Single mother of two working as a therapist - where to move?

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Originally Posted by gf2020

I honestly think you need to look at your $500-600K budget relative to the actual cost of homes in the numerous towns you have asked about.

$500k is about the going price for 2-3 bedroom ranch/capes with 1200 sf in nearly every affluent suburb in the Boston area. It's not what we think of when we make house suggestions, but if that size is sufficient for her then it can be done.

[Utopian Slums]

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Whoever said upthread that Mass is over saturated with therapists is 110% correct. We have very little stigma about mental health care and insurance covers it. There is very little incentive for people to self-pay here.


People are pretty conservative with their money here and $200 an hour self-pay would be more on par with a private psychiatrist (or NP med prescriber) rates.

~$100 for 20-30 min is the norm for cash pay psychiatrists in the Cambridge area, for example. Cambridge is affluent so i'm guessing the docs there charge more than most. There are no lack of patients with Harvard and MIT right there. (This state needs hundreds of more psychiatrists!!)

If you want to work with self-pay clients only, expect to bill (or to be reimbursed) only from $50 to $125 an hour with an average of what the private and public insurances reimburse per hour- about $80. No- scratch that- i just saw it has DECREASED to ~$69! WOW!

http://www.mass.gov/eohhs/docs/eohhs.../13-02-mhc.pdf

But that may just be at "community health centers." Hmmmm......In any case, i would not plan on more than ~$80 for insurance reimbursement here.

Originally Posted by GeoffD

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With a quick Google search, MassHealth (the name for Medicaid in Massachusetts) covers therapy. Up to 20 visits per year before a PA needs to authorize more. If it were me, I'd be finding out the compensation rate for that. It might be that you can have a higher standard of living in a less affluent place where housing costs are much lower.

So Masshealth reimbursement rates are ~$80 per hour and a PITA to get reimbursed depending on the company. Also note that most panels are closed anyways unless you are a MA licensed psychologist (i.e., no LiCSWs, LMFTs or LMHCs typically accepted on panels because they are not needed.)

The biggest mental health provider here is Beacon Health Strategies, LLC. I'm assuming that if multiple professionals are complaining about their reimbursements on Yelp, they must have a serious problem in their billing/claims department:

Beacon Health Strategies - Counseling & Mental Health - Woburn, MA - Reviews - Yelp

And i'm sure you know that Medicare only reimburses licensed psychologists and LiCSWs only.



Good luck!!
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