Let’s be honest. Most graduate programs do a great job teaching you how to help clients, but not how to get paid.
I’ve worked with mental health practices for years, and I’ve met a lot of great clinicians who felt completely lost when it came to insurance billing. They weren’t afraid of learning it. They just had never been taught.
If you’re opening a private practice, managing one, or handling billing yourself, investing in a good course can save you countless hours of frustration, not to mention help you avoid expensive billing mistakes.
The good news is that there are more training options than ever before. Some are designed for therapists who just want to understand the basics. Others are geared toward billers and VAs who want to build real expertise, and a few are built for people who want to turn billing into a business of their own.
If you’re still deciding whether billing is something to learn yourself or hand off entirely, our guide on outsourcing versus DIY billing can help you sort that out first.
What a Good Billing Course Should Actually Teach You
Not every billing course is worth your time or money. After working in this space for years, I’ve developed a pretty clear sense of what separates a genuinely useful course from one that just checks a box.
Here’s what I’d look for, and a few things worth being skeptical about.
The Fundamentals It Should Cover
A solid billing course for therapists should give you a working understanding of the full revenue cycle, not just one piece of it. That means covering:
- Insurance terminology and how to read an EOB or ERA
- Benefits verification, including what to ask and how to document it
- Credentialing basics, including CAQH and payer enrollment
- CPT codes most commonly used in mental health (90791, 90837, 90834, etc.)
- ICD-10 diagnosis codes and how documentation connects to them
- How to submit a clean claim and what makes claims get rejected versus denied
- Clearinghouses and how they fit into the claims process
- Payment posting and how to read an ERA and post correctly
- Denial management and appeals
- Accounts receivable basics, including what to track and how to follow up
- Patient balances and how to collect them
- HIPAA basics as they relate to billing
You don’t have to memorize every detail in every category. But a good course gives you enough context that you know what you’re looking at when something goes wrong, and where to go to find the answer. Our complete revenue cycle guide is a good companion if you want the full workflow laid out in one place.
Mental Health–Specific vs. General Medical Billing
This matters more than people expect. General medical billing courses cover the broad principles, but mental health billing has its own quirks: different CPT codes, different documentation expectations, different authorization workflows, and payer policies that often treat behavioral health services differently than medical services.
If you’re a therapist trying to understand your own practice, a course built specifically for mental health will get you there faster than a general healthcare billing course. The AAPC’s general curriculum is excellent, but its behavioral health–specific value comes more from how you apply it than from the base coursework itself.
That said, there’s real value in understanding general billing principles too, especially if you’re a VA or biller who supports multiple specialties. Knowing the broader framework makes the specialty-specific stuff easier to apply.
What to Be Skeptical Of
A few things to watch for when evaluating any billing course:
- Courses that promise you’ll “make six figures” as a medical biller without discussing the actual skill and experience required. Billing is learnable, but it takes time to do well.
- Courses that are mostly theoretical with no real-world application. The best training gives you actual claim scenarios, denial examples, and workflows, not just definitions.
- Courses that haven’t been updated recently. Billing rules change year to year. An outdated course may have stale CPT code guidance, payer policy information, or telehealth billing rules.
- Courses that cover everything except what happens when things go wrong. Denials and appeals are where most of the real learning happens in billing. If a course skips that section, it’s skipping a big part of the job.
Best Mental Health Billing Courses at a Glance
| Course | Created By | Mental Health Specific | Format | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bill Like a Boss | Kym Tolson | Yes | Self-paced course | Solo therapists building billing systems for their own practice |
| A Step Above / Medical Billing Study Course | Alice Scott & Michele Redmond | Mix of general + MH-specific | Ebooks and certificate programs | Billers and VAs wanting an affordable, self-paced foundation |
| AAPC Medical Billing Training | AAPC | No (general healthcare) | Structured coursework + exam | Professional billers building a career across specialties |
| TheraPlatform Free Course | TheraPlatform | Yes | Free on-demand video | Therapists wanting a no-cost starting point |
| AMBA Webinars / CMRS | AMBA | Mix | Webinars + certification | Billers wanting a more accessible alternative to AAPC |
Pricing changes often enough that it’s not listed here. Check each vendor’s site for current rates before enrolling.
1. Bill Like a Boss (Kym Tolson)
If you’ve spent any time in the therapy world, you’ve probably come across Kym Tolson. She focuses on helping therapists build efficient practices while making insurance billing easier to understand, and Bill Like a Boss is her flagship billing course.
Her training blends billing education with practical advice on running a private practice and creating systems that save time. One thing worth noting: her content feels approachable. She explains complicated topics without making you feel like you need a background in healthcare administration.
Best for:
- Solo therapists learning billing for their own practice
- New practice owners setting up systems from scratch
- Virtual assistants supporting a single therapy practice
Not the best fit for:
- Billers who already have solid mental health billing experience and want advanced, multi-payer coordination training
- Anyone looking for a general medical billing foundation outside mental health
I’ve written a full review of Bill Like a Boss if you want the details on what’s actually inside before you commit.
Kym also teaches a Secondary Billing Masterclass with co-instructors Annie Day and Dawna Haswell, aimed at billers who need to get comfortable with coordination of benefits and secondary claims. It’s worth knowing about if that’s a gap in your skill set, though it’s a narrower, more advanced topic than Bill Like a Boss covers.
2. A Step Above / Medical Billing Study Course
Medical Billing Study Course, run by Alice Scott and Michele Redmond, is worth a look. It’s built by two billers with a combined 60-plus years in the field, and the content is written for people actually doing the work, not academics teaching theory.
Their core training covers general medical billing rather than mental health specifically, but they’ve built out a full suite of individual products so you can buy exactly what you need instead of paying for one large bundle:
- Intro to Mental Health Billing eBook — a low-cost way to get oriented on the behavioral health side specifically
- Basics of Medical Billing eBook — general billing fundamentals if you’re starting from zero
- Advanced Medical Biller Program — a more structured, certificate-style course for building real billing competency
- Advanced Medical Biller Program + Start a Billing Business — the same advanced training, bundled with guidance on launching your own billing business
- Billing Business Program — standalone training on the business side, if you already have the billing skills and just need the business framework
- HIPAA, HITECH & Other Regulations course — compliance-focused training that pairs well with any of the above
Best for:
- Billers and VAs who want affordable, self-paced training
- Anyone who prefers individual courses and ebooks over one large bundled program
- People who want a general billing foundation before specializing in mental health
- Anyone specifically evaluating whether to launch a billing business, thanks to the dedicated business-track options
Not the best fit for:
- Therapists who want mental health–specific training from the start with no general billing detour
- Anyone who prefers a single all-in-one program over building their own stack of individual courses
I’ve written a full review of the A Step Above / Medical Billing Study Course lineup, including which of these products makes sense depending on where you’re starting from.
3. AAPC Medical Billing Training
If you’re looking for more formal education, the AAPC is one of the most respected organizations in medical billing and coding.
Their courses aren’t specific to mental health, but they provide an excellent foundation in insurance, claims processing, compliance, and reimbursement. This is a great option if you’re planning to make billing your career or support multiple healthcare specialties.
Best for:
- Professional billers building a long-term career
- Virtual assistants expanding into billing as a service offering
- Career changers coming from outside healthcare entirely
Not the best fit for:
- Solo therapists who just want to understand their own practice’s billing without a formal certification track
- Anyone looking for a quick, low-cost way to get oriented on mental health billing specifically
Pros: industry-recognized training, certification opportunities, strong educational resources.
Cons: broader healthcare focus, and more in-depth than most therapists actually need.
I took my CPB, Certified Professional Biller, test through AAPC. In addition to their self-study resources, I also utilized practice tests from CCO.
4. Specialized Training for Specific Skill Gaps
Not every training need is “learn billing from the ground up.” Sometimes you already have a solid foundation and just need to close one specific gap. A few areas worth targeted training if you’re running into them regularly:
Secondary Billing Masterclass: Billing a claim to a patient’s primary insurance is one thing. Figuring out what happens when they have a secondary plan too, and getting both claims filed correctly without over- or under-billing, trips up a lot of otherwise experienced billers. Kym Tolson’s Secondary Billing Masterclass, taught with co-instructors Annie Day and Dawna Haswell, is built specifically around this. It’s a narrower topic than a full billing course covers, so it’s worth considering once coordination of benefits is actually showing up in your claims regularly, rather than as a first course.
HIPAA and Compliance. Covered in more depth above, but worth repeating here: A Step Above’s standalone HIPAA course is a solid option if this is the one piece you need without buying a full billing program around it.
Not a Billing Course, But Worth Knowing About: SavvySociety
Everything else in this roundup is billing-specific training. SavvySociety isn’t that, it’s a VA business growth membership from The Virtual Savvy, and it’s worth a mention here specifically for the mental health VAs and billers reading this roundup who are trying to build out their service menu beyond billing itself.
If you’re a VA who bills for mental health practices and you’re looking to add services like SOP creation, social media management, or general bookkeeping to what you offer clients, SavvySociety’s training library covers those skills directly. It won’t teach you anything about claims, CPT codes, or EHR-specific billing workflows, that’s still the job of a dedicated billing course. But if billing is one piece of your service offering and you want to round out the rest, it’s a reasonable next step.
Read the full SavvySociety review for a breakdown of what’s inside and how it fits into a mental health VA’s toolkit specifically.
Not a Billing Course, But Worth Knowing About: The Practice Academy
Everything above is focused specifically on billing. If what you’re actually missing is the rest of the business side — pricing, marketing, hiring, systems, or figuring out what to do next as you grow — that’s outside the scope of a billing course entirely. The Practice Academy, a membership-based education and coaching community from Joe Sanok’s Practice of the Practice, is built around exactly that gap. It won’t teach you CPT codes or how to appeal a denial, but if billing is just one piece of a much bigger “I don’t know how to run a practice” problem, it’s worth a look. Read the full Practice Academy review for a breakdown of the three membership tracks and whether the $195/month price makes sense for where you are.
5. Free and Low-Cost Options Worth Knowing About
Not every good resource comes with a price tag. A few worth using before or alongside a paid course:
TheraPlatform’s Free Billing Course. A free, on-demand video course covering the basics of insurance billing for therapists. A reasonable starting point if you’re not ready to invest in paid training yet.
Insurance Company Provider Education. This isn’t technically a course, but it’s one of the most underused resources available. Most insurance companies offer free webinars, provider manuals, billing guides, and online training. If you’re credentialed with a payer, take advantage of it. Topics commonly include filing claims, prior authorizations, timely filing limits, appeals, coordination of benefits, and electronic claim submission.
Continuing Education Through Professional Associations. Many state counseling, psychology, and social work associations offer webinars on private practice and billing, covering documentation, audits, Medicare updates, insurance changes, and compliance.
Software Training from Your EHR. One of the easiest ways to improve your billing is to become an expert in the software you’re already paying for. Many EHR companies offer live webinars, video libraries, knowledge bases, and office hours. If your EHR has built-in billing, learning its features can save you hours every month.
Should Therapists Learn Billing Themselves?
I think every therapist should understand the basics, even if they eventually hire a biller.
You don’t need to become an expert in every insurance rule, but knowing how the billing process works makes it much easier to manage your practice. It also helps you ask better questions when something doesn’t look right. If claims suddenly stop getting paid, you’ll have a better idea of where to start looking instead of feeling completely in the dark. Our Therapist Billing FAQ covers a lot of the day-to-day questions that come up once you’re managing this yourself.
If you’d rather have the systems built for you than build them yourself, our Mental Health Billing SOP Toolkit gives you ready-made workflows instead of starting from a blank page.
Do You Need a Billing Certification?
This depends almost entirely on what you’re trying to do, and I’d rather give you an honest answer than a vague one.
If you’re a therapist managing your own practice, you almost certainly don’t need a formal certification. What you need is a working understanding of how billing works, the confidence to catch problems when they come up, and enough knowledge to evaluate whether your biller, if you hire one, is doing a good job. A well-designed course without a certification component can get you there.
In my experience, the therapists who run the smoothest practices aren’t necessarily the ones who studied the most. They’re the ones who understand the process well enough to set up good systems and know when something doesn’t look right.
If you’re building a billing business or career, this is where certification starts to matter more. If you’re a VA offering billing services to multiple therapy practices, or building a billing business of your own, credentials give you something tangible to point to. They signal to potential clients that you’ve done the work to learn this properly.
Certifications at a Glance
| Certification | Issued By | Focus | Recognition |
|---|---|---|---|
| CPB (Certified Professional Biller) | AAPC | Billing processes, compliance, revenue cycle | Most widely recognized billing-specific credential |
| CPC (Certified Professional Coder) | AAPC | Coding logic behind claims | Complements CPB well; more coding-focused |
| CMRS (Certified Medical Reimbursement Specialist) | AMBA | Billing-specific | Less widely recognized than AAPC, but more accessible |
The AAPC’s CPB is the most directly relevant credential for billing-focused work. The CPC is more coding-heavy but covers the underlying logic that makes billing make sense, and many billers pursue both. The honest trade-off: certification takes time, money, and sustained effort. Exam fees run around $400 through AAPC, on top of coursework costs. But if you’re planning to make billing your profession, it’s usually worth it.
The American Medical Billing Association’s CMRS credential is worth knowing about too. It’s not as widely recognized as AAPC certifications in most markets, but it’s more accessible, particularly if you’re focused specifically on the mental health billing space.
How to Stay Current Once You’ve Learned the Basics
Billing isn’t something you learn once and walk away from. Payers update their policies. CPT codes change annually. Telehealth billing has evolved significantly in just the last few years, and it will keep evolving. If you’re going to do your own billing, staying current isn’t optional. It’s part of the job.
Sign up for payer provider newsletters. Every major insurance company has a provider news section or newsletter. They’re not always exciting reading, but they’re where you’ll find notices about policy changes, coding updates, and new documentation requirements before they affect your claims. Aetna, BCBS, Cigna, and UnitedHealthcare all publish these. If you’re credentialed with a payer, get on their provider communications list.
Watch for annual CPT code updates. The AMA releases updated CPT codes every year, typically effective January 1. Mental health–specific code changes are often covered in AAPC webinars, AMBA newsletters, and publications from your EHR or clearinghouse.
Take advantage of free continuing education. Between AMBA’s free webinar series, your professional association’s annual training, and the CE content your EHR likely produces, there’s a lot of free ongoing education available if you know where to look.
Build relationships with other billers. The therapy billing community is genuinely helpful. There are online groups and forums where billers and therapists share real-world scenarios, denial management strategies, and payer-specific knowledge. If you’re stuck on something, chances are someone else has hit the same wall and figured it out.
Final Thoughts
The best billing course is the one that fits where you are today.
If you’re brand new to private practice, start with a course that explains the fundamentals in plain English, like Bill Like a Boss or TheraPlatform’s free course.
If you’re a biller or VA who wants an affordable, self-paced way to build a foundation, or you’re evaluating whether to launch a billing business, the A Step Above lineup is worth working through.
And if you’re planning to turn billing into a career across multiple specialties, AAPC’s formal education and CPB certification give you a strong foundation across the entire revenue cycle.
No course will answer every question you’ll ever have, but a good one can give you the confidence to navigate insurance billing with a lot less stress.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do therapists need a medical billing course?
You don’t legally need one, but understanding the basics of billing can protect your practice in ways that are hard to quantify until something goes wrong. A therapist who understands how the revenue cycle works is better positioned to catch errors, evaluate whether a biller is doing their job, and avoid the most common and costly mistakes. If you plan to bill insurance, even a short course is worth the investment.
What’s the best billing course for a solo therapist?
If you want practical, private practice–specific training that doesn’t require a background in healthcare administration, look for courses built specifically for mental health providers, not general medical billing programs. Bill Like a Boss is a solid option at that level. If you want something free to start, TheraPlatform’s on-demand course is a low-risk way to get oriented before investing in paid training.
Can a virtual assistant learn mental health billing?
Absolutely, and many do. VAs who support therapy practices often expand into billing services because the demand is real and the skills are learnable. The AAPC’s CPB certification is the most widely recognized credential for billing professionals and can open doors if you’re building a billing-focused service business. The A Step Above lineup is also a practical, affordable starting point for VAs who are newer to the mental health space specifically.
How long does it take to learn mental health billing?
You can get a functional understanding of the basics, enough to submit clean claims, verify benefits, and handle common denials, in a matter of weeks with focused study. Getting actually confident with billing takes longer, because a lot of the learning happens when you run into edge cases: a payer that does things differently, a denial you haven’t seen before, a credentialing issue that takes weeks to sort out. Plan for a few weeks to learn the foundation and several months of hands-on experience to feel truly comfortable.
Is mental health billing different from regular medical billing?
Yes, in meaningful ways. Mental health billing uses a specific set of CPT codes, the 90000 series, that don’t apply to most other medical specialties. Payers often have separate behavioral health benefit administrators, which means the same patient can have a different set of rules for their mental health coverage than their medical coverage. Prior authorization requirements, visit limits, and documentation expectations also vary. A course built specifically for behavioral health will cover these distinctions in ways a general medical billing course typically won’t.
Can I use continuing education credits from a billing course toward my license renewal?
It depends on your state licensing board and the specific course. Some billing and compliance–related courses are approved for CEUs through social work, counseling, or psychology boards, particularly if they cover ethics in billing or documentation standards. Others are purely informational and don’t count toward licensure requirements. Always verify with your licensing board and confirm the course’s CE approval status before enrolling if CEU credit is part of your goal.
What’s the difference between AAPC and AMBA certifications?
AAPC (American Academy of Professional Coders) is the larger and more widely recognized organization, with credentials accepted across most healthcare settings. Their CPB (billing) and CPC (coding) certifications are the industry standard in most markets. AMBA (American Medical Billing Association) is smaller and more focused on billing specifically, with a credential called the CMRS (Certified Medical Reimbursement Specialist). Both are legitimate, but if you’re planning to work across multiple healthcare settings or with larger organizations, AAPC credentials tend to carry more weight.
Do I have to keep up with billing changes on my own once I take a course?
Yes, and that’s not a criticism of any particular course. Billing rules change every year. CPT codes are updated, payer policies shift, and telehealth billing in particular has evolved significantly over the past few years and will continue to. A course gives you the foundation. Staying current is an ongoing practice, not a one-time event. The good news is that a lot of the continuing education available in this space is free or very low cost, especially through payer newsletters, EHR webinars, and professional association events.
