For therapists choosing tools
Choose the right tools for your therapy practice.
Reviews and comparisons of the software and services clinicians actually have to pick: insurance networks, an EHR, bookkeeping, payroll, a directory. Written plainly, with the evidence marked.
Insurance & credentialing
NPI, CAQH, credentialing versus contracting, claims, associates, California telehealth, paneled networks.
Insurance articles → 02 · EHRPractice software
SimplePractice: calendar, notes, claims, superbills. It is not a payer and it will not credential you.
SimplePractice article → 03 · AccountingMoney & payroll
Heard for bookkeeping aimed at therapists, Gusto for payroll, plus the rest of the disclosed list.
Practice tools → 04 · MarketingDirectory profiles
How a Psychology Today profile actually converts: photo, first paragraph, honest insurance, response time.
Psychology Today article →Featured guides
Getting on insurance, in the right order.
Free notes on the business of the practice. Read them without buying anything.
How to get in-network with Medi-Cal in California
If you are in private practice, the Medi-Cal work you are usually trying to join is non-specialty mental health: the managed care plan’s mild-to-moderate outpatient benefit, not the county specialty system. Enroll through PAVE, then apply to the plan in your county.
Credentialing is not contracting
Why people mix these up. Panel closed. Delegated credentialing. Weeks to months, not a weekend.
What CAQH ProView is
A shared profile, not a contract. Attestations expire. PECOS and Medicare are a separate door.
For therapists
NPI, eligibility, superbills, why claims bounce, telehealth, insurance as an associate, and more.
Featured comparison
Headway vs Alma vs Rula
Compared from official materials, plus Grow as a fourth paneled-network option Mason has also used in practice. The honest trade is usually speed onto commercial plans versus less control of the payer relationship.
No invented rates, take-rates, or winner badge. Mason’s pick is his own, from practice.
Reviews
Reviews we have actually written.
If a tool only sits on the referral list and has no review yet, it is not dressed up as one here.
Headway review
A paneled-network platform: credentialing with insurance partners, claims, EHR and telehealth features. Not a star rating.
Read the review →Paneled networks
Speed versus control, who is the billing provider, and what you still have to do yourself.
Read the category →SimplePractice and insurance
EHR and billing workflows at a high level. No invented pricing tiers.
EHR review →Psychology Today profiles
Photo, first paragraph, insurance listed honestly, response time. Mason’s own listing as a live example.
Read the piece →Practice tools Mason refers
The full disclosed list: Heard, Gusto, Chase Business, Mentalyc, and the Psychology Today path.
See the list →How we review
Four evidence levels, marked on every card. If we do not have a firsthand verdict, we say so.
Review methodology →Tools
Quick self-checks for the practice.
Short educational check-ins. Answers stay in your browser; nothing is sent to a server. They are not the product, and they are not a diagnosis.
All self-checksHow this publication works
Evidence, marked on every card.
Used in a live practice, and we can point to that.
Clicked through as a reviewer, with notes. Never printed as decoration.
What the company says it is, at a high level.
Same questions for each name, without inventing a score.
Need implementation help?
Want someone to sit with your actual file?
This publication doesn’t sell coaching, audits, or therapy. Paid 1:1 help with credentialing, Medi-Cal, and practice systems lives at Advantage Coaching, a separate business.