What each membership is built to do
Alma’s provider membership combines insurance access, care-delivery tools, continuing education and a clinician community. These are meaningful benefits for a clinician establishing or maintaining a practice. They are also different from buying an outsourced administrative team for a growing group.
Cortexa is built around your independent practice. Analytics helps you see open appointment time, caseloads, clinician activity, clients returning to care and revenue. Full Service Partner adds agreed work across front desk, intake, billing, payroll and growth. You choose the direction; we help with the work.
The practical question is what you are still carrying at the end of the week. If it is a need for insurance participation and a professional community, Alma may answer it. If it is an inbox full of inquiries, inconsistent follow-up, billing loose ends and too little time for clinical care or supervision, Cortexa is the more direct fit.
Who does what?
| What you need | Alma | Cortexa |
|---|---|---|
| Main offer | Insurance membership and clinician tools | Analytics and practice operations |
| Insurance arrangement | Alma’s insurance program | Your practice’s chosen arrangements |
| Private-pay billing | Private-pay invoicing tools | Hands-on billing support through Full Service Partner |
| Group administration | Member accounts with limits on administrator access | An agreed team and workflow for your practice |
| Front desk | Consultation tools; members retain required tasks | Inquiry response, scheduling and follow-up |
| Practice reporting | Reporting within member accounts | Practice and clinician dashboards |
| Price | Membership and applicable transaction fees | $50/month Analytics; separate Full Service Partner fee |
Check what your staff can do in Alma
Alma has specific rules for groups. Individual members manage consultation requests. Group administrators cannot submit claims for other providers. Billing information needs to be brought together from member accounts. Check your group’s eligibility and how these rules apply before assigning work to staff.
Ask practical questions: Can your front desk finish the intake task? Can your biller see and work through everyone’s unpaid claims? Who gathers the payments into a report for the owner? A task that must remain with a clinician should be clear from the start.
Cortexa can respond to direct practice inquiries and coordinate agreed work around Alma. Each member still completes actions Alma reserves for that member. This lets you hand over the work that can be delegated without losing track of what your clinicians still need to do.
Alma’s insurance contracts remain Alma’s
Alma collects and submits clinicians’ qualifications for approval to join its insurance program. This process is called credentialing. The program uses Alma’s tax identification number, or TIN. Joining does not transfer Alma’s contracts to your practice.
Your business remains yours. But income through Alma depends on that arrangement. Before leaving, check which insurers you could still bill, which clients need a change in billing, and who will finish outstanding claims.
Cortexa supports the choices you make for your practice. If you want help with insurer applications, agree which clinicians, insurers and tasks are included. Approval and payment rates remain with the insurer.
Separate membership fees from money received
Alma’s standard membership options are $125 per month or $1,140 paid annually. The annual price works out to $95 per month. Offers and group arrangements can differ. Cortexa Analytics is $50 per month. Full Service Partner has a separate fee because it includes people doing the work.
For a group, find out how many memberships you need and who pays for them. Then check the payout: the money the practice actually receives for each session. Subtract the fees and other costs you still pay. A low membership price alone does not show what your practice keeps.
For Cortexa, compare the service fee with the staff or outside help you would otherwise need. Keep money received from insurers, membership fees, transaction costs and service fees on separate lines so the comparison is easy to follow.
One practice can have several ways to get paid
Imagine a group receiving website inquiries, professional referrals and platform consultations. Some clients are private pay, some use the practice’s own insurance contracts, and others use Alma. An owner needs to know who is waiting, which clinicians can accept an appropriate referral and what happened to each payment.
Someone still needs to connect those steps. Cortexa can handle agreed intake and administrative tasks across the practice. Each Alma member remains responsible for the actions Alma requires them to complete. Your plan should name who does each task.
For example, the practice’s front desk may respond to a direct website inquiry, confirm the appropriate next step and coordinate an appointment. If the client proceeds through Alma, the member completes the required platform actions. Your reporting then distinguishes that payout from your independently billed revenue.
Questions to settle before you start
- Map who responds to each source of inquiry and who owns follow-up when a client does not schedule.
- Get written confirmation of group eligibility, account permissions, consultation responsibilities and claim-submission rules.
- Review the actual payout schedule for your clinicians, states, insurers and services.
- Read current membership and insurance terms for changes, cancellation timing, outstanding balances and transitions.
- List the reports and access your owner, biller and front desk need; validate the workflow without shared logins.
- Choose Cortexa Analytics if better insight is enough. Choose Full Service Partner when you also want agreed work taken off your plate.
Common questions
Is Alma only a directory?
No. Its membership includes an insurance program, clinical and practice tools, education and community benefits. The question for a group owner is whether those benefits also resolve the practice-level work that needs doing.
Can Alma handle private-pay clients?
Yes. Alma’s documentation describes invoices and payments for private-pay care. That capability does not establish that it manages every balance or every billing arrangement elsewhere in your practice.
Can Cortexa submit every Alma claim for my clinicians?
Not every task can be handed over. Alma’s guidance says group administrators cannot submit claims for other providers. We agree which tasks Cortexa can handle and which your clinicians must complete in their own accounts.
Do I give up ownership of my practice by joining Alma?
No. You still own your business. Alma’s insurance program uses Alma’s tax identification number and contracts. Check what insurance access you would have if you later left the program.
Which choice helps an owner who is overloaded?
List the tasks taking your time. If you need help across front desk, intake, billing and the rest of the practice, start with Cortexa Full Service Partner. If your main need is insurance access and membership benefits, compare those with Alma’s offer.