State launch guide

How to Start a Therapy Private Practice in Florida

A state-aware launch guide for Florida therapists. Use this to separate national setup steps from Florida-specific license, entity, tax, telehealth, reporting, Medicaid, and payer requirements.

Last reviewed:June 1, 2026

Written by:Bomi Team

Reviewed by:Billing and credentialing specialist

Start with license readiness

Your license type determines whether you can practice independently, need supervision, or should launch inside a group practice first. Confirm the current rules with the state board before accepting clients.

This table is a launch-readiness starting point, not a substitute for current board review.

Credential	Independent practice?	Supervision issue?	Entity/business note	Bomi relevance	Official source
LCSW	Generally yes, once the full Florida LCSW license is active.	Florida's LCSW path includes a master's degree in social work, post-master's supervised clinical experience, at least 100 supervision hours, 1,500 hours of face-to-face psychotherapy with clients, the ASWB Clinical exam, and Florida-specific coursework or exams.	Good candidate for solo or group launch once license, entity, NPI, CAQH, W-9, malpractice, EHR, clearinghouse, and payer records match.	Strong fit for CAQH cleanup, payer enrollment, EFT/ERA, claim setup, eligibility, denials, and revenue workflow support.	Florida LCSW requirements
LMFT	Generally yes, once the full Florida LMFT license is active.	Florida's LMFT path includes post-master's supervised experience, 100 supervision hours, 1,500 face-to-face psychotherapy hours, the national MFT exam, and required Florida coursework.	Good candidate for solo or group launch once the license, business identity, NPI, CAQH, W-9, bank, EHR, and payer records are aligned.	Strong fit for payer credentialing, commercial payer follow-up, EFT/ERA, claims, denials, and recredentialing tracking.	Florida LMFT requirements
LMHC	Generally yes, once the full Florida LMHC license is active.	Florida's LMHC path includes post-master's supervised experience, 100 supervision hours, 1,500 face-to-face psychotherapy hours, the NCMHCE, and Florida-specific coursework. Confirm current education requirements with the board.	Good candidate for solo or group launch once license, entity, NPI, CAQH, W-9, malpractice, EHR, clearinghouse, and bank records are aligned.	Strong fit for credentialing, payer enrollment tracking, claim testing, denial follow-up, and revenue reporting.	Florida LMHC requirements
Registered CSW / MFT / MHC intern	No independent solo-practice launch. Treat as a supervised path.	Florida law requires registered interns to remain under supervision while in registered-intern status. For clinical experience in private practice, verify the required licensed-professional presence, supervisor protocol, payer rules, and time-limited registration status.	Do not create payer-facing solo-practice assumptions for registered interns. Use supervised or group-practice framing and verify payer rules.	Bomi may help a supervised group workflow if the group, supervisor, payer, and billing model are compliant.	Florida registered intern supervision rules
Provisional CSW / MFT / MHC license	No independent long-term launch. Treat as a supervised, temporary path.	Florida provisional Chapter 491 licensees must work under supervision. The provisional license is temporary, expires after 24 months, and may not be renewed or reissued.	Avoid building a long-term solo payer strategy around provisional status. Confirm supervision, payer, and upgrade timeline before billing.	Bomi support depends on the supervising practice's payer and billing structure.	Florida Chapter 491 provisional-license rule
Certified Master Social Worker	No clinical therapy launch.	Florida describes Certified Master Social Worker as an administrative license and says Certified Master Social Workers may not provide clinical services.	Do not map this credential to independent psychotherapy billing.	Not a typical fit for therapy-practice payer enrollment unless another clinical credential applies.	Florida Certified Master Social Worker
Licensed Psychologist	Generally yes, once the full Florida psychologist license is active.	Florida's psychologist path includes a doctoral degree, supervised experience, EPPP, Florida Laws and Rules exam, and postdoctoral supervised experience requirements.	Good candidate for solo or group launch once license, entity, NPI, CAQH, W-9, malpractice, EHR, clearinghouse, and payer records match.	Strong fit for payer credentialing, commercial payer enrollment, Medicaid workflow, claims, denials, and revenue operations.	Florida Board of Psychology licensure requirements
Provisional Psychologist	No independent solo-practice launch. Treat as a supervised path.	Florida Board of Psychology materials state that provisional psychologists must practice only with appropriate supervision, and provisional status does not allow an applicant to sit for the EPPP.	Do not create independent solo payer enrollment assumptions for provisional psychologists.	Bomi support depends on the supervising practice's payer and billing structure.	Florida Board of Psychology provisional licensure

Next step: confirm your state board rulesUse the official Florida licensing source before you decide whether to launch independently, stay supervised, or join a group first.

National steps

These steps are not unique to Florida, but they still need to match the state, address, entity, tax, payer, and EHR details you use for launch.

Decide Type 1 NPI versus Type 2 NPI and whether the practice will bill under an individual or organization.
Create or update CAQH and keep attestations current.
Align EIN, W-9, business bank account, and payer-facing business identity.
Confirm HIPAA privacy/security, Notice of Privacy Practices, consent forms, Good Faith Estimate workflows, and documentation setup.
Select EHR, clearinghouse, billing workflow, payment processor, ERA/EFT workflow, and denial-management process.
Build a credentialing packet with license, malpractice, NPI, CAQH, W-9, bank documentation, taxonomy, service address, telehealth policies, and supervisor information if applicable.
Track payer applications, effective dates, portals, claim test dates, ERA/EFT status, and recredentialing deadlines.

Next step: clean up NPI and CAQHMake sure your individual NPI, organizational NPI decision, taxonomy, CAQH profile, W-9, and practice address are consistent before payer applications start.

State-specific steps

Business entity options

Florida therapists should confirm their business structure with a Florida attorney or tax professional before filing. Entity setup is separate from professional licensure. Depending on ownership, discipline, tax elections, and payer strategy, a Florida therapy practice may involve a sole proprietorship, professional association, professional limited liability company, corporation, fictitious name, or another structure approved by counsel. Sunbiz is Florida's official business-entity filing site. Florida professional-service entity rules can affect ownership, licensed-professional requirements, and naming, so do not treat entity setup as a generic LLC-only step. Before payer setup, keep the legal name, fictitious name if any, EIN, NPI, CAQH, W-9, malpractice policy, EHR, clearinghouse, bank account, and payer applications consistent.

Next step: align entity details with billing recordsBefore payer setup, make sure your entity name, EIN, W-9, NPI, CAQH, EHR, and bank details will all tell the same story.

State and tax registration

Florida professional licensure, Sunbiz filing, fictitious-name registration, AHCA clinic-license analysis, local business tax receipts, Department of Revenue registration, and payer enrollment are separate workflows. If the practice uses a public name that differs from the clinician's legal name or registered entity name, check Florida fictitious-name requirements before launching a website, signing a lease, opening a bank account, or submitting payer applications. Also check city and county local business tax receipt requirements before opening. Confirm Florida tax obligations with a Florida tax professional. Do not imply every therapy practice automatically needs sales-tax registration; instead, check whether the practice sells or leases taxable items, sells taxable add-ons, has employees, changes legal entities, changes counties, or has corporate-income-tax obligations.

Next step: prepare EIN, banking, and payer paperworkUse the launch checklist to track financial setup before credentialing asks for tax and payment details.

Telehealth notes

Florida telehealth setup should confirm the client's physical location, clinician license or lawful authority to practice, informed consent and documentation workflow, emergency resources, HIPAA and privacy safeguards, payer rules, modifiers and place of service, and supervision requirements if the clinician is a registered intern, provisional licensee, or supervisee. Florida licensees may provide telehealth to Florida patients without a separate Florida telehealth registration. Out-of-state practitioners who are not Florida-licensed generally must register with the Florida Department of Health before providing telehealth to patients located in Florida, unless another exception or compact authority applies. For registered interns, do not treat telehealth as a shortcut around supervision; the board describes written telehealth protocol, safety-plan, and supervisor-availability expectations for electronic psychotherapy.

Next step: configure EHR and telehealth workflowsSet the client-facing workflow for scheduling, consent, documentation, payments, and billing before the first appointment.

Mandated reporting notes

Add mandated-reporting reminders to intake, informed consent, clinician handbook, crisis workflows, telehealth workflows, and supervisor workflows. Keep the Florida Abuse Hotline and emergency instructions easy for clinicians to access quickly. Florida DCF lists 1-800-962-2873 for the Florida Abuse Hotline and instructs people to call 911 when someone is in immediate danger. Build child-abuse, vulnerable-adult, documentation, supervisor, and escalation procedures into clinical operations rather than burying them in a policy binder.

Next step: build forms and policy review into launchKeep clinical policies, privacy workflows, intake forms, and billing policies on the same launch checklist.

Insurance credentialing notes

Add an AHCA health care clinic license or exemption check before billing. Do not assume every therapy practice needs a health care clinic license, but do not skip the analysis. Florida's clinic-license framework can be relevant when an entity provides health care services and tenders charges for reimbursement, while the statute also contains important exclusions. For Florida Medicaid, start with AHCA provider enrollment, then separate Medicaid fee-for-service enrollment, Statewide Medicaid Managed Care plan contracting, commercial payer credentialing, EFT/ERA setup, portal setup, claim testing, and recredentialing. Do not treat Florida Medicaid, SMMC managed care plans, commercial payers, and supervised-intern billing as one application path. Confirm provider type, enrollment type, NPI, taxonomy, license documentation, W-9/EIN, ownership, service location, pay-to information, risk or screening category, application tracking number, deficiency deadline, Medicaid Provider ID, managed-care plan contracts, portal access, EFT/ERA, and first clean claim.

Next step: Map your payer listChoose target payers, gather packet details, and track every application through effective date and claim readiness.

Where Bomi can help in Florida

Bomi can help once your Florida launch path reaches NPI, CAQH, credentialing, payer attestations, eligibility checks, claims, denials, balances, and revenue management.

Build a payer-ready credentialing packet.
Track CAQH, NPI, license, malpractice, W-9, EFT/ERA, and payer portal tasks.
Keep Sunbiz entity details, fictitious name details, local business tax receipts, AHCA clinic-license or exemption documentation, NPI, CAQH, W-9, EHR, clearinghouse, bank, and payer records aligned.
Separate commercial payer, Florida Medicaid, Statewide Medicaid Managed Care, group-practice, and supervised-clinician workflows.
Track payer applications, effective dates, claim test dates, denials, and recredentialing deadlines.
For state-specific legal, tax, entity, supervision, AHCA, or clinical-scope decisions, confirm with the Florida board, attorney, tax professional, AHCA, Medicaid program, or payer before acting.

Next step: talk through credentialing and billingBring your Florida launch stage, payer goals, and current NPI / CAQH status. Bomi can help turn the setup into a working revenue pipeline.

State caveat

This guide is educational, not legal, tax, billing, or clinical advice. Florida licensing rules, entity requirements, local business tax requirements, AHCA clinic-license rules, telehealth rules, mandated-reporting requirements, Medicaid enrollment rules, and payer requirements can change. Check official Florida sources and payer contracts before acting.

Sources

Florida Licensed Clinical Social Worker requirements - Florida Board of Clinical Social Work, Marriage & Family Therapy and Mental Health Counseling
Florida Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist requirements - Florida Board of Clinical Social Work, Marriage & Family Therapy and Mental Health Counseling
Florida Licensed Mental Health Counselor requirements - Florida Board of Clinical Social Work, Marriage & Family Therapy and Mental Health Counseling
Florida registered intern supervision statute - Florida Legislature
Florida Chapter 491 - Florida Legislature
Florida Certified Master Social Worker - Florida Board of Clinical Social Work, Marriage & Family Therapy and Mental Health Counseling
Florida psychologist licensure by examination - Florida Board of Psychology
Florida Sunbiz start a business - Florida Department of State
Florida professional service corporations and PLLCs - Florida Legislature
Florida fictitious name registration - Florida Department of State
Florida local business tax receipts - Florida Legislature
Florida health care clinic definition - Florida Legislature
Florida Department of Revenue account registration - Florida Department of Revenue
Florida Department of Revenue corporate income tax - Florida Department of Revenue
Florida HealthSource telehealth - Florida Department of Health
Florida Board telehealth - Florida Board of Clinical Social Work, Marriage & Family Therapy and Mental Health Counseling
Florida telehealth statute - Florida Legislature
Florida Abuse Hotline - Florida Department of Children and Families
Florida child abuse reporting statute - Florida Legislature
Florida Adult Protective Services - Florida Department of Children and Families
Florida vulnerable adult reporting statute - Florida Legislature
Florida Medicaid provider enrollment readiness - Florida Agency for Health Care Administration
Florida Statewide Medicaid Managed Care plans - Florida Medicaid Managed Care
Florida SMMC provider information - Florida Agency for Health Care Administration

Ready for the payer path?

Bomi can help with CAQH, payer applications, claims, denials, and revenue workflows.

Use the state guide to confirm the launch requirements, then bring in Bomi when you are ready for credentialing and insurance billing operations.

Get credentialing help