Rula: Attractive Practice Management Site for Therapists

If you’re a psychological therapist looking for an inexpensive and low-maintenance way to find clients and run your own practice, you should know about Rula.

What is Rula?

Rula is an online therapy organization that enlists freelance therapists with a vast array of specialties to provide care for patients.

How it works

If you want to sign up with Rula, you’ll fill out a short form and make an appointment with a Rula representative, who will answer questions and find out more about you. You will need to be licensed as a Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist (LMFT), Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW), Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor (LPCC), or Licensed Psychologist in at least one U.S. state or Washington D.C.

You also must live in the U.S. and be able to provide telehealth services.

If you qualify and choose to join the network, you’ll need to fill out an extensive profile that goes through your work history, licenses, eduction, training, specialties and your provider license numbers, which allow you to bill insurance companies. You’ll also note the location where you practice and provide references.

The site will then submit your information to the insurance companies it works with to get you “credentialed.” This simply allows Rula to bill these insurers for your services.

Once this process is complete — it usually takes about 3 weeks — Rula will add you to the system directory. This directory is used by customers of about 100 insurance companies when they’re looking for therapists.

Rula Review

If you’re just getting started in any type of psychological therapy — i.e. cognitive, behavioral, occupational, family, marital, talk, medication management, etc.  — Rula can help you find your first clients.

Rula is a psychological therapy provider that contracts with independent psychiatrists, phycologists and other mental health professionals to provide services for their clients. Clients come from the 100 + insurers (including Medicare and Medicaid) that contract with Rula.

Pros

The benefit to working with this company is simple: Referrals. In many areas, Rula provides regular referrals of clients whose insurance will pay for your client’s therapy. You, as the therapist also get to decide how many clients to take, when to take them and how to provide sessions — i.e. online or in person. (In some states, Rula works primarily with tele-therapy, however.)

The site also pays you for no-shows, late cancellations and you don’t have to wait for the insurer to pay. Rula pays on time every time.

Additional work

Meanwhile, because you are not an employee, you can also book your own clients outside of the Rula platform. And, with your own clients, you charge whatever rates you want. Rula only sets rates for the clients it sends you. It does not intrude on your own practice.

Indeed, you can work with other practice management companies, such as Grow Therapy while you work with Rula too. The only down side to this is you will need to keep close track of your calendar to avoid double-bookings.

Cons

The downside? Rula sets your rates. You are going to earn $70 – $90 an hour, depending on where you are and what type of mental health service you provide. And that may be less than you could charge on your own.

Finally, because you are not an employee, you get no employee benefits through Rula. If you want health insurance, paid time off or any of the other benefits of working for an employer, you need to look elsewhere. You will also need to buy your own medical malpractice insurance.

They’re in charge

Another downside is that what Rula gives, it can also take away. Several therapists who worked with Rula said they were suddenly and summarily dismissed and their appointments cancelled, when the site decided to no longer do business with them. According to these therapists, Rula gave no warning nor explanation.

Additionally, Rula doesn’t have enough referral business in some markets to keep all therapists busy, particularly if the therapist wants to work solely a traditional Monday-through-Friday schedule. Several therapists complain that when they gripe about not getting sufficient referrals, Rula suggest they open up night and weekend hours.

Rules

If you do work with Rula, the site will also provide you with a format for taking session notes; set up sessions in 60-minute blocks; and bill the insurance companies on your behalf. Rula will also regularly survey your clients to make sure they’re satisfied with your services.

This may be why some therapists have been booted from the platform. And, in some instances, it’s also a source of complaints from therapists who say they feel “micro-managed.”

Pay

Therapists are paid every other week via direct deposit.

Recommendations

Joining any referral network — particularly one that bills insurance companies for you — is going to involve following rules and getting feedback. We don’t see that as being “micro-managed.” Thus, we see little downside to signing up with Rula and other practice management organizations, such as Grow Therapy and Alma.

You can sign up with Rula here.

What their users say (from Indeed)

Easy scheduling system that reduces administrative work, Billing and insurance handled by Rula saving time and hassle, Responsive and supportive team available to answer questions, Steady stream of clients without needing to market yourself.

Awesome company with autonomy, professional documentation and follow up care, steady referrals and excellent pay. RULA has been responsive to questions I have asked and always ready to support when needed.

They fill up your caseload with clients quickly. But they operate more like a W2 employer. They do a lot of micromanaging. They regularly review your notes, time your sessions, and are regularly adding more work for clinicians in their system. There is also no differential pay for intakes or room to negotiate the hourly rate.

Not enough clients

I contracted with Rula as a licensed therapist after being promised a full caseload and flexible telehealth opportunities. Unfortunately, my experience has fallen far short of expectations.

Despite onboarding assurances, I’ve had only five clients over several months. Most clients disengage after only a few sessions, and there’s little clarity on how clients are matched or supported to stay in care. Caseload promises were simply not fulfilled.

Not happy