I started out with a group practice that was a family business. I was very happy there and worked there as an independent contractor for 10 years before LifeStance bought up the group. Initially, they tried to make it seem as if nothing much had changed for me and in fact that things had gotten better because now I also had benefits, which I did not have before. However, after a year I feel like there occurred a bait and switch, and I had to deal with more and more corporate stuff that I never wanted to deal with in the first place, which is why I chose a profession that would allow me to have a private practice and be my own boss.
The main drawback for working at LifeStance is the amount of money they take out of a clinician's income. They determine a fixed rate for each service code, which is supposed to be an average of what insurance companies typically pay for these service codes, and on top of that, they take a percentage out of that to pay for the services they provide. Since I stepped away from LifeStance and started my own practice, using different services such as Headway and Alma to process my insurance claims, I have tripled my income. The monetary value one receives from the benefits they offer in no way makes up for the amount of money they take out of your income. On top of that, they use incentives such as stock options to get you to accept more clients each week than clinicians are typically comfortable seeing, and in that way they also discourage taking leave. They make stock option eligibility and vesting contingent on the number of direct service hours each year. They start lower and then they raise the bar each year. However, because they keep brining in new clinicians they often do not fill open spots with new clients. They also have told people to do their own marketing, which I think is outrageous, given the large amounts of money they take out of their clinician's incomes. One would think that marketing services would be included in that. They also prohibit working remotely out of state for longer than a week, and out of the country at all. All these are reasons I ultimately decided to leave LifeStance.
