Be Free
Wisconsin Mental Health Alliance
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Why share 30% or more of what you earn?
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Why settle for a few insurance carriers?
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Why put up with office politics?
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What if you can have your own practice?
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What if you were part of an association?
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What if that association helped all people?
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What if that association looked out for you?
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​How about only 16% to cover costs?
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What if that percentage decreases with volume?
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What if people didn't want to profit from you?
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What if they operated without profit?
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​What if it were about you?
Who Is Eligible to Join?
We can work with any person of good character who is licensed as an LPC, LCSW, Psychologist, Psychiatrist, LPC-IT, APNP or Psychiatric Nurse. Our code of conduct is simple. You must be willing to abide by Wisconsin statutes, regardless of if you agree with them or not.
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Insurance We Can Accept
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United HealthCare
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UMR
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Optum
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Anthem of Wisconsin
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Blue Cross of Illinois
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Aetna
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Cigna
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Molina
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Chorus
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Network Health Badgercare
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MHS
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I-Care
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Trilogy
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Quartz
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Dean
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Common Ground
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Forward Health
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Prairie States
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Centivo (depending on plan)
Who Came Up With This?
Several of our current members can supervise LPC-ITs and are willing to help practicum students. Guess what? LPC-ITs can see Medicaid patients on their own, thanks to a new state statute. They only kick in the 16% and make whatever financial arrangement they can with the supervising licensed counselor or person with a doctorate.
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Our mission is to grow our group, drive down expenses for all and help more people with Medicaid or Medicare find counseling help.
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Many clinics don't take either Medicaid (Forward Heath/Badgercare), nor Medicare. Our members pledge to do so.
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See the Association Members page to meet our counselors and medication prescribing professionals.
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The association is only a few months in practice. We have many other interested counselors, some ready to join us by the end of 2024.
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We hope licensed counselors with the required number of years to supervise are interested in helping counselors in training to develop into the profession. The arrangements made for splits with training counselors are between the licensed counselor and the person being mentored,
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We do not allow students, those without a valid state license, to see people under our contracts, unless a supervisor is with them. Otherwise, that person is violating state law. People with a training license can see Medicaid clients on their own. A new state law makes that a requirement of the MCOs that manage Forward Health patients. As we grow in efficiency and reduce cost, there will be a larger amount available for the supervising counselor and the training counselor.
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Dr. Gary Probst teaches as an adjunct professor of counseling for Grand Canyon University, as a sports psychologist for Abilene Christian University and as a doctorate dissertation chair for Liberty University.
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He has mentored and built the practice of dozens of mental health counselors.
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Dr. Probst's years in broadcasting include a radio station manager position in Janesville and a sales manager position in Madison.
Prior, he was a national PBS program producer and managing editor for a show called "The New Tech Times", which had over eleven-million viewers.
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Earlier, he was a television investigative news reporter and anchor.
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He currently produces a weekly radio feature called "Here's a Thought", with Dr. Gary Probst, which airs on radio stations across the U.S. and on the audio streaming services of WGN in Chicago and their sister company, the national news network, NewsNation.
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Dr. Probst also has a book in publication on managing teen anxiety.
Facts About
Wisconsin's Mental Health
According to a recent federal report concerning mental health needs and the percentage of need met, the numbers were a quite concerning. Some other states showed much worse but Wisconsin's percentage was still unacceptable.
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According to SAHMSA, a federal agency that tracks information on substance abuse and mental health disorders, Wisconsin is only meeting 34% of the need. There is a shortage of counselors.
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States with high migration from other states fare worse, such as Arizona, only meeting 13%. However, 34% is simply not good enough.
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This is why we organized to provide more access to the people who struggle with income and insurance issues. There needs to be more of an emphasis on mental health treatment and substance use issues in Wisconsin continue to climb.
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Most of the counties in Wisconsin are listed among the highest for binge drinking in the nation. Alcohol continues to be a significant part of the state's culture and treatment options are growing, but still limited.
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Suicidal ideation among teens and young adults is on the rise. Young people feel somewhat hopeless in today's society, given political rancor and monetary problems, such as affordability of housing and food.
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Medication providers are in very short supply, with people waiting six months or more to see a prescriber. Hospital emergency room visits are sometimes the only option for a person in desperation. This is unacceptable.
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We encourage interested people of all ages to seek the appropriate education to join us in our effort to save lives and rebuild hope and self-worth with a rising number of people who are emotionally hobbled by anxiety and subsequent depression. We welcome you to our effort, as we work to correct the lack of counseling and medication resources in our state.
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Dr. Gary Probst developed this concept to free counselors and medication providers from having to share a high percentage of what they earn, especially problematic when few clinic groups provide leads for new clients.
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Dr. Probst saw other people in the profession being bullied and used, so, he decided to organize an association that covers the cost of operation and not profit for clinic owners.
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The association is a 501(c)3 organization under IRS nonprofit code and is established as a nonprofit association under the State of Wisconsin.
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There is a board of directors, not a single person managing the association. Our goal is to expand membership into a large number of providers, giving them the opportunity for a more profitable career and building the power a larger group to negotiate with insurance carriers and regulators. We don't expect any issues with regulators, as we follow regulations closely and do what is right for everybody.
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Dr. Probst has a great deal of experience with management and marketing. After a long career in broadcasting and advertising, he built his own financial services agency and used the income to return to school for his Psy.D. He built a clinic group, where he was unappreciated, to nearly forty busy counselors, using social media marketing and networking.
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Using the mix of a Psychology Today profile and marketing that profile on social media, Dr. Probst can show you how to cost-effectively build your practice.
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The association also receives leads to share from a number of Facebook pages, including a statewide online counseling page that has regular updates and a sizeable following.
Wisconsin Mental Health Alliance, Inc.
11414 W. Park Place, Suite 202
Milwaukee, WI 53224
(262)-239-7511
email: Drprobst@wmhawi.com
We Help You, So You Can Help Others.
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Join Us and We Grow Together!
We are not a clinic group. We don't control you, ever.
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We don't ask you to trade 30% or more of your earnings for a small office space. Nope. We show you how to use telehealth and efficient office usage, providing you with much higher income.
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We get you involved with ALMA and Headway, which gives you much higher rates on commercial insurance with UHC, Aetna, Cigna and Anthem.
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We have other commercial contracts and are with most of the MCOs that work with Forward Health. You only pay 16% on what you bill through us (that cost should go down with volume), but we take no split with your income from ALMA and Headway.
We bear no cost with them, so, no, we introduce you and help you understand how to work with them and that's all. No charge for that. Your strongest income stream will be from those companies but we round it out with our carriers and...as our volume grows and our billing company gives us discounts, the 16% goes down as much as we can and still cover costs. That percentage is current for the cost of credentialing with companies under the alliance and the percentage taken by our billing company. Credentialing for counselors and medication providers cost between $2,400 and $3,000 the first year and then half of that for years two and beyond.
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So, how does the percentage reduce? Currently, the billing company has our rate at 10%. There is a reduction at different breakpoints, all the way down to 5%. That will take some volume but, with enough members joining us, we can reach that. Every reduction in the percentage of the billing company means a one point reduction in what we require to work with us through our contracts.
