We know from experience that successful behavioral health practices collect and analyze data to make informed business decisions. These decisions are reflected in your business plan, which should be updated from time to time based on key performance indicators (KPIs) and other data. In addition, it’s crucial to examine, measure, and revisit these growth benchmarks and KPIs. This helps guide your practice’s operations and growth on a day-to-day basis. The following therapist resources from Valant will help you accomplish these goals and increase quality of patient care.

Resource 1: Business Plan Template

Our business plan template will help you contemplate important items to launch and grow a behavioral health practice, including legal compliance, operations, marketing, technology, and finance. The template starts with prompts to consider your practice’s long-term mission and vision, including foundational questions about the services you will provide and the audience you will target.

Additionally, you’ll find several financial planning sections to include potential expenses you may not have thought of. For example, furniture, computer software, front and back-office staffing and technology, insurance, and business services. Which of these will you need and how much will they cost?

Thirdly, the template includes an organizational chart with color coding for positions that are typically staffed internally, externally, or either. You’ll also find a page on referrals and marketing where you will consider which medical providers will refer clients to you, which insurance panels you might apply to, and how you will advertise, both online and offline.

Finally, the template concludes with an income and expenses calculation, which will help you create a plan that is financially realistic.

Resource 2: Growth Checklist

Our growth checklist whitepaper can be of use to both new and established practices. This resource will help you assess current strengths, identify areas for improvement, strategize for growth, and consider expanding your practice to other locations. The main topics covered include:

• Staffing and HR
• The Onboarding Process (for new hires)
• Infrastructure and Space
• Equipment
• Health and Safety, including HIPAA compliance
• Technology, including identifying the right EHR
• Data Management and Cybersecurity, including avoiding data breaches
• Marketing, including social media and a marketing plan
• Telehealth, and why Zoom and similar services may not be enough
• Financial Considerations, including the value-based care model

The growth checklist whitepaper includes many questions to ponder each of the above items, including links to additional articles and resources from the Valant blog, and beyond. We also discuss the value of many features of Valant’s software in several of the above categories, as well as other items that all growing behavioral health practices contend with. Don’t miss it!

Therapist Resource 3: KPIs Whitepaper

The third resource is our whitepaper on key performance indicators (KPIs). This whitepaper will help you track and optimize your behavioral health practice’s business performance. We identify 20 KPIs in the following 5 categories and discuss why they are important:

• Marketing KPIs, including how many referrals you are getting and where they are coming from, cost of referrals, and ensuring positive online reviews
• Intake KPIs, including conversion rates (how many referred clients come to a first appointment?), and days elapsed between referral and first appointment
• Clinical Productivity KPIs, including hours worked by your clinicians, utilization, and client retention rates
• Clinical Outcomes KPIs, including percentage of encounters with appropriate measurement, response rates, permission rates, and client satisfaction ratings
• Financial KPIs, including revenue by CPT code or preferred metric, revenue per hour, gross margin, operating expenses, time to payment (days in accounts receivable), and collections percentage

Our 8-page KPIs whitepaper discusses each category as a whole, and includes a paragraph or more about each of the 20 KPIs. There is something in here for every behavioral health practice. Even if you know your KPIs well, it may be helpful to think about them from a different perspective and consider if you are missing any potential areas for improvement.

See the Full Picture

In conclusion, We encourage you to review our therapist resources to build confidence and empower your business decisions. You’ve probably given considerable thought to many of the covered items already, but you are likely to find something new. Perhaps a different perspective on a business issue that may help you unlock additional revenue while improving patient outcomes. These resources just might have the key to taking your practice to the next level.