The Claim Game

EPISODE SUMMARY In this episode of  The Claim Game , Jeremy Zug sits down with Danny Freed, founder and CEO of Blueprint, to discuss how AI is transforming mental health practice management. Danny shares the personal journey that led him to healthcare, why Blueprint reimagined the traditional EHR model, and how AI is helping therapists spend less time on documentation and more time with clients. F...

EPISODE SUMMARY In this episode of  The Claim Game , Jeremy Zug sits down with Danielle Hayes, founder of Therapy Austin, to explore how she grew a cash-pay therapy practice from three clinicians to more than 140 providers across multiple locations. Danielle shares the leadership strategies, hiring philosophies, and operational systems that supported sustainable growth, along with lessons on clini...

EPISODE SUMMARY In this episode of  The Claim Game , Jeremy Zug sits down with Shannon Hiser, founder of The Wellness Counseling Center LLC, to discuss the realities of scaling a multi-location therapy practice. Shannon shares the administrative and compliance challenges that tested her business—from staffing turnover and insurance audits to billing setbacks—and how she built a reliable in-house b...

EPISODE SUMMARY In this solo episode of  The Claim Game , Jeremy Zug breaks down one of the most common—and most fixable—revenue cycle challenges: claim rejections. Learn the difference between rejections and denials, why small technical errors delay payment, and how to identify the issues preventing your claims from reaching the payer. From EDI enrollment problems and provider directory mismatche...

EPISODE SUMMARY In this episode of The Claim Game , we’re moving to the front lines of your Revenue Cycle Management (RCM). Most practices focus on the back end—chasing late, old money. But the true masters of the game focus on the front end. They make sure a claim is perfect and pristine so insurance companies have no choice but to pay them immediately. We call this mastering the first-pass strat...

EPISODE SUMMARY In this episode of The Claim Game , Jeremy sits down with Nicole Brewer, owner of reTHINK Your Practice and reTHINK Therapy in Henderson, Nevada. Celebrating a massive 10-year milestone this year, Nicole has managed to scale an insurance-based group practice to 23 therapists while keeping her sanity intact. Even better? Nicole officially holds the highest score out of all the pract...

EPISODE SUMMARY In this episode, host Jeremy Zug dives straight into one of the most frustrating translation issues in the entire billing universe: modifiers . While many practice owners and CEOs think that typing in a CPT code tells the whole story, insurance company board-game logic demands a whole lot more. CPT codes are just the verbs—they tell the payer what you did. Modifiers are the syntax,...

EPISODE SUMMARY In this episode of The Claim Game , Jeremy Zug sits down with the incredible Dr. Dominique Dor , owner of SOTM Life Skills Center in Duncanville, Texas. Dr. Dor’s journey is anything but typical. Born in Haiti and raised in Brooklyn, she overcame an ACES (Adverse Childhood Experiences) score of 10 —a score that statistically suggests a life of hardship—to build a thriving group pra...

EPISODE SUMMARY Is your practice tired of wrestling with insurance denials and watching hard-earned revenue slip through the cracks? In this episode of The Claim Game , Jeremy Zug goes upstream to the "point of inception": Claim Submission . While many providers view submitting a claim as a simple keystroke, Jeremy challenges that rudimentary thinking. He breaks down why claim submission is actual...

EPISODE SUMMARY Is your practice a "Jamey Show" or a sustainable business? In this episode, Jeremy sits down with Jamey Schrier, PT, and founder of Practice Freedom U , to discuss the messy, often painful transition from "solopreneur" to professional business owner. Jamey shares the raw story of his practice burning to the ground—literally—and why that disaster was actually the "snow day" he neede...

EPISODE SUMMARY Are you running a practice, or are you just moving pieces around a board while your bank account stays empty? In this episode, Jeremy Zug dives into the high-tangible world of Revenue Cycle Management (RCM) to discuss the vital signs of your practice’s financial health. As a clinician, you might be used to the "wait and see" approach in a therapy session, but in the billing world,...

EPISODE SUMMARY In our second-ever practice audit, we’re heading up north—way up north. We’re joined by Meg Wright , a licensed professional counselor and the visionary behind Maitri Holistic Therapy and Wellness in Homer, Alaska.  Meg has built a thriving practice based on the Sanskrit concept of maitri —developing an unconditional friendship with yourself. But even with a successful practice and...

EPISODE SUMMARY ​​In this episode of The Claim Game , host Jeremy Zug breaks down one of the most misunderstood and frustrating domains of the revenue cycle: Appeals . While many providers’ knee-jerk reaction is to fight every denial with a passionate letter, Jeremy explains why an appeal should actually be your fifth line of defense, not your first. We’re pulling back the curtain on how insurance...

EPISODE SUMMARY Is your private practice’s front office running like a well-oiled machine, or a "clogged emotional drain"? This week on The Claim Game , Jeremy Zug sits down with Brent Metcalf, LCSW , founder of Tri-Star Counseling , to discuss the wild ride of scaling a multi-niche group practice in the Appalachian region. Brent shares the "serendipitous" story of how he was essentially "voluntol...

EPISODE SUMMARY In the world of Revenue Cycle Management (RCM), ignoring your aging report is like planting a garden and never pulling the weeds—eventually, you’ll lose your harvest. Jeremy Zug walks us through the anatomy of an aging report, defining the levels of urgency for claims sitting in 30, 60, and 90-day buckets.  We discuss the critical difference between a rejection and a denial, how to...

EPISODE SUMMARY In this episode, Jeremy Zug takes a strategic pause to interview a true healthcare game changer: Dr. Jeremy Friese , founder and CEO of Humata Health . Dr. Friese isn't just a tech executive; he’s a "recovering Mayo Clinic physician" who spent two decades in the trenches as an interventional radiologist. After witnessing the systemic failures of healthcare during his mother’s battl...

EPISODE SUMMARY Jeremy explains that accounts receivable is like a treasure chest with two different locks: Payer Aging (insurance) and Patient Aging (people). While insurance is a game of logic and data, patient aging is a game of relationships and communication.  We dive into the "90-day mistake"—the friction created when a provider waits too long to bill, leaving patients feeling "ambushed" by...

EPISODE SUMMARY Dealing with insurance denials can feel like a special kind of rejection. You’ve done the work, you’ve served your patients, and then— BAM—denied. It’s the healthcare equivalent of a "check engine" light: frustratingly vague but impossible to ignore. In this episode, Jeremy Zug dives into the nitty-gritty of denial resolution, reframing these "no’s" as puzzles waiting to be solved....

EPISODE SUMMARY Is your practice running like a high-performing business, or is it just surviving from one grant cycle to the next? In this episode of The Claim Game , Jeremy and Kathryn Zug sit down with Jill Steeley , a powerhouse in community health and former CEO of PureView Health Center. Jill shares the incredible story of how she walked into an organization facing a nearly $1 million defici...

EPISODE SUMMARY Ever feel like you’re playing a game of "Red Light, Green Light" with insurance companies, only the light is always stuck on red? We sat down with a true healthcare game changer, Amy Turner, Deputy Director for Policy at the CMS Innovation Center (CMMI), to talk about how they are trying to fix that. Amy breaks down the mission of CMMI—lowering costs while boosting quality—and intr...

EPISODE SUMMARY Is your practice’s revenue stuck in "limbo"? You do the work, you see the patients, you submit the claims—and then... silence. No check, no deposit, just a line item on a spreadsheet getting older by the second. In this episode of The Claim Game , Jeremy Zug dives into what is arguably the most intimidating territory in the entire revenue cycle: Aging Follow-Up . Jeremy demystifies...

EPISODE SUMMARY Is your practice’s bank balance giving you a false sense of security? In this episode, Jeremy Zug moves the game piece into the territory of Payment Posting . While it might sound as exciting as watching paint dry, Jeremy breaks down why this "menial chore" is actually the scorecard for your entire practice. We’re moving from the dopamine hit of seeing money in the bank to the prec...

EPISODE SUMMARY In this episode, Jeremy breaks down the critical distinction between your Billed Amount (your "sticker price") and the Allowed Amount (the "club member price" you negotiated in your contract). Using the story of "Sarah," a clinician frustrated by receiving $112.50 for a $180 session, Jeremy explains the "Lesser of Two" rule. You’ll learn why setting your fees too low prevents you f...

EPISODE SUMMARY Ever opened your EHR expecting a paycheck only to find a big fat zero staring back at you? It feels like adding insult to injury—you’ve done the credentialing, nailed the notes, and submitted everything on time, yet you’re left with nothing but frustration.  In this episode of The Claim Game , Jeremy Zug dives into the most dreaded part of the revenue cycle: denials . Instead of tr...

EPISODE SUMMARY Jeremy breaks down the critical distinction between an EOB (what the patient sees) and a Remittance Advice (the professional version for the provider). He walks through the "detective work" required to audit these documents, highlighting why the Allowed Amount —not just the paid amount—is the number that determines if you’re being underpaid. The episode also explores the "digital p...