Demand Gen → RCM Pipeline

Free credentialing
as an offer

Own the first step of insurance billing. Practitioners who credential with us will bill with us. SimplePractice charges for both steps — we give away step 1 to own step 2.

Addressable signups

~15K/yr

Insurance-billing practitioners who need credentialing. 31K total in relevant professions.

Free payer enrollments

3

Beats SimplePractice's 2. Covers most solo practitioners' initial needs.

Conversion paths

2

Self-serve insurance billing or done-for-you RCM program (3.9% of collections).

01

How does it fit into the RCM program?

The RCM program already includes credentialing — Jasson's background is literally provider enrollment (Ventra Health, Optum, 200-300 clinicians). Market rate is $250/clinician. Free credentialing becomes the RCM program's top-of-funnel.

Top of funnel

Free credentialing offer

Practitioner gets help enrolling with up to 3 insurance payers.

60-180 days of engagement

Payer applications processing

Status tracking, follow-up prompts, billing profile setup. Qualification signals accumulate. RCM pitch surfaces at frustration peaks.

Credentialed

Two exit paths

Path A

Self-serve billing

Solo, 1-2 payers. Uses Carepatron insurance billing tools.

Path B — RCM

Done-for-you RCM

Team, 4+ payers. 3.9% of collections. Jasson handles end-to-end.

RCM qualification signals from credentialing

Signal
Read
Action
4+ payer enrollments
High volume
Auto-flag for Jasson outreach
Team account (2+ clinicians)
Multi-provider
Priority RCM prospect
High-reimbursement specialty
High LTV
Personalized outreach
Solo + 1-2 payers
Self-serve fit
Guide to billing, don't push RCM
Stalled 30+ days
Needs help
"Stuck? Our team can take over"

Pitch during, not after.

When they're staring at a 15-step CAQH checklist or waiting 90 days for Aetna — that's the frustration peak. Surface the RCM offer contextually at pain moments, not as a post-completion upsell.

02

Which segments want this and how big are they?

PostHog track onboarding completion, Apr 2025 – Mar 2026. 75,548 completions.

Segment
Signups/yr
Conv. rate
Credential need
Counseling
8,846
4.36%
High
Behavioral health
7,255
3.23%
High
Psychology
4,889
1.86%
High
Social work
3,856
2.75%
High
Physical therapy
1,647
1.58%
Medium
Occupational therapy
1,252
1.44%
Medium
SLP
965
9.68%
High
Psychiatry
903
2.44%
Very high
Clinical Psychologist
897
3.01%
High
Nurse Practitioner
716
2.79%
High

Who within these segments actually needs credentialing?

New to private practice

9-12K

Just licensed, leaving a group/agency. Full credentialing from scratch. ~30-40% of mental health signups.

Adding payers

4.5-6K

Already in practice, expanding panels. Incremental enrollment. ~15-20%.

Switching states

~1.5K

Relocating practice. Re-credentialing. Small but high-intent.

Team size breakdown

Size
% of signups
Conv. rate
Credentialing fit
Solo
66%
1.5-1.9%
Primary — doing everything themselves
Small team (2-10)
22%
2.0-2.9%
Secondary — often no billing staff yet
Mid/Large (10+)
12%
0.1-0.8%
Low — already outsource billing

Sweet spot: Solo counselors/therapists/psychologists entering private practice. Biggest segment, highest credentialing need, natural RCM pipeline as they grow.

Not interested: Coaching (3,852), Nursing (5,729), Medicine (3,759), Massage (587), Personal Training (647), Students (540). Cash-pay, employed, or not licensed.

03

What restrictions should be on the offer?

The fundamental constraint: credentialing is portable. Once credentialed with Aetna, they're credentialed with Aetna — regardless of software. You cannot revoke it. SimplePractice works the same way.

Restriction
Rationale
3 free payer enrollments
Beats SP's 2. Covers most solo needs. More via RCM.
Require account, not paid plan
This is demand gen — don't gate behind payment.
US only
Credentialing is a US insurance concept.
Tracking requires active account
Reminders, doc vault, CAQH helper only work on Carepatron. This is the retention lever.
No take-back on credentials
Not possible and would look bad. Lock-in is tooling, not the credential.

What you control if they cancel

Gone on cancel

  • Credentialing dashboard + status tracker
  • Expiration reminders + alerts
  • Document vault access
  • CAQH helper + payer checklists

Stays regardless

  • The credential itself (lives with the payer)
  • Their CAQH profile
  • Any payer relationships established

04

What about practitioners who are already credentialed?

Not the primary demand gen audience. This is a retention feature for them, not an acquisition offer. Different messaging, same destination.

What they'd use
Why it matters
Expiration reminders
Re-credentialing every 2-3 years — easy to miss, costly to lapse
Document vault
Consolidates scattered docs (license, malpractice, DEA, NPI)
CAQH maintenance
Annual attestation required — many forget, get deactivated
Add new payers
Most add 1-2 payers/year as practice grows

Not yet credentialed

"Get credentialed free"

Offer → billing → RCM. Acquisition.

Already credentialed

"Track & manage your credentials"

Vault → add payers → RCM. Retention.

05

How should we structure it?

What the customer experiences from discovery to billing activation.

Week 0

Discovery & signup

Finds via SEO ("how to get credentialed with Aetna"), onboarding prompt, or email. Creates free Carepatron account.

Week 0-1

Document collection

Uploads license, malpractice insurance, DEA (if applicable), NPI, CV, education, references. Guided completeness tracking.

Week 1-2

Payer selection & application

Selects up to 3 payers. Gets per-payer checklist: requirements, where to apply, expected timeline.

Week 2-12

The long wait

Status dashboard. Follow-up prompts. This is where the RCM soft pitch lives — at the frustration peak. Also where billing profile setup begins.

RCM pitch surfaces here

Week 8-16

Credentialed → billing activation

"You're credentialed with Aetna! Submit your first claim." Fork to self-serve billing or RCM program.

Ongoing

Credential maintenance

License renewal reminders (90 days out), CAQH annual attestation, malpractice renewal, re-credentialing every 2-3 years.

06

What lifecycle automations do we need?

5 CIO campaigns + 1 scheduled broadcast. Events instrumented in PostHog, synced to Customer.io.

Events to instrument

credentialing_started — enters toolkit

document_uploaded — each doc (with doc_type property)

documents_complete — all required docs uploaded

payer_selected — selects a payer for enrollment

payer_application_submitted — marks application as submitted

payer_credentialed — marks as approved

credentialing_stalled — no activity 14+ days (computed)

C1

Activation drip

Entry: credentialing_started → Exit: documents_complete + 1 application submitted

Timing
Trigger
Content
Immediate
Entry
"Here's what you'll need" — checklist
Day 2
No docs uploaded
"Start with NPI and license — 5 minutes"
Day 5
<50% docs
"Halfway — here's what's missing"
Day 10
Still incomplete
"Need help finding your documents?"
C2

Application processing + RCM nurture

Entry: payer_application_submitted → Exit: payer_credentialed (per payer — user may be in this multiple times)

Timing
Content
Day 14
"Your [Payer] application is processing. Average timeline: [X] days."
Day 30
"Still waiting? How to check status + follow-up script"
Day 45
"While you wait — set up your billing profile"
Day 60
"No response after 60 days? Escalation guide"
Day 90
"Still stuck? Our RCM team can take over →"
C3

Post-credentialing → billing activation

Entry: payer_credentialed → Exit: first claim submitted

Timing
Content
Immediate
"You're credentialed with [Payer]! Submit your first claim →"
Day 3
"Your credentialing is live — 3 steps to your first claim"
Day 7
Social proof — billing speed/success stats
Day 14
"Need help? Book a call or try our RCM service →"
C4

RCM qualification (behavioral triggers)

Not time-based — trigger-based from credentialing behavior.

Trigger
Action
4+ payers selected
Flag as RCM prospect, Jasson personalized email
Team account (2+ clinicians)
"Managing billing for multiple clinicians? Our RCM team handles it."
Stalled + high-value signals
"Stuck? Our billing team can take over."
C5

Credential maintenance (ongoing broadcast)

Monthly scheduled check of expiration dates across all credentialed users.

Trigger
Content
90 days before license expires
"Your [State] license expires [Date] — renew now"
30 days before malpractice renewal
"Malpractice insurance expires [Date]"
Annual CAQH attestation
"CAQH requires re-attestation by [Date]"
60 days before re-credentialing
"[Payer] re-credentialing due [Date]"

CIO segment for RCM prospecting

credentialing_started

+ (payer_count >= 4 OR team_size > 1)

+ country = US

→ auto-attribute for Jasson's outreach list

Competitive landscape

SimplePractice + Medallion is the only competitor offering credentialing. Jane, TheraNest, Practice Better, Healthie — nothing.

SimplePractice

  • 2 free payer enrollments
  • New subscribers only (existing excluded)
  • Must be on paid plan ($49-99/mo)
  • Medallion handles it (mixed reviews, delays)
  • Portable on cancel

Carepatron (proposed)

  • 3 free payer enrollments
  • All accounts (including free)
  • No paid plan required
  • Credentialing approach TBD
  • Portable on cancel

Boutique

$100-300

per payer (PayerReady etc.)

Full-service

$1,200+

per payer (WCH etc.)

RCM bundled

$250

per clinician (market rate)

Execution

Growth team build requirements

What the growth team needs to ship for this offer to work. Product/eng build is separate and TBD.

Carlos

PostHog events instrumentation

7 events (credentialing_started through credentialing_stalled). Properties for doc_type, payer_name, payer_count.

CIO

5 campaigns + 1 broadcast in Customer.io

Activation drip, application processing, billing activation, RCM qualification, credential maintenance. ~17 email touchpoints total.

Carlos

SEO landing pages

"How to get credentialed with [Payer]" pages for top 20 nationals. Programmatic SEO opportunity.

Carlos

Payer requirements content

Per-payer checklists: what documents needed, where to apply, expected timelines. Start with top 20 (UHC, Aetna, Cigna, BCBS, Humana...).

Carlos

PostHog dashboard

Credentialing funnel: started → docs complete → app submitted → credentialed → first claim. Segment by profession, team size, payer.

Jasson

RCM outreach playbook for credentialing leads

When to reach out (4+ payers, team, stalled), what to say, how to qualify for full RCM program.

Key risk

60-180 day credentialing timeline means a long attribution window before billing revenue appears. Leading indicators (doc uploads, app submissions) matter more than trailing (first claim) in the first 3 months.