Accounting and Tax Basics for Private Practice

Description

If you’re a clinician in private practice, you already know the clinical side is only half the battle—the real struggle begins when you face the accounting, taxes, and business decisions that affect your livelihood. This course demystifies the financial maze, giving you the clarity and confidence to run your practice with intention and intelligence.

Whether you’re just starting out or trying to clean up a tangled mess of spreadsheets and shoebox receipts, this course offers practical, essential guidance that can save you money, protect your practice, and bring peace of mind.

Matthew Bernot, MBA, is a seasoned Business Analyst with deep expertise in finance, HIPAA compliance, and healthcare operations. With years of experience advising medical and behavioral health organizations, Matt brings unmatched clarity to the complex intersection of clinical practice and financial responsibility. His consulting background and instructional experience make him a trusted guide for clinicians seeking financial stability and sustainable business operations.

Matt’s teaching approach is grounded in real-world experience and clear, jargon-free explanations. Rather than overwhelming you with theory, he breaks down financial concepts and accounting principles into usable strategies tailored for behavioral health providers. You'll walk away knowing how to organize your books, file your taxes, and plan with purpose—not panic.

This online self-study course explores key business structures (LLC, S-Corp, C-Corp, and sole proprietorships), how to separate personal and business finances, essential accounting software tools, and HIPAA-compliant bookkeeping practices. It also covers how to understand your profit and loss statements, balance sheets, and cash flow reports; track business deductions; and prepare for growth, retirement, or financing with confidence. Whether you're billing insurance or collecting cash payments, you'll learn the financial habits that make or break a practice.

Key Takeaways:

• Master your numbers: Gain fluency in business accounting so you can manage, assess, and forecast the financial health of your private practice.

• Understand your tax obligations: Learn how business income is taxed and discover commonly missed tax deductions that could save you money.

• Create financial peace of mind: Set up systems and processes that reduce stress and help you make informed business decisions.

Why This Course?

• Tailored for behavioral health providers: This course goes beyond general business advice by focusing on the specific challenges and opportunities of clinicians in private practice.

• Led by a seasoned healthcare consultant: With years of consulting and teaching experience in HIPAA-compliant financial systems, Matthew Bernot offers unmatched practical insight.

• Backed by a trusted CE provider: Telehealth Certification Institute is dedicated to equipping clinicians with high-quality continuing education that empowers professional growth and ethical practice.

Learning Objectives:

• Explain the various ways to keep an accounting of their business financial transactions

• Explain how their income will be taxed and potential tax write-offs for the business

• Assess the financial health of their private practice

Whether you’re building your practice from scratch or preparing it for long-term success, this course offers the financial foundation you didn’t get in grad school. 

Enroll in this course to gain the financial clarity your private practice needs.

Format and Access

This is a non-interactive, self-study course. It consists of instruction and a course evaluation.

Course Details

Availability: 

From the time of registration, you have six months to access the coursework.

Who Should Attend: 

This course is intended for clinicians who provide behavioral health services.

Teaching Methods: 

This is a non-interactive, self-study course. Teaching methods for this course include recorded lectures, videos, a post-test, and a course evaluation.

How to Attend: 

Course access and completion instructions.

Instructor and Disclosures

Instructor

About Matthew Bernot, MBA

Matthew Bernot is a Business Analyst at Miles Technologies, a Software and IT company providing technology services to small and midsize businesses throughout the United States. He has extensive experience in HIPAA compliance, accounting, finance and management. From 2012-2015, Matt managed the client portfolio of Medical Malpractice insurance transaction processing software for Catex, helping insurance companies, claims processors, Third Party Adjusting Firms, and Reinsurance Carriers all maintain HIPAA compliance on their portfolios as well as making their operations run more efficiently. From 2015 to 2019, Matt managed a branch of TD Bank, focusing on operations compliance and administrating business accounts for all industries. And in 2019, Matt came over to Striven, to work as a business analyst consulting medical organizations and other professional services companies in better business practices related to HIPAA compliance, DCAA compliance, and other financial and project auditing procedures. Matt also designed the configurations of the Striven Medical Edition, which is used by medical organizations to maintain HIPAA compliance. He’s also taught a version of this course to all Striven Business Analysts who work at Miles Technologies.  Matt can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and you can also connect with Matt Bernot.

Striven is a complete financial management software with all-in-one features for projects, inventory, sales, and more. Striven provides secure and powerful accounting solutions to help healthcare providers maintain HIPAA compliance. It eliminates the use of costly and unconnected software applications to make businesses run easier, faster, and safer. With secure document storage, easy client billing, fast payment collections and robust financial reports, healthcare professionals and CPAs can safely run their business on a single platform.

Disclosure Statement: 

The instructor(s) for this course receive compensation for their services. There are no reported conflicts of interest to disclose.

CE Hours

0 Credit Hours - just great content to help your private practice

This is a non-interactive, self-study course.

Accommodations and Policies

Close Captioning is available for live webinars and recorded video presentations.

You can click on the following links to view our policies:

• Accommodations for Individuals with Disabilities.
• Cancellation Policy
• Grievance Policy
• Support Options
• Disclosure Statement