State setup guide

How to Start a Therapy Private Practice in Georgia

A state-aware launch guide for Georgia therapists. Separate full independent licenses from associate, provisional, temporary, and supervised credentials, then align entity, telehealth, reporting, Medicaid, credentialing, and billing workflows.

Last reviewed:September 2, 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 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.

Start with the exact Georgia credential

Full LPC, LCSW, MFT, and permanent Licensed Psychologist credentials are the clearest independent clinical paths in this guide. APC, AMFT, LMSW psychotherapy, provisional psychology, and temporary psychology require separate supervision, duration, scope, and payer analysis.

LMSW private practice has an important limit

Georgia allows an LMSW to enter private practice after the initial directed and supervised period, but counseling or psychotherapeutic techniques remain supervised during the clinical-license qualification path. Do not translate general private-practice authority into independent psychotherapy billing.

Limited-duration psychology is not permanent licensure

Provisional and temporary psychology licenses have different eligibility, supervision, and expiration rules. Keep them separate from permanent licensure and from PSYPACT or other limited interjurisdictional authority.

State permission is not automatic payer permission

Board permission to practice under supervision or a time-limited license does not require Georgia Medicaid, a Care Management Organization, or a commercial product to enroll or reimburse the clinician. Confirm the provider type, group, supervisor, claim fields, network effective date, and service rules.

Credential	Independent practice?	Supervision issue?	Entity/business note	Bomi relevance	Official source
LPC — Licensed Professional Counselor	Generally yes once the full Georgia LPC license is active and services remain within scope.	Georgia's full professional-counselor path follows the required directed experience, supervision, and examination. Confirm that the full LPC, rather than APC, license is active and unrestricted.	Good fit for solo, group, or hybrid setup after aligning the license, legal identity, trade name, NPI, CAQH, W-9, EHR, locations, and payer records.	Strong fit for credentialing, Medicaid and commercial payer enrollment, claims, denials, and revenue operations.	Georgia professional-counselor requirements
APC — Associate Professional Counselor	No ordinary independent-practice launch. Georgia limits APC practice to work under direction and supervision.	The associate license is limited to the period of supervised post-master's experience and may not exceed five years. Keep the directed-experience site, director, supervisor, and contemporaneous supervision records current.	Use supervised group or carefully verified hybrid framing. Confirm the setting, supervisor, documentation, rendering, billing, Medicaid, and commercial payer rules.	Bomi can support the supervised workflow only after the Board, practice, supervisor, Medicaid program, and payer requirements are resolved.	Georgia APC restrictions and supervision
LCSW — Licensed Clinical Social Worker	Generally yes once the full Georgia LCSW license is active. Georgia's rule expressly includes private practice in the clinical-social-work settings it recognizes.	Confirm active status, renewal, scope, and any Board conditions. Do not treat LCSW and LMSW as interchangeable for clinical psychotherapy.	Good fit for solo, group, or hybrid setup after aligning the license, legal identity, trade name, NPI, CAQH, W-9, EHR, locations, and payer records.	Strong fit for commercial credentialing, Georgia Medicaid enrollment, claims, denials, and revenue operations.	Georgia clinical-social-work requirements
LMSW — Licensed Master Social Worker	Not an independent clinical-psychotherapy substitute for LCSW. Georgia permits limited private-practice activity after two years, but counseling or psychotherapy remains supervised.	The first two years of LMSW practice require direction and supervision. Clinical counseling or psychotherapy may continue only under supervision during the LCSW qualification period, with a timely LCSW application once eligible.	Use supervised group or carefully verified practice framing. Keep social-work services, psychotherapy, supervisor, license-upgrade, taxonomy, Medicaid, and payer recognition distinct.	Bomi can support a supervised workflow only after the exact service, supervisor, group, Medicaid, and payer billing path are confirmed.	Georgia master-social-work practice rule
MFT — Marriage and Family Therapist	Generally yes once the full Georgia MFT license is active and services remain within scope.	The full MFT path follows the required education, direct clinical experience, supervision, and examination. Confirm that the full license is active and unrestricted.	Good fit for solo, group, or hybrid setup after aligning the license, legal identity, trade name, NPI, CAQH, W-9, EHR, locations, and payer records.	Strong fit for payer credentialing, enrollment, claims, denials, and recredentialing support.	Georgia marriage-and-family-therapy requirements
AMFT — Associate Marriage and Family Therapist	No ordinary independent-practice launch. Georgia requires AMFT practice to remain under direction and supervision.	The associate license is limited to the supervised post-master's period and may not exceed five years. The Board-approved contract and any changes to it must remain current.	Use supervised group or carefully verified hybrid framing. Confirm the director, supervisor, setting, documentation, rendering, billing, Medicaid, and commercial payer rules.	Bomi can support the supervised workflow only after the Board, practice, supervisor, Medicaid program, and payer requirements are resolved.	Georgia AMFT restrictions and supervision
Licensed Psychologist — permanent license	Generally yes once the full Georgia psychologist license is active and services remain within competence and scope.	Georgia's licensure-by-examination path includes doctoral education, supervised experience, EPPP, jurisprudence, and oral-examination requirements. Confirm that permanent licensure has been issued.	Good fit for solo, group, or hybrid setup after aligning the license, legal identity, NPI, CAQH, W-9, EHR, locations, telepsychology authority, and payer records.	Strong fit for commercial and Georgia Medicaid enrollment, claim configuration, denials, and revenue operations.	Georgia psychologist licensure by examination
Provisional Psychologist	No ordinary independent long-term launch. Treat the credential as provisional and supervised.	Georgia restricts provisional licensees to the postdoctoral supervised-work requirements. The license expires after 24 months, is not renewable, and ends earlier if permanent licensure is granted.	Use supervised group or employment framing. Track the supervisor, postdoctoral experience, examinations, permanent-license progress, Medicaid status, and payer recognition.	Bomi can support the group workflow only after the Board, supervisor, employer, Medicaid program, and payer model are resolved.	Georgia provisional psychology license
Temporary Psychologist License	Not a durable Georgia private-practice launch credential. Treat it as a time-limited endorsement workflow.	Georgia makes this license available only with a complete endorsement application and limits it to 12 months. Continuing practice requires the permanent endorsement license.	Do not treat temporary authority as commercial or Medicaid enrollment. Confirm the Board status, expiration, service locations, telepsychology authority, and payer effective dates.	Bomi can track authority and payer risk, but a temporary license is not a shortcut to a payer contract or a durable practice launch.	Georgia temporary psychology license

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

National steps

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

Decide whether the practice needs a Type 1 NPI, Type 2 NPI, or both, and define individual, sole-proprietor, organization, group, billing-provider, rendering-provider, and supervising-provider roles.
Create or update CAQH and keep attestations, work history, malpractice, licenses, service locations, ownership, and disclosures current.
Align EIN, W-9, legal entity, trade name, NPI, taxonomy, CAQH, malpractice, bank, EHR, clearinghouse, and payer-facing records.
Confirm HIPAA privacy and security, Notice of Privacy Practices, informed consent, Good Faith Estimate, release, documentation, retention, and emergency workflows.
For Composite Board telehealth workflows, document the required training, client consent, third-party-vendor disclosure, suitability assessment, and supervision before the first remote visit.
Select an EHR, clearinghouse, payment processor, eligibility process, ERA/EFT workflow, denial-management process, and patient-balance workflow.
Track GAMMIS enrollment, Georgia Families and commercial applications, contracts, effective dates, portals, service locations, claim tests, EFT/ERA, recredentialing, and revalidation separately.

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

Choose a Georgia business structure with a qualified attorney or tax professional because entity formation does not change clinical scope, supervision, or payer eligibility. Georgia's business-startup resources distinguish sole proprietorships from corporations, LLCs, partnerships, and professional corporations; confirm any discipline, ownership, naming, or professional-entity requirement before filing. If the public practice name differs from the clinician's or entity's legal name, Georgia requires a DBA or trade-name filing with the Clerk of the Superior Court in the county where the business is located, followed by the required local newspaper publication. A trade name is branding, not a separate legal entity or liability shield. Keep the legal name, public name, EIN, W-9, NPI, CAQH, bank, EHR, GAMMIS, managed-care, and commercial payer records aligned.

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

Confirm federal, Georgia, and local tax obligations with a qualified tax professional. Georgia Tax Center registration depends on the entity, hiring, and actual taxable activity; employers also need to evaluate withholding and Georgia Department of Labor unemployment-insurance registration. Do not imply every therapy practice needs sales-tax registration. Georgia generally taxes tangible goods and specified taxable services, so analyze clinical services separately from merchandise, workbooks, workshops, digital products, rentals, and other add-ons. Check local occupational-tax certificates, business licenses, zoning, signage, and occupancy requirements for physical offices, and keep business and personal accounting separate.

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

Telehealth notes

Telehealth is a delivery method, not a shortcut around Georgia licensure, supervision, consent, documentation, Medicaid enrollment, managed care, or payer rules. For LPC, APC, LCSW, LMSW, MFT, and AMFT clinicians, Georgia Rule 135-11 requires at least six hours of telemental-health training before clinical telehealth; telehealth supervisors need nine hours. The rule also requires documented verbal and written client consent, applicable third-party-vendor disclosure, a suitability assessment, ethical and privacy safeguards, and review of the client's state's requirements for out-of-state care. For psychologists, Rule 510-5-.07 separately requires an active Georgia license or PSYPACT authorization, the same legal and ethical standards as in-person care, documented informed consent, appropriateness and privacy assessment, and local emergency resources. Capture the client's physical location at each visit, keep supervision active, and verify each payer's covered service, network, authorization, modality, place-of-service, modifier, platform, and documentation rules.

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

Build separate Georgia child and at-risk-adult reporting workflows into intake, informed consent, telehealth safety procedures, and supervision. Georgia DFCS says mandated child-abuse reports must be made immediately and no later than 24 hours after the statutory standard is met; reports are accepted 24/7 at 1-855-GA-CHILD (1-855-422-4453), with 911 or local police for immediate danger. Georgia's Division of Aging Services specifically lists psychologists, licensed professional counselors, social workers, and certain health-service agency employees among mandated reporters for disabled adults and elder persons in the community and directs mandated reports to both Adult Protective Services and law enforcement. Community reports use 1-866-55AGING (1-866-552-4464), option 3; long-term-care-facility reports route to Department of Community Health Healthcare Facility Regulation. Confirm the exact protected person, role, setting, trigger, and agency; do not substitute internal escalation for a required external report.

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

Insurance credentialing notes

Separate Georgia Medicaid provider enrollment through GAMMIS, fee-for-service billing, Georgia Families Care Management Organization networks, Georgia Families 360° when relevant, and commercial payer credentialing. DCH says GAMMIS supports provider enrollment, eligibility, managed-care enrollment, claims, prior authorization, notices, and provider information; the enrollment wizard directs applicants to the program-specific provider qualifications and requires the practice to be operational before enrollment. DCH currently lists Amerigroup, CareSource, and Peach State Health Plan as Georgia Medicaid CMOs, but network, credentialing, authorization, portal, telehealth, and claim rules remain plan-specific. GAMMIS approval does not create a commercial contract or guarantee reimbursement for an associate, supervised, provisional, or temporary clinician. Confirm provider type, taxonomy, individual and organization records, affiliations, ownership, locations, billing, rendering and supervising fields, authorization, EFT/ERA, network effective date, revalidation, and the 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 Georgia

Bomi supports therapy practices in every state across the U.S. This guide organizes the Georgia-specific setup questions that sit around the national NPI, CAQH, billing, and credentialing workflow.

Bomi can help once the Georgia launch reaches NPI, CAQH, GAMMIS, credentialing, payer applications, eligibility, claims, denials, balances, and revenue management. For legal, tax, entity, supervision, scope, reporting, Medicaid, managed-care, or payer decisions, confirm with the relevant Georgia agency, a qualified Georgia professional, or the payer before acting.

Build a payer-ready credentialing packet.
Track NPI, taxonomy, CAQH, licenses, supervision plans, malpractice, W-9, GAMMIS, EFT/ERA, and portal tasks.
Keep the legal identity, public practice name, trade name, EIN, W-9, NPI, CAQH, EHR, clearinghouse, bank, locations, Medicaid, managed-care, and commercial payer records aligned.
Separate solo, group, hybrid, associate, provisional, temporary, supervised, compact-authority, and fully independent workflows.
Separate Georgia Medicaid fee-for-service, Georgia Families, Georgia Families 360°, commercial payer, EAP, cash-pay, and out-of-network workflows.
For telehealth, track clinician and supervisor training, consent, vendor disclosure, client location, emergency resources, and payer rules.
Configure billing, rendering, supervising, group, and service-location fields for the exact credential and payer.
Track applications, contracts, effective dates, claim tests, denials, recredentialing, and Medicaid revalidation.

Next step: talk through credentialing and billingBring your Georgia setup 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. Georgia licensing, entity, trade-name, local, tax, telehealth, mandated-reporting, Medicaid, managed-care, commercial payer, compact, and supervised-clinician billing requirements can change. Check the law and rules currently in force, official Georgia sources, and payer contracts before acting.

Sources

Georgia counselor, social-work, and MFT licensure rules - Georgia Secretary of State
Georgia telemental-health rule - Georgia Secretary of State
Georgia professional-title and business-entity rules - Georgia Secretary of State
Georgia psychologist licensure by examination - Georgia Secretary of State
Georgia psychologist code and telepsychology rule - Georgia Secretary of State
Georgia limited-duration psychology licenses - Georgia Secretary of State
Georgia starting-a-business guide - State of Georgia
Georgia DBA and trade-name filing - State of Georgia
Georgia tax registration - Georgia Department of Revenue
Georgia sales and use tax - Georgia Department of Revenue
Georgia employer tax and wage reporting - Georgia Department of Labor
Georgia child-abuse and neglect reporting - Georgia Department of Human Services Division of Family & Children Services
Georgia DFCS mandated-reporting FAQ - Georgia Department of Human Services Division of Family & Children Services
Georgia adult and elder abuse reporting - Georgia Department of Human Services Division of Aging Services
Georgia vulnerable-adult reporting duties - Georgia Department of Human Services Division of Aging Services
Georgia Medicaid provider resources and GAMMIS - Georgia Department of Community Health
Georgia Medicaid provider enrollment wizard - Georgia Medicaid Management Information System
Georgia Medicaid provider manuals - Georgia Medicaid Management Information System
Georgia Medicaid managed care - Georgia Department of Community Health
Georgia Medicaid managed-care network adequacy - Georgia Department of Community Health

Ready for the payer path?

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

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

Get credentialing help