Headway is the largest behavioral health credentialing platform with 60,000+ providers. They handle credentialing with major commercial insurers (Aetna, BCBS, Cigna, UHC, Optum) in your state. No Medicare. No Medicaid. No monthly fee — they take a percentage of each claim they process. NPs are accepted for psychiatric medication management.

• Apply at headway.co/for-providers — application takes 15 minutes
• Requires: active NP license, NPI Type 1, active malpractice insurance ($1M/$3M minimum)
• They handle CAQH setup assistance for new providers
• Client referrals come through their provider directory — insurance-only clients
• Session payout typically within 1–2 weeks via direct deposit
• ↗ Apply to Headway

Alma charges $125–$200/month and you keep your full insurance reimbursement rate. They handle credentialing, billing, and provide an EHR, scheduling, and client matching. Strong multi-state support including CAQH management. Acquired by Spring Health in early 2026 — confirm current pricing and structure at time of application.

• Apply at helloalma.com/providers
• Requires: NP license, CAQH profile, NPI, malpractice insurance
• Better math than commission platforms at higher session volumes
• Monthly fee breakeven vs. 25% commission: approximately 5–7 sessions/month
• ↗ Apply to Alma

Grow Therapy claims the fastest credentialing timeline (2–4 weeks) and is the only major platform that accepts Medicare patients in select states. Free to join, 20–30% commission. Strong client acquisition through their patient-facing directory (growtherapy.com). Their EHR is more basic than Alma’s — use primarily for credentialing and referrals, supplement with a standalone EHR if needed.

• Apply at growtherapy.com/for-providers
• Medicare acceptance varies by state — confirm during application
• Reimbursement rates set by payer contracts, not negotiable individually
• Pays within 1–2 weeks via direct deposit
• ↗ Apply to Grow Therapy

Apply to Grow Therapy and Headway the same week you get your NP license. Their 2–6 week credentialing timeline means you can start seeing patients while your direct credentialing runs in the background. These platforms provide your income during the 60–120 day gap before Medicare/Medicaid/commercial activate.

Do not wait until platforms are up and running. Submit PECOS, Medicaid, and all commercial payer applications the same week. They run in parallel — by the time your direct credentialing activates (3–4 months), you already have established patient volume from platforms.

As each direct payer credential activates, move patients from platform billing to direct billing. New patients go directly to direct billing from day one. Platform clients with that specific insurance stay on platform billing until their plan is also credentialed directly — or you migrate them at renewal. Evaluate your math at Month 12 and decide whether to fully exit platforms or maintain for client acquisition only.

Office Ally operates two complementary products relevant to solo NP practices:

Registration is fully online and takes about 15 minutes. You can submit claims immediately after receiving your credentials by email.

• Step 1 — Go to the signup form: Navigate to officeally.com and click “Sign Up” or “Get Started.” You will fill out a registration form with your practice information.
• Step 2 — Enter your practice details: Legal business name (must match your LLC/PLLC exactly), NPI Type 1 (individual) and NPI Type 2 (organization if applicable), Tax ID/EIN, practice address, phone number, and provider specialty/taxonomy code.
• Step 3 — Accept agreements: During signup you must acknowledge and agree to the Business Associate Agreement (BAA) and User Agreement on behalf of your practice. These are HIPAA-required — read the BAA before signing.
• Step 4 — Receive credentials: Office Ally emails your username and password. You can begin submitting claims immediately — no waiting period.
• Step 5 — Set up Practice Mate: Log in and navigate to Practice Mate. Enter your provider profile (NPI, taxonomy, license number, state), add your payers, and configure your superbill/fee schedule with your CPT codes.
• Step 6 — Enroll payers for ERA: Submit ERA (Electronic Remittance Advice) enrollment requests for each payer so Explanations of Benefits come back electronically into Office Ally rather than by paper. This takes 2–6 weeks per payer — do this the same day you sign up.

• ↗ Office Ally FAQ & Sign-Up
• ↗ Office Ally Service Center Overview

Office Ally’s eligibility verification (X12 270/271 transactions) lets you check a patient’s active coverage, co-pay, deductible status, and remaining benefits in real time before the appointment — directly within the Service Center portal or Practice Mate, without logging into each payer’s separate website.

• Where to access: Service Center portal → “Eligibility & Benefits” tab. Or in Practice Mate: open the patient record → “Eligibility” button.
• What you need to run a check: Patient’s first/last name, date of birth, member ID (from insurance card), and the payer ID (Office Ally maintains a full payer list — search by insurer name to find the correct ID).
• What it returns: Active/inactive coverage status, plan type (HMO/PPO/EPO), in-network vs. out-of-network benefits, individual deductible and amount met, out-of-pocket maximum and amount met, co-pay and co-insurance percentages, and authorization requirements for your specialty.
• When to run it: Run eligibility verification at least 24–48 hours before every appointment. Run it again same-day for new patients. Insurance can change month to month — never assume coverage from last visit still applies.
• Cost: $10.00 flat for the first 1–100 eligibility transactions per month, then $0.10 per transaction above that. A solo NP seeing 20 patients/week runs approximately 80–100 eligibility checks/month — comfortably within the $10 flat fee tier.
• Payer coverage: Office Ally connects to all major payers: Medicare, Medicaid (most states), Aetna, BCBS, Cigna, UHC/Optum, Humana, Tricare, and hundreds of regional plans. Check the Office Ally Payer List for your specific payers — it is updated monthly.

Once you are credentialed with a payer and have an active NPI on file with them, this is the claim submission workflow inside Office Ally for each patient encounter:

• Step 1 — Create the patient record in Practice Mate: Demographics, insurance info (member ID, group number, payer, subscriber relationship), and secondary insurance if applicable.
• Step 2 — Create the charge/superbill: After the encounter, open the patient record → New Charge. Enter: Date of service, Place of service code (02 = telehealth/home, 11 = office), Rendering provider NPI (Type 1), Billing provider NPI (Type 2 for your LLC), CPT code(s), diagnosis codes (ICD-10), and fee amount.
• Common CPT codes for NP psychiatry: 99205 (new patient, high complexity, 60–74 min), 99214 (established, moderate complexity, 30–39 min), 99215 (established, high complexity, 40–54 min), 90833 (psychotherapy add-on, 16–37 min), 90836 (psychotherapy add-on, 38+ min), 96127 (behavioral health screening).
• Step 3 — Scrub the claim: Practice Mate runs a basic claim scrub for missing or invalid fields before submission. Fix any flagged errors — common issues include missing modifier 95 for telehealth claims, incorrect place of service code, or NPI mismatch between rendering and billing providers.
• Step 4 — Submit to Service Center: Claims batch automatically or you submit manually to the Office Ally clearinghouse. Office Ally routes the claim to the correct payer. Electronic claims are transmitted same-day; most payers acknowledge within 24–48 hours.
• Step 5 — Track claim status: Service Center → “Claim Status” tab. Track whether claims are accepted, pended, or rejected. Rejected claims show error codes — Office Ally’s error library explains each code and the required fix.
• Step 6 — Post ERAs / EOBs: When payers send Electronic Remittance Advice (ERA/835 files) back to Office Ally, they appear in Service Center under “Remittance.” Post payments to patient accounts in Practice Mate. Balance = patient responsibility (co-pay, deductible) — generate a patient statement for collection.
• Step 7 — Work denials: Denied claims appear in the Service Center with denial reason codes. Common NP-specific denials: modifier missing, rendering NPI not on file with payer, service not covered under plan type, timely filing exceeded (most payers require filing within 90–365 days of service).

• Provider profile: Verify your NPI Type 1 and Type 2 are entered correctly and match your NPPES record exactly — mismatches cause every claim to reject.
• Taxonomy code: Enter your NP specialty taxonomy (e.g., 363LP0808X for PMHNP) in your provider profile — some payers require it on the claim.
• Telehealth modifier: If billing telehealth, configure Modifier 95 (synchronous telehealth via interactive audio/video) as a default for applicable services. Add POS code 02 for telehealth to patient’s home, or 10 for telehealth to patient in healthcare facility.
• Fee schedule: Enter your full fee for each CPT code (your “chargemaster rate”). Set this to 2–3x Medicare reimbursement — you always bill your full rate; payers pay the contracted rate and the difference is the contractual adjustment.
• ERA enrollment: Submit ERA enrollment for Medicare via PECOS/MAC, and for each commercial payer through Office Ally’s ERA enrollment portal. Without ERA enrollment, payers mail paper EOBs — manual and slow.
• Timely filing alerts: Note each payer’s timely filing limit (Medicare: 365 days; most commercial: 90–180 days). Build a workflow to submit claims within 48–72 hours of each encounter — never batch a week’s worth at once.

• ↗ Office Ally Service Center Data Sheet & Pricing
• ↗ Office Ally — Eligibility Verification Guide