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What happens after the session? How Headway simplifies billing and claims

See how Headway simplifies your after-session work so you can run a smoother (and less stressful) practice.

September 26, 2025

6 min read

You just completed a session. Your client is out the door and on their way, but your work is far from over. Many of your responsibilities as a provider — writing progress notes, submitting insurance claims, sorting out billing, and more — happen outside of your client sessions. More time spent on administrative processes and paperwork means less time (and energy) spent helping your clients. 

Fortunately, Headway simplifies your post-session work so that you can focus on supporting your clients. Even before your session starts, Headway helps by automatically verifying your client’s benefits. You’ll know whether they’re covered — and what their costs might be — so you can walk into the room confident you’ll be paid.

Here’s a look at what you need to do after each session, and how Headway makes it easier.

Step 1: Writing your progress notes

Progress notes document a client’s progress in therapy. They record important details like the client's name and identifying information, the time, date, and location of the session, what you discussed and worked on, symptoms you observed, progress toward goals, and the care or treatment plan moving forward. Psychotherapy notes, meanwhile, capture the content of therapy sessions.

These notes are important for monitoring a client’s progress and ensuring continuity of care. But, if you’re billing insurance, progress notes aren’t just a helpful resource — they’re a requirement. You’ll need to submit them directly to the insurance company. This means you’re taking a lot of notes, and paper charts or scattered digital documents quickly become overwhelming.

Writing progress notes shouldn’t feel like a second job. With Headway’s free HIPAA-compliant EHR for therapists and prescribers, you can document every session in one simple, reliable place. We also offer built-in, insurance-ready templates for more compliant note-taking for a variety of progress notes, including SOAP notes, DAP notes, and BIRP notes. And with AI-assisted notes, you can save even more time, letting the system do the heavy lifting while you review and make it your own. That way, your documentation supports your clients and your practice, without pulling you away from the work that matters most.

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Step 2: Selecting your CPT code

Your progress notes are important, but insurance providers also need a quick identifier that helps them understand what specific service you provided. That’s what Current Procedural Technology (CPT) codes are for.

CPT codes are five-digit codes that describe medical, diagnostic, and therapeutic services for billing and documentation purposes. You’ll select a CPT code for each session and submit this code to the insurance company along with your progress notes and other relevant documentation.  Which codes you use depends on your license and the type of care provided.

When confirming a session in Headway, you’ll use the drop-down menu to select the code that best represents your session. Here are the 10 most common CPT codes.

Common psychotherapy codes:

  • 90837: 60 minute psychotherapy
  • 90834: 45 minute psychotherapy
  • 90832: 30 minute psychotherapy

Common prescriber codes:

  • 90791: Psychiatric diagnostic evaluation
  • 90792: Psychiatric diagnostic evaluation (with medical services)
  • 99203–99205 and 99213–99215: E/M codes
  • 90833, 90836, and 90838: Individual psychotherapy add-on codes (for use with E/M codes)

Please also note: Add-on psychotherapy codes (90833, 90836, 90838) may only be billed when a therapeutic intervention is delivered in addition to the E/M service. These codes are not appropriate for documentation of extended conversation, general discussion, or additional time spent on medical management alone. 

Codes for families and crisis situations:

  • 90846: Family psychotherapy (without patient present)
  • 90847: Family psychotherapy (with patient present)
  • 90785: Interactive complexity
  • 90839 and 90840: Psychotherapy for crisis

Remember, selecting the appropriate code is crucial for getting reimbursed quickly and avoiding clawbacks. Within Headway’s dropdown menu, you’ll see a more detailed description of each code to help you choose the best fit.

A note on codes requiring medical necessity justification: For each, please ensure that diagnosis codes are documented at the highest level of specificity. Avoid unspecified codes when a more precise option is available.

Step 3: Submitting your claim

Once you have your documentation and your CPT code, you’re ready to submit your claim to insurance so that you can get paid for that session. 

Without Headway, you’ll need to manually complete a claim form (CMS-1500), submit it to the insurance company via mail, fax, or an online payer portal, and wait an indefinite amount of time for processing. It’s a time-consuming and error-prone process.

It’s far smoother (and less stressful) with Headway. You’ll simply log the session in the platform, and then Headway will automatically generate and submit the claim for you — with all of the corresponding documentation and codes. Plus, you can track the status of your claims, resolve rejections or disputes, and receive prompt payments for your sessions. 

When can you expect to get paid?

Passion and purpose matter in your work, but so does getting paid for the valuable work you do. How long you’ll need to wait for payment from an insurance company can vary. In general, once you submit a complete, correctly coded claim, insurance typically processes payment within two to six weeks.

In contrast, when you confirm a session, Headway submits the claim within a few days, and offers guaranteed bi-weekly payments even if we’re still waiting for payment from the insurance company. With predictable, biweekly payments you can count on, you won’t have to wonder when you’ll be paid next.

What if an insurer delays or denies a claim? Headway will still pay you as the provider on time and handle appeals behind the scenes.  Additionally, Headway’s insurance-compliant templates offer clawback protection, so you won’t have to return money you’ve already been paid. And if you see private-pay clients, you can bill them directly through Headway without leaving your provider portal, so all your sessions — insurance or private — live in one place.

Simplify billing. Secure your payments. Support your clients

From automatic benefits verification to steady biweekly payments, Headway helps you cut through insurance complexity and get paid on time, every time. So you can stop worrying about claims, and start focusing on the care only you can provide.

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This content is for general informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute clinical, legal, financial, or professional advice. All decisions should be made at the discretion of the individual or organization, in consultation with qualified clinical, legal, or other appropriate professionals.

© 2026 Therapymatch, Inc. dba Headway. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced without permission.

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