350 Broadway St, Ste. 210, Boulder, CO 80305                             Phone: 303-444-1036         Fax: 303-444-1059                     Email: boulderpsychotherapistsguild@gmail.com

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Information for Therapists

Available Office Space Listings

• Part-time space available in beautiful townhome style office (Broomfield). Suite shared with experienced therapists. Referrals possible. Wednesdays or Thursdays are current available options.
Call Marge Theeman, Ph.D. at 303-692-4897.

• Newer office space available for rent on Saturdays, Sundays, and Mondays.  North Boulder location in the “new downtown”.  Close to Amante Coffee, Spruce Confections, and several wonderful restaurants. Close to several beautiful trails. Very nicely suited for working with individuals, children and families. Serenely decorated, painted by artist, spacious with high ceiling--yet quiet.  Comfortably & very attractively furnished,  healthy / beautiful plants. New kitchenette--dorm fridge, sink, glass shelving with tea, cups, plates, more.  New bathroom.  Parking.  Contact Kathy Kinskey, M.A., L.P.C. at 303-443-1220 or info@kinskeytherapy.com.

• (11/9/09) Exceptional, large office space, available Tues or Wed, and Sat, or any morning. Friendly office mates, kitchen, free parking, great mountain views, separate waiting room, elevator, bus line. Flatiron Medical Bldg, 350 Broadway, just south of Baseline. Call Kevin Kelly at 720-270-4716.

• (4/1/10) Modern, spacious office with shared waiting room near Boulder’s Foothills Hospital. Large enough for families and groups. Very convenient location with ample free parking and close to public transportation. Available all Friday. For more information, call Sharon at 303-444-2003.

• (4/26/10) I am looking to share office space at the historic Arbor House, 2043 Pearl Street, Boulder. This quiet, tastefully furnished first-floor, handicap-accessible office is suitable for individual, couple or small-group counseling. It is available Mondays through Thursdays until 11AM; Fridays until 2PM; and all-day Saturdays. The Arbor House was designed for psychotherapists, and those of us who work here benefit from collegial relationships as well as inter-office referrals. The building features beautiful gardens; soundproofing; individually controlled heating and air conditioning; a security system; a well-appointed waiting room with lending library, tea station, and signal system for offices; fax and copying machines; a kitchenette area; a cleaning service; tenant parking; and easy access to public transportation as well as restaurants and coffee shops. Please contact Dr. Evi Bassoff, licensed psychologist, at 303-449-5833 or eviboulder@gmail.com.

• (4/26/10) Office space for rent in building that serves attorneys and mental health professionals. Several offices available, competitive rents, free parking. Located in west central Boulder. Call 303.444.6428.

• (4/26/10) Professional office space for lease in suite with therapists. Full-time. Available as of April 1. Great location with lots of parking in professional building with other health professionals. Office offers lots of natural light with beautiful views and is spacious enough for groups of 12 but also perfect for private consults. The suite provides lots of amenities such as professional waiting room with switchboard, sound system, break room with Eldorado water service, microwave, and copier. The office is located at Centennial Creek Office Park at 2975 Valmont Street in Boulder. If you have any questions or are interested in viewing, please contact Lisa at (303) 517-8081, Elizabeth at (303) 448-1556, or Elyn at (720) 837-3754.

• (5/18/10) Louisville Medical Space Available. (Huge Rate Reduction. Landlord says, “GET IT LEASED!”) 1519 rsf available – 5 offices with open area, private and commons bathrooms, parking on-site. Tenant mix is acupuncturists, massage therapists, skin care salon. Contact Chris Boston – 303-586-5930 or cboston@gibbonswhite.com.

• (7/16/10)  Office for rent in Professional Office Suite.  Looking for a practitioner who is mature, professional and well established.  Located in North Boulder (NoBo) at 14th and Yarmouth.  Perfect for an acupuncturist or psychotherapist the office is situated in a suite that houses a group of mutually supportive natural medicine practitioners that includes two chiropractic/nutritional medicine physicians, a rolfer, and two massage therapists. The office for lease has both a private and shared entrance and has North and West facing windows allowing excellent light. It is very spacious with 15-foot ceilings.  Rent includes all utilities and use of a very spacious waiting room.  The room size is approximately 15 x 11.  Available July 1st. Cost is $750 per month + one month rent for the deposit. Lease is required and minimum lease-term would be one year.  We are willing to consider two part-time people sharing the room.  Please contact Savannah at 303-939-0004 for details.

• (8/23/10) Office space to share in charming building in downtown Louisville on Front Street. Parking, handicap accessible, kitchenette, conference room, waiting area, clean, quiet, secure building. $225 for all day (and evening) Tuesday and Wednesday, as well as shared time on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Air conditioning, heat, and snow removal included. Close to great restaurants. Office space is good for couples and individuals. I have seen families and groups in conference room. Building houses psychotherapists, massage therapists and other healing professionals. Official start date would be November 1, 2010, but could accommodate anyone wishing to start sooner. Space available for showing now. Contact Roz Bard, LPC, at 303-378-1887 or rbardpsyd@infionline.net.

• (8/31/10) 2 beautiful, quiet, unfurnished office spaces with lots of windows and natural light and private waiting room in renovated Victorian medical building, three blocks from Pearl Street. Free parking for therapist and patient on site. $550 and $595 per month, one-year lease. Available October 1, 2010. Please call Anne at 303-444-4145 or 303-443-6881.

• (10/2/10) Chic downtown space with fabulous SW-facing deck for between-session restoration. Furnished in clean, modern style with brand new Ekornes/Stressless chair. This is the best office. I love it here and so will you. The office is in a suite with other licensed, established therapists. Amenities include: waiting room, group room, Internet & fax, tea/water/coffee service, your after-hours parking space, lovely courtyard and the delicious Arabesque Cafe below. Office is available Tuesday / Thursday after 2:00, any evening after 6:00 and all weekend. $185/mo. Clients always seem to ask for Saturdays. Please call Sara 303-443-3637. I can show it to you today!

• (11/25/10) Terrific psychotherapy office in historic landmark home, The Arbor House, on east Pearl. Office has pitched ceiling, west and north facing opening windows, soundproofing, individual heat and air conditioning, built in bookcases and elegant furnishings. Amenities include kitchenette, central office with copier, fax, internet hookup, personal parking space, homey waiting room with tea service. On the street unmetered parking for clients. On the Hop busline. Seven psychotherapy offices in the building makes for peace and quiet. Collegial relationships are warm and inter-office referral network is strong. When clients walk in the room, they make themselves at home and want to stay. Must be licensed. Office available Monday, Saturday, Sunday or evenings after 6PM. Rent to be determined by number of days. Will rent Mondays only, i.e. or by the hour. Contact: Ina Robbins at 303-449-6878 or inarobbins@comcast.net.

• (11/25/10) Peaceful, very attractive office space available for sublet on the first floor of the Tree House Building at 737 29th Street, just off of Baseline and 28th. Great location to see students and clients from Denver. This private first floor office has its own waiting room, bathroom and deck off of the sliding glass doors looking out on a little pond and lovely trees. It also has cork floors and fresh paint. Building houses healers and therapists as well as a yoga studio. Available Monday or Tuesday and Thursday at $150 a month for one day and $275 for both days. Prefer to begin January 1 but can negotiate an earlier start date. Short term sublease through the end of April or May also negotiable. Call Anne at 720-839-4741.

• (12/6/10) Lovely, FURNISHED, WEEKEND office, for counseling, massage, and/or small yoga/healing classes: $90/Mo. for Saturdays, $75/mo for Sundays, $150 for both days. Near 30th and Arapahoe in Boulder, with a Zen garden atrium. Large 10x18 reception room and even larger 10x20 session room, big enough for groups. Large windows that open, 10 small and large plants, designed by an interior designer, Chinese, Japanese, and Nepalese art. Antiques. Elevator and covered parking Quiet, with extra insulation for sound. Hot/cold bottled water. Please call Jim at 303.534.8717 for a showing.

• (12/14/10)  A prime office location in building within long-established medical practice on Spruce and 26th.  I am looking to lease with a flexible schedule that would work amicably for all.  This office comes with a separate waiting area, bath.  It has been newly decorated in an urban style within this original brick historical interior.  There is a separate area that is used for office or play if needed.  The office is handicap accessible with ample parking.  I am looking for a licensed psychotherapists or certified coach who would love to collaborate with me in my practice, Pursuits Coaching and Psychotherapy, Inc.  For more information, please contact Sharla at 720-304-2731.

Self-Pay Clients, Not Insurance Companies, Deserve a Discount

Copyright ©2004 Ivan J. Miller, Ph. D.
(Published in 2004 in the Independent Practitioner, 24(4), p 166-167.)

I am often asked about the legality and ethics of giving self-pay clients a discount so that they pay less than an insurance company. I am asked about these discounts because I am President of an organization of 78 psychotherapists in Boulder, Colorado, the Boulder Psychotherapists’ Guild, Inc., and we offer clients a 20% discount on individual and family therapy when they pay at the time of service, and there is no paperwork for insurance or any other party. If properly done, this discount is legal and ethical, and moreover, it makes sense, is good business, and does not decrease income.

Strangely, in the perverted world of health care financing, most insurance companies insist on a discount but many clinicians worry that it might be illegal to give a discount to a client. Insurance companies receive the discount in spite of creating paperwork, putting therapists and patients on hold for long time periods when they phone, losing enormous quantities of mail, mismanaging accounts, invading privacy, and generally lowering the quality of life for almost everyone who deals with them. Yet the self-pay client, who is easier to care for administratively due to the absence of insurance bureaucracy, has historically paid the highest fee. This is not only unfair, but it is a poor business practice to make the least time consuming clients pay the most money.

In 1994, when I established the Guild, I decided to address this unfairness. As an organization that is not only dedicated to preserving the integrity of client-focused psychotherapy, but is also intent on serving consumer needs, the discount was incorporated as part of our commitment to consumers. We have two rationales. First, the advertised discount is promised only to clients who state in their initial contact that they are referrals through Guild advertising. As such, the discount is offered in the same manner as discounts are offered to any participant in an insurance plan that has negotiated a lower rate for its members. It is a group discount that could be offered by any businessperson to any group such as seniors, veterans, or professional colleagues. Second, and more general, is the rationale for the discount that I offer in my practice. I give a $30/session discount to any client who pays at the time of service and does not require a statement that can be submitted to insurance or other paperwork. I explain the reason for the two fees is that I have two levels of service. One level, the discounted service, is consultation and therapy. The second level is consultation and therapy plus hassling with insurance companies or other third parties.

The discount is actually just a method of appropriately pricing services. In other businesses, shipping and handling charges or other administrative charges may be added on top of the sale of a product or service. It is no different than offering a cash discount because it saves administrative and billing expenses. In dealing with insurance, however, the additional expenses cannot be specified in advance and need to be spread over all insured. As clinicians are well aware, the expense of dealing with insurance is enormous. The hours of pursuing mishandled claims are extensive. When clients submit their own claims, I have still found that insurance can ask for additional paperwork. Even an insurance company that has historically handled claims efficiently and properly can change management and institute onerous practices. Today’s good insurance company can have a financial crisis and become tomorrow’s typical insurance company. It is good business to charge differential rates for the two levels of service.

I have found the price differential between the two levels of service appropriately compensates me for my time. When I bill insurance, I find that the higher fee merely covers the hours of my time dealing with insurance, the stress of dealing with industry-wide incompetence, and insurance company induced brain damage. Because I am compensated, I have a better attitude than when I was dealing with insurance without extra compensation. Furthermore, I have the good feelings that come from knowing that I am not asking my self-pay clients to absorb expenses that are imposed by insurance for other clients. I do not lose income because each level of service is priced to pay for its actual costs.

Fortunately, I do not need to worry about breaking any contractual arrangements with insurance companies because I have not signed any contracts to work for insurance companies. I am always an out-of-network provider. I could not do this if I had agreed to a contractual rate with a company.

In order to keep the two levels of service distinct, I do not give self-pay clients a statement that can be submitted to insurance. I do not include a diagnosis on these statements and sometimes do not include a procedure code. In fact, I do not routinely give statements to self-pay clients unless clients request them. If asked, as a good businessperson, I am glad to provide a statement. These diagnosis-free statements are good enough for clients who have a pre-tax cafeteria plan or medical savings account. They also are good for income tax purposes.

My higher fee for counseling or therapy plus paperwork applies not only to insurance but also to any other third party payer who requires paperwork. One example is the victim’s compensation funds that require progress reports and treatment plans.

Over the past ten years, I have had a few clients who wanted the lower fee, and still wanted a statement that they could submit to insurance. These clients said they would endure the insurance hassles and thought they deserved the discount. I have refused these requests for two reasons. First, I am not going to submit different fees to insurance companies. I have only one fee that goes on insurance statements. Second, I have found that any time insurance is involved; it can turn into a mess. I know how my business works and the potential hassles and the policy is based on that knowledge. I did lose a few clients, but in each case, the potential clients were looking for therapy as a way to manipulate or please someone in their environment. These potential clients seemed to place little value on their therapy and wanted to spend as little money as possible while complying with the requests to get therapy. They were not clients who were unable to afford therapy, and if they were I would have negotiated a sliding scale payment. Overall, I believe my policy makes sense and my clients do as well. Typically, clients emphatically and supportively say they completely understand.

To obtain the discount, I ask clients to pay at the time of service in order to reduce book keeping and administrative expenses. Of course, some clients forget to bring their money. In these cases, I simply explain that I have a system for when clients forget and hand them a self-addressed and stamped envelope so they can mail the payment. Often, when I am putting the stamp on the envelope my clients generously offer that they can provide their own stamp. In response, I politely say that I want to make it easy for them to send me the money. In this exchange, my clients understand that I am serious about the payment at time of service but also am understanding that people can sometimes forget.

I have been asked if it is illegal to charge insurance companies more than clients for the same service. I believe that is illegal, and that there may be insurance fraud laws that specifically prohibit charging insurance more than the established rate. However, this is not what I advocate or do. I have different levels of service. I understand that we should set our fees for each type of service and not raise fees for one customer unless there is a policy with a rationale. Once fees are set, we can offer discounts for insurance companies, payment at the time of service, sliding scales, or what we call in the Guild, “no administrative services” discount. Each of the discounts should have a sensible rationale, and it would be unethical to charge a client or an insurance company more on an arbitrary basis or just because they could pay more.

Having advocated discounts for self-pay clients, there is one caveat that I need to raise. Insurance is regulated by state law, and anyone who offers clients a self-pay discount should review all state laws on insurance fraud and professional billing policies. These state laws may change the way that discounts need to be offered.

Discounts for self-pay clients make sense. They also make a statement that insurance should be paying the increased administrative costs of delivering health care. Let us give the self-pay clients the break they earn by keeping us out of the insurance quagmire.

Guild Members offer a 20% "no administration" discount for outpatient individual, couples and family therapy when you pay at the time of service, there is no insurance or other paperwork, and you request the Guild discount when agreeing to fees at the beginning of therapy.

Call the Guild at 303-444-1036
Please contact the developer with suggestions at:
boulderpsychotherapistsguild@gmail.com