Mental Health Practice input evidence register

These notes explain the opening budget, annual forecast and calculator assumptions. Linked sources provide the support described in each note; they do not necessarily confirm the selected amounts. Check scenario assumptions against local quotes and operating records.

• Model assumption

  Applies to: Total opening budget · Lower opening budget · Upper opening budget · Lease deposits and preopening occupancy · Office adaptation and acoustic privacy · Consultation and reception furnishings · Entity, licensing, insurance and launch setup

  Authored opening allocations for a fitted 1,600 sq ft group office: lease/setup $12,000, adaptation/acoustic privacy $35,000, furniture $18,000, professional/licensing/insurance/launch $13,000. Sources support planning categories and functional requirements, not dollar quotes. With $12,000 IT and $250,000 reserve, sum is $340,000. The $180,000 low case uses reusable fitted space and staged payroll; the $550,000 high case needs heavier adaptation and a longer funded ramp. Different scopes of commitment, not measured percentiles.

  U.S. Small Business Administration · Cushman & Wakefield · U.S. Department of Health and Human Services · U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
• Model assumption

  Applies to: Secure IT, records and software setup

  Authored $12,000 initial allocation: $6,000 for five secure workstations, $2,000 network/access/backup and $4,000 implementation and records/software setup. A live EHR price supplies recurring product context, not these hardware and implementation quotes; initial setup is separate from annual subscription expense.

  SimplePractice · U.S. Department of Health and Human Services · U.S. Small Business Administration
• Model assumption

  Applies to: Opening operating cash reserve

  Authored $250,000 operating reserve. The monthly operating calculation tests the peak ramp deficit plus a conservative 45-day mature earned-revenue exposure and leaves a residual buffer. Collection delay is an assumption, not observed receivable days. This allowance is not a dated cash-flow proof; replace it with actual receipt and bill dates.

  U.S. Small Business Administration · Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
• Model assumption

  Applies to: Realized fee per completed psychotherapy session (base scenario) · Realized fee per completed psychotherapy session (lower sensitivity) · Realized fee per completed psychotherapy session (upper sensitivity)

  Selected realized session fees are authored: psychologist $180 and each counselor $140, at the same five completed daily sessions, produce a $150 blend. Observed Austin self-pay terms are $150 regular and $200 for one clinician; they are neither insured allowances nor collections. The $110–$190 range tests lower-payer/discounted and higher-self-pay mixes within the same licensed therapy scope, requiring local evidence.

  Central Austin Psychotherapy · Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
• Model assumption

  Applies to: Completed sessions per day across all four clinicians (base scenario) · Completed sessions per day across all four clinicians (lower sensitivity) · Completed sessions per day across all four clinicians (upper sensitivity) · Trading days per week (base scenario) · Trading days per week (lower sensitivity) · Trading days per week (upper sensitivity)

  Authored capacity: four licensed clinicians × six hourly blocks daily × five days × 4.33 weeks = 519.6 potential monthly sessions. Mature completed volume 20/day = five per clinician; the 12–24 range tests incomplete booking to the stated ceiling. Fifty-minute conversation and ten-minute record/turnaround allocation within each block is a planning assumption, not treatment-duration or billing advice. Remaining paid hours cover non-session work; the four-day option is a reduced calendar, not a larger workload compressed without review.

  U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
• Model assumption

  Applies to: Monthly fixed operating costs

  Selected $50,000/month equals $480,000 annual payroll divided by 12 plus $120,000 annual overhead divided by 12. Wage base: paid psychologist owner $110,000, three licensed counselors $75,000 each and administrator $45,000 = $380,000; authored 20% employer-cost allowance adds $76,000 and paid relief adds $24,000. National occupational medians and IRS employer obligations contextualize, not verify, those assumptions. Overhead breakdown is in the annual evidence; no owner labor is omitted.

  U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · Internal Revenue Service · Cushman & Wakefield · SimplePractice
• Model assumption

  Applies to: Contribution margin

  Selected 95% contribution follows an authored 5% variable share for billing/claims/payment charges and session supplies. Clinical salaries are fixed payroll, not deducted again. Price adjustments/noncollection are already reflected in the realized fee; the variable share must change with actual processing and billing terms and is not a national margin benchmark.

  SimplePractice · Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
• Model assumption

  Applies to: Opening sales as a share of mature volume · Monthly increase toward mature volume · Forecast horizon (months)

  Authored 40% opening completed-session share plus six percentage points monthly, capped at full mature volume; 18-month public calculator horizon. The shared function generates the ramp. National need does not verify conversion or ramp speed; no opening cohort or probability is observed.

  U.S. Small Business Administration · Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
• Model assumption

  Applies to: Revenue (Years 1–5) · Variable billing, payment and session supplies (Years 1–5)

  Earned revenue is the shared completed-session ramp at $150 × 20/day × five days/week × 4.33 weeks/month, summed into five 12-month periods and rounded to whole USD. Variable cost is 5% of each annual earned revenue, rounded once. Years 2–5 hold the mature clinical team, fee and volume constant. Sources provide service/payment/software context; the financial values are authored scenario results stored as required annual inputs, not market observations.

  Central Austin Psychotherapy · Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services · SimplePractice
• Model assumption

  Applies to: Clinicians, paid owner, administration and relief (Years 1–5)

  Each annual period includes $480,000 paid payroll: $380,000 wage base, $76,000 selected employer-cost allowance and $24,000 relief. Owner $110,000; three counselors $75,000 each; administrator $45,000. BLS medians are occupational context and do not prove a recruiting budget; IRS payroll taxes are only part of total employer cost. Relief availability and leave schedule require local verification.

  U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · Internal Revenue Service
• Model assumption

  Applies to: Office, records systems, insurance and support (Years 1–5)

  Authored annual overhead $120,000: rent/common charges $48,000 (1,600 sq ft × $30/year), utilities $3,600, insurance $12,000, EHR/records software $6,000, communications $3,600, outreach $18,000, legal/accounting $12,000, cleaning/repairs $7,800 and professional development/consultation $9,000. Current four-clinician EHR standard base is $321/month; chosen $500/month allows additional systems. General-office national asking rent is $38.38/sq ft, so the selected $30 is a modest fitted-office assumption, not a national average. All remaining allocations need site/vendor terms. Constant nominal prices are used as a constant-dollar planning convention.

  Cushman & Wakefield · SimplePractice · U.S. Department of Health and Human Services · U.S. Small Business Administration