, we're, we're, we're For those of you who don't know what that is, or, you know, where we can access it, um, it's in many insurance plans that clients have, um, so even if they don't see an in network provider or, uh, you know, a therapist that doesn't accept insurance, they may have these out of network benefits that can reimburse them, you know, 50 percent or more of their therapy sessions, um, so what they have to do is kind of submit a super bill, wait for that, uh, reimbursement check in the mail, right, um, after they see a therapist, so, um, Thryser tries to make this whole process easier.
[00:17:25] Sanjana Sathya: So the way that we do it is, um, we have a payment platform that therapists can use. So it's similar to kind of like a stripe or a square for them. And what they do is that every time a therapist charges a client for a session, Um, and out of network claim is automatically submitted. So there's no need to kind of request a super bill, submit that super bill, navigate that whole insurance phase of what to do.
[00:17:48] Sanjana Sathya: And we manage those claims end to end. So if there are any additional information, um, or, you know, claim denial or any of that, we're on the phone with insurance so that you, you know, or the clients don't need to get involved. And so that's already kind of like a win win situation where, you know, therapists don't have to worry about all the insurance stuff because The reason you went out of network is so that you don't have to deal with insurance, right?
[00:18:11] Sanjana Sathya: Um, and the clients also don't know where to start and they're, they're very, you know, it's, it's a big enough barrier for folks to be like, I don't want to even deal with this, right? So they either end up paying out of pocket and not submitting super bills and then eventually stopping therapy because of the financial burden.
[00:18:26] Sanjana Sathya: So we're really trying to take away all those friction points, but we really want to take it even a step further. And our mission is to make. Out of network therapy feel like in network therapy for clients, and the way that we do that is by allowing them to just pay their co insurance for sessions after they meet their deductible, while we float the rest of the therapist's fees and wait for reimbursement on their behalf.
[00:18:50] Sanjana Sathya: So that's kind of the, the game changing or, you know, we're trying to reimagine how out of network therapy can even feel right. So, um, instead of paying 150, 150, 150, and you're down 600 at the end of the month, and you're waiting for that check, and it's still, you know, a few weeks away. That can be a lot of cash flow burden on the client.
[00:19:09] Sanjana Sathya: So here they just pay their co insurance, which is similar to an in network co pay. Um, and we wait for reimbursement so that, you know, they're not left waiting, but we also make sure that the therapist gets paid up front as well. Because, you know, again, that's the whole reason that you went out of network.
[00:19:24] Sanjana Sathya: So you don't have to deal with waiting for reimbursement. So that's kind of how we work.
[00:19:30] Whitney Owens: Well, you sound too good to be true.
[00:19:33] Sanjana Sathya: We get that all the time. All the time.
[00:19:36] Whitney Owens: Okay. I, I wanna say what , I wanna make sure I understand. I'm gonna say back to you what I just heard you tell me. Yes. Just so that we are all on the same page.
[00:19:44] Whitney Owens: So I have a client that comes in. They've already met their out-of-network deductible. They have a $40 copay. They pay me $40 when they come in for the session. Mm-Hmm. , I bill $200. Mm-Hmm. . Th thriver right at after the session. And then that's all I have to do. And then y'all just wait on me
[00:20:09] Sanjana Sathya: for you. Or benefits.
[00:20:10] Sanjana Sathya: Yeah, yeah, exactly. So in your example, wow. So if they pay a four, if their co-insurance is $40, we cover the rest of the one 60 for you. You get that in weekly payments every Friday, you know, in bulk for all the sessions that you bill that week. And we wait for reimbursement. So you receive it weekly. The client just pays a copay and we're the ones kind of managing all the risk.
[00:20:33] Whitney Owens: Wow. Well, that's really great. Um, so who's checking benefits for clients, the provider or authorizer?
[00:20:40] Sanjana Sathya: Yeah. So we have that too. So we have, um, an instant benefits calculator. So it's, we actually offer it to therapists for free. So it's in their portal and you know, they just have to plug in their insurance, their client's insurance.
[00:20:51] Sanjana Sathya: They have prospects who are curious during intake calls. You know, if they have those benefits, you'd be able to plug it into that calculator. Um, if you don't want to deal with that at all, even when clients sign up. They can plug in their insurance and also check their benefits. So checking benefits completely free with riser.
[00:21:08] Sanjana Sathya: Um, and even the fees, right? And I know you were asking earlier, Whitney, like what? This seems too good to be true. We are honestly as simple as it gets, right? It's for, for a therapist. It should feel like a stripe. It should feel very similar to just charging your clients. That's literally all you're doing after sessions, right?
[00:21:26] Sanjana Sathya: Um, and then from the client's perspective, it should feel like they're just paying for sessions. And that's all all there is to it, right? And we handle everything else in the back end. So therapists would just pay a flat 3 percent credit card fee, which should be similar to simple practice or, you know, stripe or any of that.
[00:21:44] Sanjana Sathya: Um, so just a flat 3%. There's no monthly contracts or fees or any of that. Um, and the client, uh, I know we were talking about kind of the pre deductible and post deductible world. There's kind of a benefit to even billing those who are needing their deductible, because we manage those claims and submit it towards their deductible completely for free.
[00:22:03] Sanjana Sathya: So, you know, when you're charging them, the claims are going to insurance. Um, they're chipping away at that deductible and they don't pay any fees for that. And so the only fees they really pay is in the post deductible world. If they want to just pay their coinsurance, they pay a 5 percent fee of the therapist rate.
[00:22:19] Sanjana Sathya: Um, and we also actually have the option for clients to pay you in full and wait for reimbursement. We would still manage that claim end to end, and that's actually also a free option for clients. So they have two kind of pick and choose. Do you want to pay the 5 percent and not deal with, you know, reimbursement?
[00:22:35] Sanjana Sathya: Or do you want to just, you know, pay for your sessions as normal and get that reimbursement via direct deposit in a couple weeks?
[00:22:42] Whitney Owens: Yeah. Okay. So there's a separate platform that the therapist uses to build the client. Is that true? So like, if somebody had simple practice, they would still do their notes and simple practice, and then they would charge through the risers platform.
[00:22:55] Sanjana Sathya: Correct. Yes. At this point, it's a standalone app. We definitely, um, you know, our long term vision is to integrate within existing HRs. Um, we'd love to kind of be able to do that to make it even easier for, for practices to do their billing. But at this point, yeah, we're a web application that's kind of standalone from simple practice.
[00:23:12] Sanjana Sathya: So, you know, folks still use simple practice for notes and everything else and just build through thrizer.
[00:23:18] Whitney Owens: Okay, great. And then when you go in and build, you have to put in a diagnostic code or other information or how does that work?
[00:23:26] Sanjana Sathya: Yeah. Yeah. So there's usually just an onboarding process. So we do all of this when you onboard a new client.
[00:23:31] Sanjana Sathya: So what that entails is a diagnosis code. Um, what do you typically see them for? So individual psychotherapy, 45 minutes or couples therapy, 60 minutes, whatever it might be. Um, you plug that in. We generate the CPT code for you, or you can plug in the CPT code. If you know that off the top of your head. Um, and that's it.
[00:23:48] Sanjana Sathya: And the client just plugs in their insurance and their payment method. And so that's pretty, pretty much what that onboarding looks like.
[00:23:56] Whitney Owens: Great. Now I'm going to share with you a story of a client that I had recently. I want to hear what you would have told me to do.
[00:24:02] Sanjana Sathya: Yeah, of
[00:24:02] Whitney Owens: course. And I'm laughing because it's so silly what the insurance company said to her.
[00:24:06] Whitney Owens: So this client had been seeing me for years. And so now she's diagnosed the V code because she really doesn't meet criteria, right? For, um, Um, so anyway, she asked me for super bills and I said, sure, I'll give you some super bills. She submitted them to her insurance company. The insurance company called her and literally said that this is not the right diagnosis.
[00:24:28] Whitney Owens: You need to go to your therapist and tell her to give you a different diagnosis and then we'll pay for services. I was, uh, so anyway, what happens if I had been using thrizer on a client like that? What would happen?
[00:24:44] Sanjana Sathya: Yeah. Yeah. So, um, we would honestly make sure that, you know, we handle that for you. Maybe we'll communicate with you and say, Hey, here's, you know, here's what we heard from them.
[00:24:54] Sanjana Sathya: Here's what you. The client wouldn't even have to deal with insurance in that case, so they wouldn't receive a call, right? They, we would receive a call and we would talk to insurance, try to figure out what's happening. Then if really there isn't a way that we can fix it for you, we would say, Hey, therapist, you know, help me, like, here's what they're saying.
[00:25:11] Sanjana Sathya: Can you provide a different code? But the good thing about us is we have a wealth of knowledge of just what codes typically work. Right. And so a lot of the codes that you'll see on our drop down list are fine. We don't have any issues with them. I know F codes are typically, we have absolutely no issues with F codes.
[00:25:27] Sanjana Sathya: Like that is something that we typically bill. Um, and so if, if there is even, you know, we anticipate that happening, we would advise you, Hey, this might happen, right? Like, so we're really kind of like your trusted partner and ensuring that. We don't have any snacks and that the claim doesn't get denied.
[00:25:45] Sanjana Sathya: Um, and so we'll, we'll make sure to be that, you know, that, that advisor for both you and the clients.
[00:25:51] Whitney Owens: Yeah, that's great. I mean, so much of one of the reasons I don't use insurance is that fight that I have to have with the insurance companies. Right. And so really it sounds like you're going to battle for the therapist and for the clients that we can just do the work we want to do.
[00:26:03] Sanjana Sathya: Yeah. Yeah. And then that's what matters, right? Like they're kind of offloading all of this stuff that no one wants to deal with to us. And then you're just focusing on care. Like you like to deliver care and clients want care and they don't want any additional stress. Um, and so we're trying to take all of that stressful part away from them.
[00:26:21] Whitney Owens: Yeah, definitely. Well, is there anything else about the company that I didn't ask about that you wanted to make sure to mention? Yeah.
[00:26:27] Sanjana Sathya: Yeah, one other really cool, um, new service that we have, um, is the Superbill Upload. So, we completely understand that, you know, a client may come to us, um, you know, and their therapist doesn't use Thryser, or the therapist is like, hey, you know what, like, I want to stick to simple practice to do my billing.
[00:26:47] Sanjana Sathya: Um, but I still want to offer a resource for my clients to manage the insurance process. And so that's where Thryser Superbill uploads can be really helpful, where all, um, in that world, you know, the therapist and the practice is not really involved. So all they have to do is still continue to provide their clients with Superbills as they normally do.
[00:27:06] Sanjana Sathya: Um, and then the client is the one who creates a profile. And submits their super bill. We again verify their benefits up front. So we know what that looks like. They'll get a breakdown of here's my deductible. Here's my co insurance, you know, all of that stuff. Um, and they just submit super bills after session.
[00:27:22] Sanjana Sathya: So we submit and manage that claim end to end. Similarly, we go to bat for the client. Um, and there's actually, you know, two ways, even in that world that they can get reimbursed. So after they meet their deductible, They can either, you know, choose to just, you know, receive their reimbursements via direct deposit, right, in a few weeks once the claim gets approved, or they can also request an instant reimbursement.
[00:27:45] Sanjana Sathya: So they, they submit their super bill, they met their deductible, um, and if all looks good, they can actually just get a cash out or, you know, receive their instant reimbursement within one to two business days so that they don't have to wait the four to six weeks again. Um, and so that's also an option, right, in that world.
[00:28:03] Sanjana Sathya: You know, therapists just have to continue to provide that super bill. Of course, it's not as much of an automated process. Like we still need the clients to be submitting their super bill, but you do have clients who are good about that. Um, and you still want to provide them a resource. I think the riser super bill uploads is still a really great option.
[00:28:19] Whitney Owens: Yeah, that's a really great feature to have, you know, another question that I was just thinking about is the difference between solo and group group practices. I can see how this would be pretty easy to implement for a solo practice owner, but do you offer it for group practices as well?
[00:28:33] Sanjana Sathya: Yeah, absolutely.
[00:28:34] Sanjana Sathya: Absolutely. So we actually have a, um, just a very simple process, even for group practices. So there'll be 1 practice portal. So just for. That entire group practice, but they can add as many clinicians or admins or practice managers as they'd like, right? And we can also set it up so that if each clinician wants to do their own billing, they could do it that way.
[00:28:56] Sanjana Sathya: Or if the owner or, you know, the practice manager wants to do it, we could set it up that way. So it's very simple. Um, and yeah, group practice. We have hundreds of group practice who actually use us. So. It's a good,
[00:29:08] Whitney Owens: good. Yeah. You see my facial expression. I'm like, I do not want to do the billing for my business.
[00:29:12] Sanjana Sathya: Yeah.
[00:29:13] Whitney Owens: Yeah. The option for someone else to do it. I'll take it. Um, and what about associate level therapists?
[00:29:20] Sanjana Sathya: Yeah. So we, we don't have an issue with that. So what we do is we make sure that, you know, supervisors like their name and NPI and all of that is also on the claims. Um, so we, you know, we, we also accept, uh, claims from associate therapists.
[00:29:35] Whitney Owens: Wonderful. Well, I see here in my notes that you're offering a spectacular deal for people who sign up.
[00:29:44] Sanjana Sathya: Yeah. Yeah. We are, uh, very thrilled to kind of offer this free trial for, uh, you know, the listeners of this podcast. So, um, you can try thrizer for free. So you'll get the first 2, 500 in payments, uh, free of charge.
[00:29:58] Sanjana Sathya: Credit card fees. So waived fees of that 3 percent that I was talking about for your first 2, 500 in payments, um, you just have to use the code wise practice. And I know Whitney, I gave you a link as well, so they could sign up through that link. Um, so it's a great way to kind of get, uh, acclimated to everything and, and try it out yourself.
[00:30:15] Whitney Owens: Well, that's just so kind. So we appreciate that. So when somebody's. Thinking, okay, I want to get started. They're going to go to my show notes. You're going to hit the link. And then what's going to happen.
[00:30:25] Sanjana Sathya: Yeah, so they're going to see a get started link. Um, and then they can hit get started. Uh, and there is, um, you know, it'll say clinician.
[00:30:32] Sanjana Sathya: They kind of go through it. Um, they sign up. The signup process is really just, you know, their name, email, um, password, right? And they go into their portal. There's a get started checklist on the bottom right. Um, and they kind of just navigate through that. So there's just a few things that they have to do to set up their account.
[00:30:47] Sanjana Sathya: They'll set up their practice first. So that's, you know, their NPI, their EIN, um, and just some basic, you know, address and stuff like that. Um, and then they start adding clients. Um, so there's two ways to do that. If they want to check the client's benefits first before adding them as a client, they can do that with that free benefits calculator in their Um, and they'll see that, you know, in the drop down there, um, or they can start adding clients and the clients would receive an email to onboard.
[00:31:13] Sanjana Sathya: So it's, it's a very simple process. And Whitney, what I could also do is just kind of share if you folks are interested just, um, an onboarding guide that we have that kind of has a step by step, um, if, you know, folks are interested, they can just kind of have that pulled up on the side and then set up their, their account with us.
[00:31:29] Sanjana Sathya: So that's also an option.
[00:31:31] Whitney Owens: Oh, that'd be great. Yeah. You can definitely send that over after the show and we can put that in the show to be super helpful. Absolutely. Perfect. Yeah. Well, great. I think we covered a lot in a quick time. Very efficient, but it was really informative. Is there anything else that we didn't cover?
[00:31:47] Sanjana Sathya: Uh, no, I think that's, that's pretty much it. We're, we're very excited, um, for, you know, obviously it's mental health awareness month. I think it's, it's an exciting month for us in the space of mental health. Um, and we just hope that, you know, We're able to offer this tool, um, as a way for therapists to also attract more private pay clients.
[00:32:09] Sanjana Sathya: So, um, you know, really great way to, to make the whole process a lot simpler and easier for everyone involved. So, but people try it out.
[00:32:18] Whitney Owens: Wonderful. Well, I'm looking forward to Aaron, this show, cause I think it's gonna be super helpful for a lot of therapists and thank you so much for coming on the show.
[00:32:25] Whitney Owens: If people have extra questions, want to just, you know, You know, pick somebody's brain a little bit more about the company. What's the best thing for them to do?
[00:32:32] Sanjana Sathya: Yeah. So they can reach out to me directly, honestly. Uh, so it's sunjanetthreiser. com. Um, so I'm happy to kind of share that with you as well. If they folks want to reach out to me directly.
[00:32:41] Sanjana Sathya: Um, but yeah, that's, that's, uh, that should be pretty much it. All right. Well, thank
[00:32:46] Whitney Owens: you so much
[00:32:46] Sanjana Sathya: for coming on the show. Thank you so much for having me.
[00:33:08] Whitney Owens: Special thanks to Marty Altman for the music in this podcast. The Wise Practice Podcast is part of the Sitecraft Podcast Network, a collaboration of independent podcasters focused on helping people live more meaningful and productive lives. To learn more about the other amazing podcasts in the network, head on over to sitecraftnetwork.
[00:33:28] Whitney Owens: com. The Wise Practice Podcast represents the opinions of Whitney Owens and her guests. This podcast is for educational purposes only, and the content should not be taken as legal advice. If you have legal questions, please consult an attorney.
