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Behavioral health & substance use consulting
Infrastructure for organizations ready to scale.
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Building and sustaining a behavioral health organization requires more than clinical expertise.
Licensing, compliance, documentation, payer readiness, staffing, technology, revenue cycle, and daily operational execution all shape the stability of care delivery.
Saint Health Group supports business owners, entrepreneurs, operators, and providers by strengthening the administrative and operational infrastructure behind care, reducing friction, improving clarity, and helping organizations scale with greater confidence.
About the firm →Built for every stage of behavioral health.
Consulting that strengthens the infrastructure behind care.
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Licensing & Certification
State licensing, certification support, service expansion, renewals, program setup, policy development, and readiness across levels of care.
Learn more →Compliance & Accreditation
Compliance programs, audit readiness, payer rule reviews, accreditation prep, corrective action planning, and QAPI systems.
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Operations & Program Development
Service line design, operational workflows, staffing models, vendor coordination, admissions systems, and leadership support.
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Revenue Cycle & Payer Strategy
RCM workflows, verification of benefits, authorization systems, denial prevention, contracting, rate strategy, and credentialing.
Learn more →Technology, AI & Automation
EMR, CRM, HRIS, and RCM implementation, AI-assisted workflows, automated task systems, and KPI dashboards.
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Marketing & Growth Systems
Brand infrastructure, website strategy, admissions funnels, referral development, directory setup, and market positioning.
Learn more →We build systems, not just recommendations. Every engagement ends with documented, deployable infrastructure, not a report that sits on a shelf. Our work is grounded in direct operational experience, the license applications, the payer negotiations, the census pressure, and that context changes how we work: as operators, not observers.
We hold our own work to the standards we apply to clinical programs. Results are measured and reported, not described in general terms. And we build for the organization's sustained health, not for the engagement itself: the systems we put in place are designed for long-term performance, holding up long after we're out of the room.
A structured path from diagnostic to durable systems.
Blueprint
A prioritized plan across licensing, compliance, operations, and revenue.
Implementation
Deployed systems, trained teams, and measured outcomes.
Start with a clear blueprint.
A structured blueprint that identifies what needs to be licensed, documented, staffed, implemented, automated, and prioritized.
The Field Desk
Friday, September 11, 2026Notes from the practice
How to Start an IOP in Washington: WAC 246-341 in Plain English
As of September 2026, Washington does not issue a separate license for an intensive outpatient program (IOP). If your agency already holds a Behavioral Health Agency (BHA) license with outpatient certification, adding IOP means certifying under the same outpatient standard that covers PHP, WAC 246-341-0737, and building a schedule, staffing plan, and payer strategy around 9 to 12 hours of treatment per week. If you're starting from zero, you need the full BHA license first, then the outpatient certification, before you can bill a single IOP session.
An intensive outpatient program delivers structured group, individual, and family therapy on a schedule intensive enough to stabilize someone who doesn't need daily medical monitoring but needs more than weekly outpatient counseling. In Washington, both IOP and PHP are certified under the same outpatient rule, WAC 246-341-0737, but the Washington Health Care Authority (HCA) draws a hard line between them by hours: IOP runs roughly 9 to 12 hours per week, delivered in at least three sessions on separate days, averaging 2 to 3 hours per session. A partial hospitalization program (PHP) runs 15 to 20 hours per week, typically 4 to 5 hours a day. See our companion guide to PHP certification in Washington for the full breakdown.