Amesbury Psychological Center or the Center is a multidisciplinary mental health care practice offering substance abuse and mental health services in the Merrimack River Valley. Our goal is to provide high-quality, cost-effective care. Our mission is to create, promote, and maintain a positive customer relationship with our clients, Anna Jaques Hospital (AJH), payors, associates and staff, and our community.
The market for services in behavioral health is growing, as demonstrated by the expansion of the Center’s operations over the past two years. Massachusetts recently passed a bill on mental health parity that will go into effect in the first month. This bill requires that insurance companies offer benefits for biologically-based behavioral health disorders in the same way as for other health disorders. This will allow for continued growth. Currently, the Outpatient Psychiatric Center is referring approximately four phone calls a day to other providers.
The key to success for this turnkey project includes:
- An ability to transfer existing hospital behavioral health contracts to the Center.
- Credentialing clinicians in a timely manner.
- Obtaining initial working capital.
- Working with clinicians at affordable rates
- Successfully developing and implementing a billing and collection program.
- Listening to your customers and meeting their needs.
- How to obtain a medicaid supplier number
The business plan provides a map for sustaining growth, improving revenue collections, and increasing our bottom line to produce a profit.
1.1 Objectives
Goal 1 – To constantly develop, strengthen, or improve the services offered at the Center.
- Strengthen the current payor mix by developing and maintaining strategic alliances with five major behavioral health managed care companies.
- Identify and develop strategic alliances with three community human service and addiction agencies.
- Find and foster strategic alliances or networks with eight community health group practices.
- Two months prior to the start date, transfer and/or hire 80%.
- Two months prior the date of your start date, establish and implement a billing method.
- Increase the expected receipts by 40% compared to the previous year
- Increase in all services provided by the Center by 80%, compared with the previous year.
- Arrange working capital to fund the initial phase.
Goal 2: To strengthen the Center’s commitment to excellence.
- Three in-service trainings are offered to improve customer service. They focus on client satisfaction, accessibility, treatment, and staff-client interactions.
- Continuously assess referral base satisfaction through the use of a referral base satisfaction survey.
- Assess client satisfaction continuously from three perspectives: accessibility and environmental factors.
1.2 Mission
To promote the well being of individuals and families within the Merrimack valley community by providing accessible, high quality substance abuse/addiction and mental health care for children and adolescents as well as adults. The service system is designed to foster trust, respect, confidentiality, compassion, and a sense of belonging. We are committed to quality mental health care that is provided in a collaborative effort with consumers’ overall health strategies and an array of medical services. We are further committed to the philosophy that we exist for the customer/client.
1.3 Keys for Success
- Before you start your project, secure working capital.
- Be profitable on a forward basis by the seventh month of the first fiscal year.
- Be cash flow positive within the seventh month.
- Being affiliated with a well-respected community acute-care hospital.
- Managed Care friendliness through collaboration, accessibility, clinical focus, and accessibility
- Center services made available to the community.
- Determine a medicaid number and develop an interim plan that will allow you to function during the application stage.
- Staff commitment to excellence as evidenced by the Center’s growth and customer satisfaction.
- Accessibility and responsiveness to the Center’s customers.
