Your Own Insurance Contracts, In Your Own Practice
AdvanceAPractice can handle credentialing for your own practice while you’re still seeing clients on Headway, Alma or Grow. Your platform panels belong to the platform’s group contract, so the ones you build with us are yours. We prepare and submit every application, follow each one until the payer gives its decision in writing, and you keep seeing clients the whole time.
What’s True About Platform Panels
If you’re planning your own payer relationships, our guide From Headway or Rula to Your Own Practice walks through the contracts, Tax IDs and payment setup involved.
- Claims on Headway, Alma and Grow go out under the platform’s group contract and Tax ID, not your own. Alma says its credentialing is under Alma’s tax ID, and Grow says its payer contracts treat it as a national group practice.
- Headway says its credentialing doesn’t affect your independent credentialing.
- Starting state by state in November 2026, Headway says it charges a $9.99 marketplace service fee on every appointment with a new client who finds you through its marketplace, for as long as you see that client. Clients you add yourself or who book through your direct link don’t carry the fee. Headway marketplace service fee
- Keep the platform’s practice location in CAQH until your own contracts are effective. Headway says deleting it can trigger an involuntary network termination.
- Your clients choose where they continue care. You can build your own insurance contracts while you’re still on a platform, and we time your launch so your existing clients can follow you if they want to.
- Each payer sets its own timeline. Headway quotes 15 to 30 days for some panels and 90 to 120 for others.
What each platform says about your contracts and clients when you leave: Leaving Rula, Headway, Grow Or Alma?
Effective Cost Estimator
Run Your Own Numbers
Enter what you see today and what you’d realistically expect on your own contracts. This is a planning estimate using your inputs, not a quote, and not a promise of any specific payer rate or approval.
Estimate only, based on the numbers you entered. Actual results depend on your payer contracts, approvals, coding, collections, and volume, and none of them are promised. Direct contracted rates vary by payer, specialty, geography, and negotiation.
Which Package Fits
First Practice Launch
Starting your own practice (therapists, counselors and psych NPs leaving a platform).
$6,000
Five payers included. Add more at checkout. Pay in full, or $1,500 a month for four months.
Buy Now
- NPI and business registration guidance
- Payer portals with EFT and ERA enrollment
- EHR selection and setup
- Scheduling and medical billing configuration, so medical billing is set up by the time your contracts are effective
- Most questions answered within one business day, and up to two meetings a month if you need them
Individual Provider Credentialing
Already set up with your own business and EHR, and just need panels.
$1,200 for two payers
$500 setup plus $350 for each payer. Pay in full, or monthly at the same total.
Buy Now- Payer accounts and CAQH/DataSpring alignment
- Payer portal registration, EFT and ERA enrollment
- We stay on each payer until it gives a written effective date
- Most questions answered within one business day, and up to two meetings a month if you need them
Already A Group Practice On Headway?
If your practice already has its own Tax ID and Type 2 NPI and two or more providers bill through Headway, Direct Payer Contracting puts the payer contracts in your practice’s name. It’s a $1,000 setup fee per provider plus $500 per payer, with a two payer minimum and 10% off for 2 to 4 providers. Pair it with Ongoing Billing and one team takes over both the contracts and the claims when you leave Headway.
Three providers adding two payers each comes to $3,000 in setup fees plus six payer applications at $500, or $6,000, and the 10% group discount brings it to $5,400. Ongoing Billing for 2 to 5 providers is 6.5% of collections with a $275 monthly minimum per provider.
What You Need
- Your Type 1 NPI, with your name matching your license.
- A current CAQH/DataSpring profile. We review it with you; you attest it.
- Malpractice coverage for your own practice.
- A way to bill, usually an EHR. First Practice Launch sets this up with you.
How It Works
You’ll get an onboarding packet from us, everything uploads once into a secure workspace, and we start within three business days of getting it back. We review your CAQH and your documents and let you know if anything’s missing. Then we finalize and submit the applications in coordination with you. We stay on each one until the payer gives us its decision in writing. You’ll see where each payer stands, not one average.
We confirm every payer in each state before we apply. Questions are part of working with us, during setup and for as long as you’re a client. Send them in the Command Suite or by email, and we reply within one business day, usually the same day. If a question turns into new work, like a new build or a change to something we built, we send a written quote before we start.
Questions Clinicians Ask
Can I Get My Own Insurance Contracts If I’m On Headway, Alma, Grow Or Rula?
Yes. Headway, Alma and Grow send claims under the platform’s group contract, so the panels you hold there aren’t yours, and contracts in your own practice name are separate applications to each payer. Alma says its credentialing is under Alma’s tax ID. We prepare and submit the applications and follow each one until the payer gives its decision in writing while you keep seeing clients.
If I Leave Headway Or Alma, Do I Keep My Insurance Panels?
No. Those panels sit under the platform’s group contract and Tax ID. To keep seeing insured clients after you leave, you need contracts in your own practice name, which is what we set up.
Can I Start My Own Credentialing While I’m Still On Headway Or Alma?
Yes. Each payer has its own participation rules, and we check them for every payer before we apply.
Who Owns The Contracts You Set Up?
You do. They’re in your practice name with your Tax ID, and the portal logins are yours.
Can I Take My Clients With Me?
Your clients choose where they continue care. You can build your own insurance contracts while you’re still on a platform, and we time your launch so your existing clients can follow you if they want to.
How Long Does It Take?
It’s set by each payer. Some panels finish in about a month and others take three to four months. We follow up with every payer until there’s a written effective date.
Do I Need A Type 2 NPI?
If you bill as an individual, your Type 1 NPI is usually enough. If you bill through an LLC or PLLC, payers usually want a Type 2 NPI for the business. First Practice Launch walks you through it.
What Happens To My CAQH Profile?
It stays yours. Keep the platform’s location on it until your own contracts are effective, then remove it.
Is First Practice Launch Only For Brand New Clinicians?
No. It’s for anyone opening their own practice, including experienced clinicians leaving a platform. If your practice, business and EHR are already set up and you only need panels, Individual Provider Credentialing fits.