There are also indemnity plans, Victims' Assistance and many other types of programs will pay a significant portion of the therapy although there is usually a limit to how many sessions will be covered. Some therapists will bill monthly and some accept credit card payments. One of the therapists I contacted practices out of her home. Whereas many physicians overbook patients so that anywhere from five to ten people may be seen in a one hour period, a therapist reserves the entire hour for one individual. Clients often reschedule at the last minute, leaving the therapist with blocks of time they cannot fill.
Therapists often share office space and are limited to scheduling clients in specific timeslots.
Seeing clients in the home allows for more flexibility. For physicians and psychotherapists, insurance reimbursement has been reduced dramatically with the proliferation of HMO's and PPO's. In order to adjust to less payment per patient, many physicians have simply reduced the amount of time they spend with each individual and see more patients throughout the day. Psychotherapists cannot shorten the length of the session in order to increase the amount of clients they see. Conducting sessions in the home is a way to trim some of their costs.