For Joanne DeMonte, medical billing was never supposed to become a lifelong business.
After relocating to Florida for her husband’s career in the late 1990s, the former accounting professional found herself unexpectedly bored as a stay-at-home mom. Looking for part-time work, she answered a newspaper advertisement about medical billing software training.
“I bought the software, went through four days of training, came home and cried for three months,” Joanne recalls. “The software didn’t work the way I expected and none of it made sense.”
Practice focus delivers big results
But after landing her first behavioral health client—a mental health provider named George Shultz—Joanne stayed with it. When Shultz expanded his practice and hired additional therapists, they brought Joanne along with them. From there, the revenue cycle reliability Joanne created powered business growth through referrals and word of mouth.
That niche became foundational to DeMonte’s long-term success.
“We opened with a focus on mental health practices and stayed in our lane,” says Joanne. “Over time, we built deep expertise there.”
Today, DeMonte Medical Billing Solutions supports 150 behavioral and mental health practices across 34 states with billing and credentialing services. Many of their largest clients originally started as startups.
The business itself has become a family operation. Joanne’s husband John joined full-time in 2010 after a career in sales. Today their two adult children also work in the company alongside a staff of 25 — plus three Boxer dogs that roam the office.
Tebra’s automation and partnership delivers scale
The company’s biggest operational turning point came in 2012.
Their original billing software provider had been acquired, and the DeMontes knew they needed a modern platform that could help them grow without adding complexity.
“Our old software was DOS-based,” Joanne explains. “When we saw Tebra’s cloud-based system, we were amazed. We didn’t have to program everything ourselves anymore. It just worked.”
The simplicity of the platform immediately stood out.
“Tebra is easy to understand and streamlined,” Joanne says. “We were up and running quickly and can onboard a new client in less than two days.”
That onboarding speed became a major competitive differentiator.
“Clients would ask us, ‘Really? Two days, not two weeks?’” says Joanne.
The company’s growth accelerated even further after joining Tebra’s billing company lead program, Partner Connect.
“That program was huge for us,” says John. “There were times we actually had to shut off leads temporarily because we needed time to absorb the growth.”
Many of those referrals were mental health practices already using Tebra who needed outsourced billing expertise.
The combination proved powerful: DeMonte knew behavioral health billing deeply, and they knew Tebra equally well.
“We standardized our entire operation around Tebra,” says John. “That lets us train staff faster, scale more efficiently, and support clients more consistently.”
But the company is always looking for greater advantage. At one point, DeMonte briefly left Tebra for another platform.
“Three years ago we tried AdvancedMD,” Joanne says. “On paper, the feature list looked incredible. But once we started actually using it, it took ten steps to do what Tebra could do in one.”
The experiment lasted eight painful months.
“When our Tebra account manager called us six months in, we knew we’d made a mistake,” says Joanne. “Coming back to Tebra felt like relief.”
Easier is better for staff and clients alike
Today, ease of use remains one of the biggest operational advantages for the DeMonte team. Because Tebra is intuitive, new employees can begin hands-on work quickly after watching training videos. Staff can monitor overdue encounters, rejected claims, unpaid e-claims, and client billing issues directly from the Tebra home screen.
“We’ve never been afraid to show new hires the software,” Joanne explains. “It’s simple and easy to learn.”
The claim tracking functionality has also become central to their workflow.
“We can search almost anything instantly,” says John. “Insurance, patient, date of service, psych testing claims—it’s all there.”
That operational visibility matters because DeMonte’s clients often come to them during periods of financial stress.
“Sometimes we help practices survive,” John explains. “One Tebra lead in 2023 was nearly bankrupt. We rebuilt the revenue cycle, recovered back billing, and helped them grow into one of our largest clients.”
Ironically, the client eventually became healthy enough operationally to bring billing in-house.
“That’s success to us,” says John. “If we help stabilize and grow a practice to the point where they can manage internally, that’s a win.”
For the DeMontes, billing accuracy is ultimately about protecting practice viability.
“This is their livelihood,” Joanne says. “We teach our staff that it’s better to be slightly slower and accurate than fast and wrong.”
That reliability has helped fuel remarkable growth. Since COVID, DeMonte Medical Billing Solutions has doubled annual revenue from $1M to $2M — almost entirely through referrals and reputation. They haven’t actively advertised since 2016.
“Our referrals are so strong that most prospects are already ready to sign when they meet us,” says Joanne.
Even after more than two decades in business, the DeMontes remain focused on sustainable growth, supporting their employees, and eventually transitioning leadership to the next generation.
“We always joke about what we’d do if we won the lottery,” Joanne says. “But honestly, most of the conversation is still about what we’d do for our employees and clients. That’s how much we love this business.”
Hidden Costs & Operational Advantage Grid
Estimated annual operational and revenue-cycle impact enabled by Tebra Billing for DeMonte Medical Billing Solutions
Cost Assumptions
- Medical billing specialist blended wage (Pennsylvania regional avg): $28/hour
- Revenue cycle manager / owner oversight blended rate: $45/hour
- Weighted blended operational rate used in calculations: $32/hour
- Standard business year: 50 weeks
- Estimated average monthly collections per new mental health practice onboarded: $12,000–$18,000
- Industry onboarding timeline for outsourced medical billing transition: 4–6 weeks
- DeMonte onboarding timeline with Tebra: 24–48 hours
| Operational Area | DeMonte Advantage Enabled by Tebra | Annual Impact | Calculation |
| Fast Client Revenue Activation | Faster onboarding accelerates client billing and cashflow by ~4 weeks compared with traditional billing transitions | $270,000 | 15 new clients/year × avg. $18,000 monthly collections × 1 month faster activation |
| Streamlined Billing Workflow Efficiency | Simplified workflows reduce clicks, claim research time, and navigation burden versus more complex systems | $96,000 | 25 staff × 6 hrs/week saved × $32/hr × 50 weeks |
| Claims Visibility & Denial Management | Tebra dashboards and Track Claim Status reduce time spent locating unpaid claims, rejected encounters, and payment issues | $48,000 | 25 staff × 3 hrs/week saved × $32/hr × 50 weeks |
| Faster Staff Ramp & Training | Intuitive workflows reduce onboarding and supervision time for new hires compared with more complex billing systems | $18,000 | 9 net new employees since 2012 × estimated 62.5 hrs reduced training/support × $32/hr |
| Total Estimated Annual Operational Advantage | $432,000 annually | Combined operational efficiency + accelerated client revenue activation |
