Bluevine, which claims to be the leading provider of holistic banking solutions designed for small businesses and Heard, the financial back-office for therapists in private practice, announced a partnership in order “to provide business checking to mental health professionals.”
COVID saw “a twenty percent rise in demand for mental health care.” With the emergence of telehealth, changing cross-state licensure laws, and access to independence through member networks and EAPs, therapists are “recognizing that giving up fifty percent of their salary to join a group practice or agency no longer makes sense.”
Countless online therapy businesses “sprung up overnight”. Even if a therapist has a full-time W2 job, they likely “maintain a small private practice.” Yet, unlike most SMBs, therapists “lack the knowledge, tools, and systems to understand the practice as a financial entity.”
Therapists have “had to patchwork together their financial back-office. This “means DIY accounting software, hard-coded spreadsheets, costly lawyers, CPAs, and misfit agnostic bookkeeping solutions.” Not only is the space fragmented, but it is “outside of their expertise, time-consuming, and expensive.”
Andrew Riesen, co-founder and CEO of Heard, said:
“Our mission is to help therapists be therapists, starting with the financial back-office, through the use of technology. We’ve partnered with Bluevine to deliver on that mission and keep therapists from getting nickel-and-dimed by business banking.”
Heard provides therapists “with an all-in-one platform to help manage their bookkeeping, taxes, and payroll.” On average, Heard reportedly “saves therapists 60 hours per year in financial record-keeping and $5,000 per year in taxes.”
Eyal Lifshitz, CEO of Bluevine, remarked:
“Therapists’ focus should be on the care of their patients, not on bookkeeping. Bluevine is a holistic banking provider founded and run by a small business-minded team, so we aim to empower entrepreneurs to focus on their important work, rather than adding more tasks to their plates. This joint effort with Heard will ensure that more therapists are able to spend less time on finances to better prioritize the health and wellbeing of their patients and growing their practices.”
