Grow Therapy Employee Review 2024: Is It Worth It For Therapists?

Grow Therapy for Therapists Review – Key Takeaways

• Grow Therapy is a managed in-network billing and directory platform that’s available in most US states and is totally free for mental health providers to join.
• Grow Therapy operates its own provider directory, and also offers its members paid for profiles with Psychology Today and Zocdoc.
• Grow Therapy includes access to basic documentation and EHR features, but some practices may prefer to have a full EHR, as well. Grow Therapy partners with Doxy.me for its telehealth platform and offers a discounted rate on memberships.
• Insurance credentialing and in-network billing through Grow Therapy will likely lead to more favorable rates than negotiating insurance contracts on your own.

What Is Grow Therapy?

Grow Therapy is a comprehensive billing and directory platform for therapists and psychologists. Features include insurance credentialing, premium in-network reimbursement rates, and a provider directory. Grow Therapy has no costs to join as a provider.

Below, we will explore some of Grow Therapy’s primary offerings and how they might help your practice. It is worth noting that Grow Therapy did not respond to our request for comment or information during our review.

Key features of Grow Therapy for therapists include:

Hands-Off Insurance Credentialing

One of the main benefits of Grow Therapy is its completely hands-off insurance credentialing service. Grow Therapy works with many insurance payors to negotiate favorable terms for insurance billing and can get you credentialed much faster than you’d be able to on your own.

Insurance payors that Grow Therapy works with include:

• United Healthcare
• Aetna
• Cigna
• Blue Cross Blue Shield
• Humana
• Anthem
• Medicare and Medicaid
• Additional regional payors

Grow Therapy states that it takes 1-4 months, on average, to get fully credentialed and ready-to-bill sessions for any given payor. As with any such service, you’ll only be credentialed with these payors while you’re working with Grow Therapy as a contractor and you won’t be able to bill through them independently.

Fully-Managed Billing

When you’re working with Grow Therapy for your in-network billing, the platform automatically hands off the correct billing information to the relevant insurance payor. Once you submit your session note, Grow Therapy will automatically generate and send any needed invoices to clients automatically.

Clients can manage needed tasks such as scheduling and making payments completely through the Grow Therapy client portal. In terms of billing payouts, Grow Therapy states that insurance claims can take between 14-21 days to process, and providers will receive their reimbursement for all fully processed claims every Friday.¹

Gain New Clients With Grow Therapy’s Built-In Directory

Like similar platforms, Grow Therapy operates a therapist directory to help drive new client referrals. This directory allows prospective clients to filter providers by location and other factors, and easily schedule with providers directly through Grow Therapy.

Uniquely, Grow Therapy will pay for both Psychology Today and Zocdoc profile listings and can link these services to your Grow Therapy platform for easy scheduling.^{2, 3} As we discovered in our breakdown of the best therapist directories, the cost of directories can add up quickly, so getting both of these profiles at no cost is a great perk to joining Grow Therapy.

Learn more about Zocdoc and Psychology Today in our Zocdoc review and Psychology Today review.

How Much Does Grow Therapy Cost to Join?

Grow Therapy is completely free for practitioners to join. Instead of taking fees from clients or practitioners, Grow Therapy has contracts with the insurance payors it works with and earns fees through them. This model is common among services like Grow Therapy and allows therapists to get started with minimal barriers.

How Much Does Grow Therapy Pay?

Grow Therapy pays its therapists on a pre-negotiated scale depending on the type of service offered, as well as variables such as your location. Specifically, the structure is such that you will be an independent contractor for Grow Therapy, which will reimburse you for the services provided.

Grow Therapy Reimbursement Rates

A discussion on reimbursements with this type of platform is intrinsically difficult as reimbursement rates may vary tremendously depending on several variables. For instance, a Licensed Professional Counselor in Atlanta billing Cigna may have an entirely different rate than a Psychologist out of California billing United Healthcare.

On top of all of this, the negotiations going on between companies like Grow Therapy and its insurance partners will constantly be shifting and updating, so it’s impossible to say what a given reimbursement rate will be in the long haul.

Since Grow Therapy has major contracts with top insurers, it can offer enhanced reimbursement rates that will usually be higher than what you would be able to negotiate with a payor on your own.

To determine your exact terms and rates, you’ll need to contact Grow Therapy directly.

Why Would I Want to Work with Grow Therapy?

Working with Grow Therapy is a unique experience that allows the autonomy of a private practice while offering a degree of support that helps you get your practice off the ground.

Here are a few reasons why you might want to work with Grow Therapy:

• Become credentialed with insurers without having to manage the process, and significantly faster than you could on your own, while also receiving enhanced reimbursement rates.
• Accept insurance without having to manage benefits checks for clients or insurance billing
• Maintain the autonomy of a private practice with less administrative stress
• Find a reliable source of client referrals through a dedicated insurance-based system
• Ensure consistent revenue with reliable insurance reimbursement

What States Is Grow Therapy Available In?

Grow Therapy is available in 46 US states, but is currently not available in:

• North Dakota
• South Dakota
• Nebraska
• Idaho

Who Is Grow Therapy Right For?

Grow Therapy is a great choice for therapists who want to avoid extra administrative work while retaining the freedom of self-employment. Any therapist looking to make the jump into providing in-network care should consider Grow Therapy or one of its contemporaries.

Therapists That Want to Avoid Extra Administrative Work

One of the major benefits of a service like Grow Therapy is the ability to have support in your administrative tasks while still retaining the independence of running your own practice. Grow Therapy can enable you to get back to spending your time with clients rather than with billing and scheduling.

Those looking to avoid extra administrative tasks should consider investing in one of the best mental health EHRs for their time-saving features.

Those Looking to Make the Jump to In-Network Care

Maybe you’ve had your practice a while and are looking to make the jump from private pay to in-network care. If you don’t have any experience billing insurance on your own, Grow Therapy is an easier and faster route to get credentialed with insurance payors.

Who May Want an Alternative to Grow Therapy?

Grow Therapy has a lot to offer, however, practices that are looking for an all-in-one solution and those with partial or no licensure would want to look elsewhere.

Practices that Want an All-In-One Solution

Grow Therapy offers a lot of features, but some users noted that the EHR is quite lackluster which leads to needing outside software to round out their toolkit. If you’re looking for an all-in-one solution, Alma offers a great array of extra features.

Read more about Alma in our comprehensive review of Alma for therapists.

Another good option is SonderMind. Check out our review of SonderMind for therapists for details.

Practitioners with Partial or No Licensure

Grow Therapy, as well as any other in-network billing platform like it, requires its practitioners to be fully and independently licensed in the state they operate. If you’re looking for marketing solutions for non-licensed professionals, Psychology Today has a few options.

Read our review of Psychology Today for more details.

What are Others Saying About Grow Therapy?

Across social media and user review websites, Grow Therapy has garnered pretty favorable feedback. Here are some main points from other users’ thoughts.

The Good

• Grow Therapy is very consistent with pay, and as long as the client was seen, you’ll be reimbursed regardless of whether insurance denies the claim.
• Grow Therapy has an excellent internal network of other providers for asking questions and seeking referrals.
• Being an independent contractor with Grow Therapy means you retain your flexibility instead of being an employee.

The Bad

• EHR features are not well-implemented
• Support for providers is lacking
• Reimbursement rates are slightly lower than other platforms
• The design of certain client-side features leads to confusion for client billing

Headway vs. Grow Therapy

Grow Therapy and Headway are very similar platforms. Both platforms allow providers to join at no cost, and both have similar sets of features. However, Headway lacks any EHR features at all, whereas Grow Therapy does have some basic client documentation features.

Headway is available in all US states, whereas Grow Therapy is available in 46 states, at this time of writing.

To learn more about Headway, visit our full review of Headway for Therapists.

Grow Therapy Vs. Alma

Alma and Grow Therapy offer similar services in insurance credentialing and billing, but Alma has more EHR and practice management features than Grow Therapy does. Also, Alma charges a fee of $125 monthly or $1,140 annually to join, so it is more expensive than Grow Therapy on an ongoing basis; however, some users online noted that Alma has better reimbursement rates in some instances.

While Alma does charge a monthly fee, this secures access to its EHR features including Wiley Practice Planner templates, clinical measures, and integrated progress notes, as well as access to continuing education resources. Grow Therapy is free to join, but would require you to have an external subscription to a telehealth and EHR platform.

To learn more about Alma and how it differs, read our full review of Alma for therapists.

How Do I Get Started with Grow Therapy?

To get started with Grow Therapy, simply navigate to the Grow Therapy sign-up page and enter a few details. One of Grow Therapy’s representatives will reach out to you soon to help you navigate the onboarding process.

The whole process of joining Grow Therapy can last between one and four months, depending on which payors you’re working with among other details.

The steps for getting started with Grow Therapy are:

1. Request to join. Fill out a few details on Grow Therapy’s website to get started. (5 minutes)
2. Onboard. Collaborate with Grow Therapy’s onboarding team to get credentialed with insurance payors and ready to start seeing clients. You’ll need to provide proof of licensure and malpractice insurance during this step, but it’s mostly hands-off. Rather than becoming an employee of Grow Therapy, you’ll be an independent 1099 contractor. (1-4 months)
3. Begin seeing clients. After you’re set-up, you’ll be ready to start seeing clients using the Grow Therapy platform.

History of Grow Therapy

Grow Therapy was founded in 2020 and is headquartered in New York, New York. It is a very fast-growing start-up with multiple successful rounds of funding and around 800 employees.⁴

Grow Therapy states its mission is to help bring mental healthcare to everyone who needs it rather than the select few who can afford it by bridging the gap between therapists, insurance payors, and clients. Grow Therapy has gained a good deal of media coverage since its inception, and it is currently ranked as one of LinkedIn’s top startup companies.