Step 4: Map Your Workflow Before You Touch Flow Settings
This is the most important step in setup, and it doesn't happen in MyTherapyWizard. Before you build anything, write down how a client moves through your practice today: who does each step, how quickly, and for which clients. Most practices have never written this down, and that's exactly why steps get missed and money is left on the table.
Before you start
- Who does this: the account Admin, ideally with your clinical lead and office or billing lead.
- How long it takes: 30 to 60 minutes. It's worth the time.
- Plan needed: Teams.
- Have ready: your current intake paperwork, a recent client's timeline from referral to first treatment, and anyone who knows where things usually get stuck.
The stages you'll be mapping
MyTherapyWizard tracks every client through these lifecycle stages. For each one, you'll decide whether it applies to your practice, who is responsible, the deadline and which clients it applies to.
Fill in this worksheet
Copy this table onto paper or a spreadsheet and fill in one row per stage. Use workdays (Monday to Friday) for deadlines.
| Stage | Do we do this? (Y/N) | Who does it? (role or credential) | Deadline (workdays) | Which clients? (all / insurance / private pay) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Consent & intake | ||||
| Insurance verification | ||||
| Caseload assignment | ||||
| Evaluation | ||||
| Evaluation report | ||||
| Eval admin review | ||||
| POC creation | ||||
| POC admin review | ||||
| Send Provider Order | ||||
| Authorization |
A printable Workflow Mapping Worksheet (PDF) is coming soon.
Questions to ask for each stage
- Who owns it? One role should be responsible. "Everyone" usually means no one.
- How fast should it happen? Be realistic. A 3-workday deadline you hit is better than a 1-day deadline everyone ignores.
- Does it apply to every client? Insurance verification, provider orders and authorizations usually apply only to insurance clients. Private-pay and school-contract clients can skip them.
- Do we need a review step? If a lead reviews evaluations or plans of care before they're final, plan for Eval admin review and POC admin review. If not, leave them off.
- Which evaluations count? Decide whether screenings should count as evaluations. Most practices count full evaluations only. You'll set this in Step 6.
Common patterns
- Outpatient, insurance-based: every stage on, office staff own intake, verification, orders and authorizations; therapists own evaluation and POC.
- School contract: insurance stages off, consent and caseload assignment owned by the admin, evaluation and report owned by therapists.
- Private pay: insurance stages off, short deadlines, often no admin review.
See Sample Flows You Can Copy for full examples.
New video coming soon: Map Your Therapy Practice Workflow Before You Build
Watch: Flow and Lifecycle Stages Setup
Why it matters
Flow Settings turn your answers into clinical intelligence for your operations: deadlines, reminders and to-do lists for each person. But MyTherapyWizard can only follow the workflow you give it. A clear map now means a flow that works the first time.
How you'll know it worked
- Every stage has a Y/N, an owner, a deadline and the clients it applies to.
- Your clinical and office leads agree with the map.
Not sure what your flow should be? That's common. Our Extension & Onboarding package ($299) includes a kickoff call where we map your workflow with you and build your Flow Settings. Book your onboarding session.
Next step → Step 5: Build Your Flow
Previous: Step 3: Set Up Supervision Relationships · Back to the 14-Day Setup Checklist.
See other articles in Setup Path here.