#practicemanagementcompanies — Public Fediverse posts

DATE: June 12, 2026 at 08:10AM
SOURCE: PsiAN Psychotherapy Action Network

TITLE: Aetna's Reimbursement Cuts: What Therapists Need to Know

URL: https://www.psian.org/blog/aetna-psychotherapy-reimbursement-cuts

Recent announcements by Alma/Spring Health of significant reductions in reimbursement rates for those with Aetna insurance plans and other policy changes have made waves in the mental health space. These changes will reduce access to psychotherapy for the public and further impinge on therapists’ capacity to manage their practices and earn a living wage, at a time when the need for effective mental healthcare is concerningly high.

Starting in July 2026, clinicians billing Aetna through Alma/Spring Health will see a significant reduction in reimbursement rates. Reimbursement rates for those with doctoral degrees will decrease to match the master’s-level rates. A common 53-60-minute psychotherapy session will no longer be appropriately valued; it will be paid at the same rate as if only 38-52 minutes of patient care were provided.

Aetna also announced the introduction of its own mental health platform, Mental Health On Demand, coming in 2027. It will be staffed by individuals trained in “single-session interventions” and will include an AI agent that responds to new patient inquiries within 13 seconds.

So, within one week, we see Aetna reduce payments for psychotherapy while promoting its own AI single-session tool. Taken together, Aetna seems to be communicating that the future of mental healthcare for its customers is a single acute-crisis-management session.

What We DidWe wrote to Aetna, Spring Health, and Alma, voicing our concerns over these misguided policies that will likely only make it harder for the public to access psychotherapy. We hope our letters represent your concerns and are a strong support for the public and the therapy professions. We will keep you posted about the responses we receive.

The Bigger PictureThese announcements are not an isolated incident. They are part of a larger attack on mental health therapists and independent practice, and the further deprofessionalization of clinical care. They are a stark continuation of the insurance industry's discriminatory payment and administrative policies, which have reduced access to care and pushed psychotherapists to leave or refrain from participating in insurance networks.

To increase access to mental healthcare, the exact opposite needs to happen. Therapists must be paid more, not less, so that longstanding inequities between mental healthcare and medical/surgical care are eliminated. Also, sufficient time must be allotted for therapy to work and for healing to occur.

Psychotherapy Action Network (PsiAN) is committed to education, empowerment, and long-term actions needed to push back against the intrusions of venture capital and for-profit health insurance companies seeking to profit at therapists' expense, control the market, dictate care, and data-mine client and clinician information. Our mission is to advocate for greater access to psychotherapy and to support the clinicians who provide that care.

We believe that when therapists have the independence and autonomy to practice ethically and responsibly, our patients receive the best possible care. We don’t need more middlemen siphoning off profit and getting between therapists and their clients, dictating how and under what conditions psychotherapy should be done. What therapists need is appropriate reimbursement, adequate support from the healthcare system, and the removal of barriers to serving their communities.

These issues will not be solved overnight or by any single individual or organization. We invite you to join us in the long haul to fight for the soul of our profession. We also want to share a few resources to help therapists create and sustain their own independent practice.

What You Can Do

Educate yourself

•Read our letter to Aetna, Spring Health, and Alma

•

•Read our research report to understand how Alma and similar companies operate: New Research Reveals Therapists’ Concerns About Corporate Practice Management Companies (PMCs).

•

•Visit our Private Practice Toolkit to learn business tips on how to create your own independent private practice, and also the key questions you need to ask prior to using a practice management company.

•

•Read this new article, Holding the Frame in an Era of Corporate Care, by our Chair and Co-Founder, Linda Michaels, to understand how and why the erosion of clinicians’ autonomy is so problematic.

•

If you work with Alma, sign this

•If you work with Alma, sign this petition drafted by the Mental Health Insurance Reform Task Force of Build Better Health.

•

Contact your elected officials

•Regardless of whether or not you work with Alma or any practice management company, contact your state and national elected representatives and tell them you support mental health parity (such as Illinois HB1085) and anti-vertical-integration policies (such as S. 3822: Break Up Big Medicine Act). PsiAN is supporting the Break Up Big Medicine Act and is a member of the coalition fighting for it. Tell your elected officials why this is important to you and how you are being negatively impacted by private equity, venture capital, big tech, and big insurance.

•See a sample statement below.*

•

•Find your representatives here.

•

•

Get connected, stay involved

•Join us at PsiAN and become a sustaining member. Through the power of our collective action, we can push back and successfully stand up for the principles and ethics of effective psychotherapy.

•

•If you are a leader of a professional association or group, reach out to us to partner on advocacy efforts.

•

•Don’t lose hope! These problems were created by humans and can be solved with collective action. This is absolutely not “just the way it is.” A better, more equitable environment for both therapists and our clients is possible.

•

Sample letter, please customize as indicated below and include your own personal thoughts and experiences

Dear Representative [Last Name],

I hope this letter finds you well. My name is [Your Full Name], and I am a constituent residing at [Your Address] in [Your City, State, ZIP Code]. I am a psychotherapist with a degree in [Your discipline] and have been in practice for [X] years. I am writing to express my concerns about the intrusion of venture capital and for-profit health insurance companies into the therapy and mental health fields, and to urge you to take action on this matter.

As your constituent, I strongly believe that legislation is needed to limit vertical integration and market consolidation in healthcare, as well as the intrusion of venture capital, to avoid further degradation of care quality. Mental health services, such as psychotherapy, are unique in the healthcare space in that they require a high level of personal involvement, a trusting relationship with a clinician, time to achieve healing, and the sharing of highly sensitive information with providers. The therapeutic space and intimate patient information must be protected from outside influence and privacy intrusions.

I support S. 3822, the Break Up Big Medicine Act, and state-level legislation such as HB1085 in Illinois, and I respectfully ask that you do the same. These are vital steps needed to ensure people can access private, ethical, and effective mental health services. This issue is deeply personal to me because [share a brief personal connection or impact].

Thank you for your time and attention to this critical issue. I trust that you will represent the best interests of our district and would appreciate a response outlining your position on this matter. Please do not hesitate to contact me at [Your Phone Number] or [Your Email Address] if you require additional information.

Sincerely,[Your Full Name][Your Address][City, State, ZIP Code]

URL: https://www.psian.org/blog/aetna-psychotherapy-reimbursement-cuts

-------------------------------------------------

The Psychotherapy Action Network (PsiAN) advocates for awareness, policies and access to psychotherapies that create meaningful change. They offer membership and educational events.

Learn more at https://www.psian.org .

The PsiAN blog can be found at: https://www.psian.org/blog

This news robot is NOT officially affiliated with PsiAN. It merely rebroadcasts from their blog. Responses posted here are not monitored by PsiAN.

-------------------------------------------------

#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #PsiAN #psychotherapist #psychoanalytic #psychodynamic #depththerapy #AetnasReimbursementCuts #TherapistPayRights #MentalHealthParity #PrivatePracticeAdvocacy #BreakUpBigMedicine #PracticeManagementCompanies #PsychotherapyAccess #AlmaSpringHealth #PsiAN #IndependentPracticeMatter

DATE: June 12, 2026 at 08:10AM
SOURCE: PsiAN Psychotherapy Action Network

TITLE: Aetna's Reimbursement Cuts: What Therapists Need to Know

URL: https://www.psian.org/blog/aetna-psychotherapy-reimbursement-cuts

Recent announcements by Alma/Spring Health of significant reductions in reimbursement rates for those with Aetna insurance plans and other policy changes have made waves in the mental health space. These changes will reduce access to psychotherapy for the public and further impinge on therapists’ capacity to manage their practices and earn a living wage, at a time when the need for effective mental healthcare is concerningly high.

Starting in July 2026, clinicians billing Aetna through Alma/Spring Health will see a significant reduction in reimbursement rates. Reimbursement rates for those with doctoral degrees will decrease to match the master’s-level rates. A common 53-60-minute psychotherapy session will no longer be appropriately valued; it will be paid at the same rate as if only 38-52 minutes of patient care were provided.

Aetna also announced the introduction of its own mental health platform, Mental Health On Demand, coming in 2027. It will be staffed by individuals trained in “single-session interventions” and will include an AI agent that responds to new patient inquiries within 13 seconds.

So, within one week, we see Aetna reduce payments for psychotherapy while promoting its own AI single-session tool. Taken together, Aetna seems to be communicating that the future of mental healthcare for its customers is a single acute-crisis-management session.

What We DidWe wrote to Aetna, Spring Health, and Alma, voicing our concerns over these misguided policies that will likely only make it harder for the public to access psychotherapy. We hope our letters represent your concerns and are a strong support for the public and the therapy professions. We will keep you posted about the responses we receive.

The Bigger PictureThese announcements are not an isolated incident. They are part of a larger attack on mental health therapists and independent practice, and the further deprofessionalization of clinical care. They are a stark continuation of the insurance industry's discriminatory payment and administrative policies, which have reduced access to care and pushed psychotherapists to leave or refrain from participating in insurance networks.

To increase access to mental healthcare, the exact opposite needs to happen. Therapists must be paid more, not less, so that longstanding inequities between mental healthcare and medical/surgical care are eliminated. Also, sufficient time must be allotted for therapy to work and for healing to occur.

Psychotherapy Action Network (PsiAN) is committed to education, empowerment, and long-term actions needed to push back against the intrusions of venture capital and for-profit health insurance companies seeking to profit at therapists' expense, control the market, dictate care, and data-mine client and clinician information. Our mission is to advocate for greater access to psychotherapy and to support the clinicians who provide that care.

We believe that when therapists have the independence and autonomy to practice ethically and responsibly, our patients receive the best possible care. We don’t need more middlemen siphoning off profit and getting between therapists and their clients, dictating how and under what conditions psychotherapy should be done. What therapists need is appropriate reimbursement, adequate support from the healthcare system, and the removal of barriers to serving their communities.

These issues will not be solved overnight or by any single individual or organization. We invite you to join us in the long haul to fight for the soul of our profession. We also want to share a few resources to help therapists create and sustain their own independent practice.

What You Can Do

Educate yourself

•Read our letter to Aetna, Spring Health, and Alma

•

•Read our research report to understand how Alma and similar companies operate: New Research Reveals Therapists’ Concerns About Corporate Practice Management Companies (PMCs).

•

•Visit our Private Practice Toolkit to learn business tips on how to create your own independent private practice, and also the key questions you need to ask prior to using a practice management company.

•

•Read this new article, Holding the Frame in an Era of Corporate Care, by our Chair and Co-Founder, Linda Michaels, to understand how and why the erosion of clinicians’ autonomy is so problematic.

•

If you work with Alma, sign this

•If you work with Alma, sign this petition drafted by the Mental Health Insurance Reform Task Force of Build Better Health.

•

Contact your elected officials

•Regardless of whether or not you work with Alma or any practice management company, contact your state and national elected representatives and tell them you support mental health parity (such as Illinois HB1085) and anti-vertical-integration policies (such as S. 3822: Break Up Big Medicine Act). PsiAN is supporting the Break Up Big Medicine Act and is a member of the coalition fighting for it. Tell your elected officials why this is important to you and how you are being negatively impacted by private equity, venture capital, big tech, and big insurance.

•See a sample statement below.*

•

•Find your representatives here.

•

•

Get connected, stay involved

•Join us at PsiAN and become a sustaining member. Through the power of our collective action, we can push back and successfully stand up for the principles and ethics of effective psychotherapy.

•

•If you are a leader of a professional association or group, reach out to us to partner on advocacy efforts.

•

•Don’t lose hope! These problems were created by humans and can be solved with collective action. This is absolutely not “just the way it is.” A better, more equitable environment for both therapists and our clients is possible.

•

Sample letter, please customize as indicated below and include your own personal thoughts and experiences

Dear Representative [Last Name],

I hope this letter finds you well. My name is [Your Full Name], and I am a constituent residing at [Your Address] in [Your City, State, ZIP Code]. I am a psychotherapist with a degree in [Your discipline] and have been in practice for [X] years. I am writing to express my concerns about the intrusion of venture capital and for-profit health insurance companies into the therapy and mental health fields, and to urge you to take action on this matter.

As your constituent, I strongly believe that legislation is needed to limit vertical integration and market consolidation in healthcare, as well as the intrusion of venture capital, to avoid further degradation of care quality. Mental health services, such as psychotherapy, are unique in the healthcare space in that they require a high level of personal involvement, a trusting relationship with a clinician, time to achieve healing, and the sharing of highly sensitive information with providers. The therapeutic space and intimate patient information must be protected from outside influence and privacy intrusions.

I support S. 3822, the Break Up Big Medicine Act, and state-level legislation such as HB1085 in Illinois, and I respectfully ask that you do the same. These are vital steps needed to ensure people can access private, ethical, and effective mental health services. This issue is deeply personal to me because [share a brief personal connection or impact].

Thank you for your time and attention to this critical issue. I trust that you will represent the best interests of our district and would appreciate a response outlining your position on this matter. Please do not hesitate to contact me at [Your Phone Number] or [Your Email Address] if you require additional information.

Sincerely,[Your Full Name][Your Address][City, State, ZIP Code]

URL: https://www.psian.org/blog/aetna-psychotherapy-reimbursement-cuts

-------------------------------------------------

The Psychotherapy Action Network (PsiAN) advocates for awareness, policies and access to psychotherapies that create meaningful change. They offer membership and educational events.

Learn more at https://www.psian.org .

The PsiAN blog can be found at: https://www.psian.org/blog

This news robot is NOT officially affiliated with PsiAN. It merely rebroadcasts from their blog. Responses posted here are not monitored by PsiAN.

-------------------------------------------------

#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #PsiAN #psychotherapist #psychoanalytic #psychodynamic #depththerapy #AetnasReimbursementCuts #TherapistPayRights #MentalHealthParity #PrivatePracticeAdvocacy #BreakUpBigMedicine #PracticeManagementCompanies #PsychotherapyAccess #AlmaSpringHealth #PsiAN #IndependentPracticeMatter

DATE: June 12, 2026 at 08:00AM
SOURCE: PsiAN Psychotherapy Action Network

TITLE: Headway's Biometric Verification Requirement: What Therapists Need to Know

URL: https://www.psian.org/blog/headway-biometric-verification

In April 2026, Headway sent an email to the therapists and patients on its platform with a new requirement: patients and therapists are required to use facial scan verification, linked to a government-issued photo ID, administered through a third-party technology vendor. There is no opt-out. Comply, or leave the platform.

Headway framed this as a safety measure. The company's email told clients the facial image "is never used for anything but identity verification." Headway has since described the process as equivalent to showing your ID at a doctor's office.

That comparison does not hold. And the consequences of accepting it uncritically are serious for the entire field.

What Headway Actually IsHeadway claims that it is not a clinical provider. It does not diagnose, treat, or provide psychotherapy. It is a billing and referral intermediary, a practice management company that connects patients to therapists, manages insurance credentialing and claims, and takes a portion of each reimbursement. But with more than 70,000 clinicians on its platform delivering therapy services, Headway has raised over $225 million in venture capital funding, reached a $2.3 billion valuation, and has built commercial partnerships with more than 70 insurance plans, including Blue Cross Blue Shield plans and Cigna's Evernorth division.

Those partnerships matter. Companies like Headway, Alma, and Rula are funded by and increasingly intertwined with and directed by the insurance companies that control how and how much clinicians get paid. When a billing platform's financial interests are structurally aligned with the insurance industry, its decisions are not neutral administrative choices. They are commercial decisions with clinical consequences; the benefits go to the platform, while the risks and harms are experienced by the therapists and the therapy-going public

Requiring biometric data collection from patients seeking mental health care is one of those decisions.

The Irreversibility ProblemIdentity verification for fraud prevention is not new in healthcare. Licensed psychotherapists and insurance payers have long used it for specific, regulated purposes, including controlled substance prescribing and insurance eligibility. What is new is a billing intermediary requiring facial geometry scans from every patient and every psychotherapist on its network, without exception, as a condition of continued access to care.

The specific harm here is not hypothetical. Biometric identifiers are permanent. When biometric data is linked to mental health records, diagnoses, medication histories, and session notes, the combination creates a data profile that is genuinely alarming. It cannot be anonymized after the fact. It cannot be revoked. Headway's biometric data policy is publicly available at headway.co/legal/biometric-data-policy.

Headway has contracted with Persona, a venture-backed identity technology company, to provide this biometric verification service. In February 2026, Persona became the subject of controversy after a security researcher discovered publicly exposed code from the company. As that article states, “deeper concerns arise about the source of the data. When users submit their IDs and selfies for verification on popular platforms, the data likely ends up being analyzed and resold for many other purposes.”

Whatever assurances Headway offers about HIPAA-compliant processes, the involvement of a third-party technology vendor means patient biometric data now sits with an entity entirely outside the clinical relationship, one with its own data infrastructure, its own investors, and its own incentives.

Who Bears the Highest RiskNot all patients bear this risk equally. The people most endangered by a biometric record linked to their mental health treatment are the people psychotherapy already struggles hardest to reach and retain.

This policy is especially dangerous for transgender clients, whose biometric identity records may not align with their legal name or gender documentation, creating exposure risks that extend well beyond a data breach. It is also dangerous for undocumented individuals, for survivors of stalking and domestic violence, and for anyone who sought care during a moment of acute vulnerability and trusted that the treatment relationship was a protected space.

Requiring a facial scan as a condition of mental health care does not just create abstract privacy risk. For specific, identifiable populations, it creates concrete, direct harm.

What This Does to The Therapeutic RelationshipEffective psychotherapy requires safety, trust, and the patient's sense that the clinical space is protected from outside intrusion. Often, the creation of a trusting relationship with a therapist is an achievement and key marker of progress.

Patients who are already navigating individual or institutional distrust, who may have spent months building a working alliance with their therapist, are now told: use this technology or lose access to care, resulting in clinical harm that may be hard to rectify.

The Broader PatternHeadway's data practices have already drawn legal scrutiny. The company has faced class-action litigation over allegations that it shared sensitive mental health information with Google without explicit user consent, and collected more personal and health information than necessary to provide its services. That history is relevant context for evaluating the weight of the company's current assurances about biometric data.

Headway's biometric policy is the latest in a series of decisions by venture-backed practice management companies to change their policies that affect clinical territory without consideration or accountability. These platforms have restructured how therapists get paid, imposed session limits tied to insurance protocols, reduced reimbursement rates without clinician input, and now require patients to submit biometric data as a condition of accessing the therapist they chose.

What We Are Doing and What You Can DoPsychotherapy Action Network is tracking this issue and will continue to speak publicly as it develops. We are watching for regulatory and legislative responses, monitoring the actions of other practice management companies, and documenting how policies like this affect psychotherapists and patients and access to care.

If you are a clinician currently using Headway or a similar platform, we encourage you to review the terms of your provider agreement, understand what biometric data you and your patients are being asked to provide, and consider what your ethical obligations are in the context of informed consent. Talk to your patients. Make sure they understand what they are agreeing to. Assess the risks and benefits of continuing to do business with Headway, for your patients and your practice.

Business decisions for clinical practice are often clinical decisions. This one should belong to clinicians and patients, not to a practice management platform. Define clearly for yourself what your professional values and ethics are, and use those as a guide in navigating issues like this one.

Read Our Research on Practice Management Companies

Read Our Guide for Evaluating Practice Management Companies

Check Out the Private Practice Hub

Stand with us by becoming a sustaining member today.

URL: https://www.psian.org/blog/headway-biometric-verification

-------------------------------------------------

The Psychotherapy Action Network (PsiAN) advocates for awareness, policies and access to psychotherapies that create meaningful change. They offer membership and educational events.

Learn more at https://www.psian.org .

The PsiAN blog can be found at: https://www.psian.org/blog

This news robot is NOT officially affiliated with PsiAN. It merely rebroadcasts from their blog. Responses posted here are not monitored by PsiAN.

-------------------------------------------------

#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #PsiAN #psychotherapist #psychoanalytic #psychodynamic #depththerapy #HeadwaysBiometricVerification #TherapistSafety #MentalHealthPrivacy #BiometricDataPolicy #IdentityVerificationInHealthcare #TherapyAccessRights #TransgenderPrivacy #UndocumentedCare #PracticeManagementCompanies #PsychotherapyEthics

DATE: June 12, 2026 at 08:00AM
SOURCE: PsiAN Psychotherapy Action Network

TITLE: Headway's Biometric Verification Requirement: What Therapists Need to Know

URL: https://www.psian.org/blog/headway-biometric-verification

In April 2026, Headway sent an email to the therapists and patients on its platform with a new requirement: patients and therapists are required to use facial scan verification, linked to a government-issued photo ID, administered through a third-party technology vendor. There is no opt-out. Comply, or leave the platform.

Headway framed this as a safety measure. The company's email told clients the facial image "is never used for anything but identity verification." Headway has since described the process as equivalent to showing your ID at a doctor's office.

That comparison does not hold. And the consequences of accepting it uncritically are serious for the entire field.

What Headway Actually IsHeadway claims that it is not a clinical provider. It does not diagnose, treat, or provide psychotherapy. It is a billing and referral intermediary, a practice management company that connects patients to therapists, manages insurance credentialing and claims, and takes a portion of each reimbursement. But with more than 70,000 clinicians on its platform delivering therapy services, Headway has raised over $225 million in venture capital funding, reached a $2.3 billion valuation, and has built commercial partnerships with more than 70 insurance plans, including Blue Cross Blue Shield plans and Cigna's Evernorth division.

Those partnerships matter. Companies like Headway, Alma, and Rula are funded by and increasingly intertwined with and directed by the insurance companies that control how and how much clinicians get paid. When a billing platform's financial interests are structurally aligned with the insurance industry, its decisions are not neutral administrative choices. They are commercial decisions with clinical consequences; the benefits go to the platform, while the risks and harms are experienced by the therapists and the therapy-going public

Requiring biometric data collection from patients seeking mental health care is one of those decisions.

The Irreversibility ProblemIdentity verification for fraud prevention is not new in healthcare. Licensed psychotherapists and insurance payers have long used it for specific, regulated purposes, including controlled substance prescribing and insurance eligibility. What is new is a billing intermediary requiring facial geometry scans from every patient and every psychotherapist on its network, without exception, as a condition of continued access to care.

The specific harm here is not hypothetical. Biometric identifiers are permanent. When biometric data is linked to mental health records, diagnoses, medication histories, and session notes, the combination creates a data profile that is genuinely alarming. It cannot be anonymized after the fact. It cannot be revoked. Headway's biometric data policy is publicly available at headway.co/legal/biometric-data-policy.

Headway has contracted with Persona, a venture-backed identity technology company, to provide this biometric verification service. In February 2026, Persona became the subject of controversy after a security researcher discovered publicly exposed code from the company. As that article states, “deeper concerns arise about the source of the data. When users submit their IDs and selfies for verification on popular platforms, the data likely ends up being analyzed and resold for many other purposes.”

Whatever assurances Headway offers about HIPAA-compliant processes, the involvement of a third-party technology vendor means patient biometric data now sits with an entity entirely outside the clinical relationship, one with its own data infrastructure, its own investors, and its own incentives.

Who Bears the Highest RiskNot all patients bear this risk equally. The people most endangered by a biometric record linked to their mental health treatment are the people psychotherapy already struggles hardest to reach and retain.

This policy is especially dangerous for transgender clients, whose biometric identity records may not align with their legal name or gender documentation, creating exposure risks that extend well beyond a data breach. It is also dangerous for undocumented individuals, for survivors of stalking and domestic violence, and for anyone who sought care during a moment of acute vulnerability and trusted that the treatment relationship was a protected space.

Requiring a facial scan as a condition of mental health care does not just create abstract privacy risk. For specific, identifiable populations, it creates concrete, direct harm.

What This Does to The Therapeutic RelationshipEffective psychotherapy requires safety, trust, and the patient's sense that the clinical space is protected from outside intrusion. Often, the creation of a trusting relationship with a therapist is an achievement and key marker of progress.

Patients who are already navigating individual or institutional distrust, who may have spent months building a working alliance with their therapist, are now told: use this technology or lose access to care, resulting in clinical harm that may be hard to rectify.

The Broader PatternHeadway's data practices have already drawn legal scrutiny. The company has faced class-action litigation over allegations that it shared sensitive mental health information with Google without explicit user consent, and collected more personal and health information than necessary to provide its services. That history is relevant context for evaluating the weight of the company's current assurances about biometric data.

Headway's biometric policy is the latest in a series of decisions by venture-backed practice management companies to change their policies that affect clinical territory without consideration or accountability. These platforms have restructured how therapists get paid, imposed session limits tied to insurance protocols, reduced reimbursement rates without clinician input, and now require patients to submit biometric data as a condition of accessing the therapist they chose.

What We Are Doing and What You Can DoPsychotherapy Action Network is tracking this issue and will continue to speak publicly as it develops. We are watching for regulatory and legislative responses, monitoring the actions of other practice management companies, and documenting how policies like this affect psychotherapists and patients and access to care.

If you are a clinician currently using Headway or a similar platform, we encourage you to review the terms of your provider agreement, understand what biometric data you and your patients are being asked to provide, and consider what your ethical obligations are in the context of informed consent. Talk to your patients. Make sure they understand what they are agreeing to. Assess the risks and benefits of continuing to do business with Headway, for your patients and your practice.

Business decisions for clinical practice are often clinical decisions. This one should belong to clinicians and patients, not to a practice management platform. Define clearly for yourself what your professional values and ethics are, and use those as a guide in navigating issues like this one.

Read Our Research on Practice Management Companies

Read Our Guide for Evaluating Practice Management Companies

Check Out the Private Practice Hub

Stand with us by becoming a sustaining member today.

URL: https://www.psian.org/blog/headway-biometric-verification

-------------------------------------------------

The Psychotherapy Action Network (PsiAN) advocates for awareness, policies and access to psychotherapies that create meaningful change. They offer membership and educational events.

Learn more at https://www.psian.org .

The PsiAN blog can be found at: https://www.psian.org/blog

This news robot is NOT officially affiliated with PsiAN. It merely rebroadcasts from their blog. Responses posted here are not monitored by PsiAN.

-------------------------------------------------

#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #PsiAN #psychotherapist #psychoanalytic #psychodynamic #depththerapy #HeadwaysBiometricVerification #TherapistSafety #MentalHealthPrivacy #BiometricDataPolicy #IdentityVerificationInHealthcare #TherapyAccessRights #TransgenderPrivacy #UndocumentedCare #PracticeManagementCompanies #PsychotherapyEthics