Start with license readiness
Your license type determines whether you can practice independently, need supervision, or should set up inside a group practice first. Confirm the current rules with the state board before accepting clients.
This table is a setup readiness starting point, not a substitute for current board review.
Use the exact Colorado credential
Full LPC, LCSW, LMFT, Licensed Psychologist, and LAC within addiction-counseling scope are the clearest independent paths in this guide. Candidate, technician, specialist, provisional, legacy-registration, compact, and other supervised statuses need separate board and payer analysis.
Colorado's provisional license is unusually narrow
The Mental Health Practice Act limits provisional licensure to qualifying supervised work in a residential child-care facility. Do not reuse another state's broad provisional-license assumptions in Colorado.
A future MFT education route is not yet the current route
HB26-1228 took effect in 2026, but its alternative education pathway applies to qualifying applications submitted on or after March 1, 2027. Verify the application date and current board instructions before relying on it.
Practice authority and payer authority are separate
Candidate registration, supervision, a compact privilege, or out-of-state telehealth registration does not require Health First Colorado, a regional organization, or a commercial product to enroll or reimburse the clinician.
| Credential | Independent practice? | Supervision issue? | Entity/business note | Bomi relevance | Official source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LPC — Licensed Professional Counselor | Generally yes once the full Colorado LPC license is active and services remain within scope. | The full path requires qualifying graduate education, post-degree practice and direct-client hours, supervision, examination, and jurisprudence. Confirm full licensure rather than professional-counselor candidate status. | Good fit for solo, group, or hybrid setup after aligning the license, legal identity, trade name, NPI, CAQH, W-9, mandatory disclosure, service locations, and payer records. | Strong fit for commercial credentialing, Health First Colorado enrollment, claims, denials, and revenue operations. | Colorado Mental Health Practice Act |
| LPCC — Professional Counselor Candidate registration | No ordinary independent solo-practice launch. Treat LPCC as a candidate and supervised path, not a full LPC license. | Candidate registration and qualifying supervision must remain current while post-degree experience is completed. Verify the supervisor, setting, scope, renewal, and full-license path. | Use supervised group or carefully verified hybrid framing. Confirm rendering, billing, supervising-provider, Medicaid, and commercial-payer rules before services begin. | Bomi can support a supervised workflow only after the board, practice, supervisor, Medicaid program, and payer requirements are resolved. | Colorado Mental Health Practice Act |
| LCSW — Licensed Clinical Social Worker | Generally yes once the full Colorado LCSW license is active. Colorado law expressly recognizes private independent clinical social-work practice for LCSWs. | The full path requires qualifying graduate education, at least two years and 3,000 hours of supervised practice, examination, and jurisprudence. Keep LCSW separate from LSW and SWC. | Good fit for solo, group, or hybrid setup after aligning the license, legal identity, trade name, NPI, CAQH, W-9, mandatory disclosure, service locations, and payer records. | Strong fit for commercial credentialing, Health First Colorado enrollment, claims, denials, and recredentialing. | Colorado Mental Health Practice Act |
| LSW — Licensed Social Worker | Not the same as LCSW independent clinical practice. Colorado requires LSW practice to remain under supervision. | Confirm the supervisor, clinical scope, setting, documentation, and path to LCSW. Do not use LSW and LCSW interchangeably in public or payer-facing records. | Use supervised group or carefully verified hybrid framing rather than an ordinary independent psychotherapy launch. | Bomi can track payer-specific recognition, supervision, and claim configuration after the compliant practice model is clear. | Colorado Mental Health Practice Act |
| SWC — Clinical Social Worker Candidate registration | No ordinary independent solo-practice launch. Treat SWC as a candidate and supervised path. | Candidate registration and qualifying LCSW supervision must remain current while required experience is completed. | Use a supervised group or organization model and verify supervisor, setting, Medicaid provider type, payer recognition, and claim fields. | Bomi can support supervised-group workflows only after board, payer, Medicaid, and billing requirements are confirmed. | Colorado Mental Health Practice Act |
| LMFT — Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist | Generally yes once the full Colorado LMFT license is active and services remain within scope. | The current path requires qualifying graduate education, supervised post-degree experience, direct-client practice, examination, and jurisprudence. A new education route begins for certain applicants on March 1, 2027, so verify the law applicable to the application date. | Good fit for solo, group, or hybrid setup after aligning the license, legal identity, trade name, NPI, CAQH, W-9, mandatory disclosure, service locations, and payer records. | Strong fit for payer credentialing, Health First Colorado enrollment when applicable, claims, denials, and revenue operations. | Colorado Mental Health Practice Act |
| MFTC — Marriage and Family Therapist Candidate registration | No ordinary independent solo-practice launch. Treat MFTC as a candidate and supervised path, not a full LMFT license. | Keep candidate registration and qualifying supervision current while required experience is completed. Verify renewal, supervisor, setting, and full-license timing. | Use supervised group or carefully verified hybrid framing and confirm rendering, billing, supervising-provider, Medicaid, and payer rules. | Bomi can support the workflow only after the group, supervisor, Medicaid program, payer, and claim configuration are confirmed. | Colorado Mental Health Practice Act |
| Licensed Psychologist | Generally yes once the full Colorado psychologist license is active. Colorado law expressly recognizes private independent practice for licensed psychologists. | The full path requires qualifying doctoral education, supervised postdoctoral experience, examination, jurisprudence, and a background check. Keep the full license separate from PSYC candidate status. | Good fit for solo, group, or hybrid setup after aligning license, legal identity, NPI, CAQH, W-9, mandatory disclosure, service locations, telehealth authority, and payer records. | Strong fit for commercial and Health First Colorado enrollment, claims, denials, and revenue operations. | Colorado Mental Health Practice Act |
| PSYC — Psychologist Candidate registration | No ordinary independent solo-practice launch. Candidate registration is not a full psychologist license. | Keep candidate registration and supervision current while completing the experience and examination path. Verify the supervisor, setting, renewal, public title, and payer treatment. | Use supervised group or employment framing and do not configure PSYC as an ordinary independent psychologist in payer records. | Bomi can track license progress and payer risk, but should not imply full independent psychologist or billing status. | Colorado Mental Health Practice Act |
| LAC — Licensed Addiction Counselor | Potentially yes for addiction-counseling services within the active license's scope, but it is not interchangeable with every psychotherapy credential or payer provider type. | Confirm competence, service type, setting, any board conditions, Medicaid provider type, regional-organization requirements, and commercial-payer recognition. | Use an addiction-services-specific launch and screen separately for any program or facility requirements that exceed ordinary private-practice setup. | Bomi can help with payer-by-payer enrollment and claim setup after the exact service, license, setting, and provider type are confirmed. | Colorado Mental Health Practice Act |
| CAT / CAS / ADDC — technician, specialist, or candidate addiction credentials | Do not treat these as ordinary independent psychotherapy-launch credentials. | Colorado law places technician and specialist practice under required supervision or consultation and treats ADDC as a candidate registration. Verify the exact credential, service, setting, supervisor, and renewal. | Use a compliant supervised addiction-services model and verify Medicaid, regional-organization, commercial-payer, rendering, billing, and documentation rules. | Bomi can support the workflow only after the licensed service model, supervisor, provider type, payer, and claim configuration are clear. | Colorado Mental Health Practice Act |
| Registered Psychotherapist — legacy registration | Not a Colorado license and not a new-entry launch path. Colorado limits continuation to qualifying legacy registrants. | Confirm that the registration remains active, the work stays within lawful scope, the mandatory disclosure is accurate, and each payer recognizes the exact status. | Do not present registered psychotherapy as a full licensed credential or assume commercial or Medicaid enrollment. | Bomi can perform payer-specific checks for an existing registrant, but should not promise credentialing or reimbursement. | Colorado Mental Health Practice Act |
| Provisional Mental Health Professional license | No ordinary private-practice launch. Colorado's provisional license is limited to qualifying work in a residential child-care facility under supervision. | The provisional authority depends on the qualifying employment and supervision and ends when either ends. It is not a general associate or solo-practice credential. | Use only for the statutorily limited employment setting; do not build an independent payer strategy around it. | Bomi should not configure this as an ordinary independent private-practice or payer-enrollment path. | Colorado Mental Health Practice Act |