Start with license readiness
Your license type determines whether you can practice independently, need supervision, or should set up inside a group practice first. Confirm the current rules with the state board before accepting clients.
This table is a setup readiness starting point, not a substitute for current board review.
Use the exact Arizona credential
Full LPC, LCSW, LMFT, Licensed Psychologist, and LIAC within addiction-counseling scope are the clearest independent paths in this guide. Associate, technician, temporary, probationary, trainee, postdoctoral, telehealth-registration, compact, and other supervised statuses need separate board and payer analysis.
Arizona has a supervised-private-practice pathway
Certain master's-level supervised licensees may own a supervised private practice only after advance Board approval. Current rules require an Arizona-located sole owner and qualified same-discipline supervisor, ongoing direct and clinical supervision, periodic onsite meetings, public supervision notices, reporting, and other conditions. The model is not independent practice, does not allow hiring others, and does not guarantee payer recognition.
Temporary and probationary authority stays limited
Arizona behavioral-health temporary licenses require direct supervision, expire within the Board-set period, and may carry time, place, or supervision restrictions. A psychology supervised temporary license, trainee status, or postdoctoral path is not a full psychologist license.
Practice authority and payer authority are separate
Direct supervision, a supervised-private-practice approval, temporary authority, an out-of-state telehealth registration, or a compact privilege does not require AHCCCS or a commercial product to enroll or reimburse the clinician.
| Credential | Independent practice? | Supervision issue? | Entity/business note | Bomi relevance | Official source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LPC — Licensed Professional Counselor | Generally yes once the full Arizona LPC license is active and services remain within scope. | The full path requires qualifying graduate education, post-master's supervised professional-counseling experience and direct-client hours, clinical supervision, examination, and board approval. Keep LPC separate from LAC. | Good fit for solo, group, or hybrid setup after aligning the license, legal identity, public name, trade name, NPI, CAQH, W-9, service locations, and payer records. | Strong fit for commercial credentialing, AHCCCS enrollment, claims, denials, and revenue operations. | Arizona LPC licensure statute |
| LAC — Licensed Associate Counselor | Not a full independent license. Arizona requires LAC practice to remain under direct supervision. | Confirm a qualified supervisor, direct and clinical supervision, setting, documentation, and the path to LPC. A supervised private practice requires advance Board approval and continuing compliance with its separate rules. | Use a compliant group or Board-approved supervised-private-practice model. Do not treat ownership, supervision, or state practice authority as payer permission to reimburse. | Bomi can support a supervised workflow only after the Board, supervisor, practice, AHCCCS program, payer, and claim configuration are resolved. | Arizona LAC licensure and supervision statute |
| LCSW — Licensed Clinical Social Worker | Generally yes once the full Arizona LCSW license is active and services remain within scope. | The full path requires qualifying graduate education, post-master's supervised clinical-social-work experience and direct-client hours, clinical supervision, supervisor attestation, examination, and board approval. Keep LCSW separate from LMSW and LBSW. | Good fit for solo, group, or hybrid setup after aligning the license, legal identity, public name, trade name, NPI, CAQH, W-9, service locations, and payer records. | Strong fit for commercial credentialing, AHCCCS enrollment, claims, denials, and recredentialing. | Arizona LCSW licensure statute |
| LMSW — Licensed Master Social Worker | Not the same as LCSW independent clinical practice. Arizona requires LMSW clinical practice to remain under direct supervision. | Confirm a qualified supervisor, direct and clinical supervision, setting, documentation, and the path to LCSW. A supervised private practice requires advance Board approval and continuing compliance with its separate rules. | Use a compliant group or Board-approved supervised-private-practice model rather than ordinary independent clinical-practice framing. | Bomi can track payer-specific recognition, supervision, rendering, billing, and claim configuration after the compliant practice model is clear. | Arizona LMSW licensure and supervision statute |
| LBSW — Licensed Baccalaureate Social Worker | No ordinary independent clinical therapy-practice launch. Arizona requires LBSW clinical practice to remain under direct supervision. | Confirm scope, supervisor, setting, and payer recognition. Do not use LBSW and LCSW interchangeably in public, clinical, Medicaid, or commercial-payer records. | Use a lawful nonclinical, support, case-management, agency, or supervised group role unless another qualifying clinical credential applies. | Bomi support depends on the exact service, supervision, provider type, payer recognition, and claim configuration. | Arizona LBSW licensure and supervision statute |
| LMFT — Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist | Generally yes once the full Arizona LMFT license is active and services remain within scope. | The full path requires qualifying graduate education, post-master's supervised experience and direct-client hours, couples-and-families experience, clinical supervision, supervisor attestation, examination, and board approval. Keep LMFT separate from LAMFT. | Good fit for solo, group, or hybrid setup after aligning the license, legal identity, public name, trade name, NPI, CAQH, W-9, service locations, and payer records. | Strong fit for commercial credentialing, AHCCCS enrollment when applicable, claims, denials, and revenue operations. | Arizona LMFT licensure statute |
| LAMFT — Licensed Associate Marriage and Family Therapist | Not a full independent license. Arizona requires LAMFT practice to remain under direct supervision. | Confirm a qualified supervisor, direct and clinical supervision, setting, documentation, and the path to LMFT. A supervised private practice requires advance Board approval and continuing compliance with its separate rules. | Use a compliant group or Board-approved supervised-private-practice model and verify rendering, billing, supervisor, AHCCCS, and commercial-payer rules. | Bomi can support the workflow only after the group or supervised practice, supervisor, Medicaid program, payer, and claim configuration are confirmed. | Arizona LAMFT licensure and supervision statute |
| LIAC — Licensed Independent Addiction Counselor | Generally yes for addiction-counseling services within the active LIAC license's scope, but it is not interchangeable with every psychotherapy credential or payer provider type. | The full path requires qualifying graduate education, supervised addiction-counseling experience and direct-client hours, examination, supervisor attestation, and board approval. Confirm competence, service type, setting, and payer recognition. | Use an addiction-services-specific launch and screen separately for any program, facility, or AHCCCS requirements beyond ordinary private-practice setup. | Bomi can help with payer-by-payer enrollment and claim setup after the exact service, license, setting, provider type, and coverage rules are confirmed. | Arizona addiction-counselor licensure statute |
| LAAC — Licensed Associate Addiction Counselor | Not a full independent license. Arizona requires LAAC practice to remain under direct supervision. | Confirm a qualified supervisor, direct and clinical supervision, scope, setting, and the path to LIAC. A supervised private practice requires advance Board approval and continuing compliance with its separate rules. | Use a compliant supervised addiction-services model and verify Medicaid, commercial-payer, rendering, billing, and documentation requirements. | Bomi can support supervised addiction-counseling workflows only after the practice, supervisor, provider type, payer, and claim setup are clear. | Arizona addiction-counselor licensure statute |
| LACT — Licensed Addiction Counselor Technician | No ordinary independent therapy-practice launch. Arizona requires LACT practice to remain under direct supervision and within addiction-counseling scope. | Confirm the supervisor, setting, service, population, and any conditions on the education path. Do not treat LACT as a generic outpatient psychotherapy credential. | Use a compliant supervised addiction-services, agency, or group model and verify program, Medicaid, payer, and claim requirements. | Bomi support depends on the exact scope, provider type, payer recognition, supervision, and claim configuration. | Arizona addiction-counselor licensure statute |
| Licensed Psychologist | Generally yes once the full Arizona psychologist license is active and services remain within scope. | The full path requires qualifying doctoral education and supervised professional experience. Keep the full license separate from trainee, intern, postdoctoral, supervised-temporary, temporary-practice, and PSYPACT authority. | Good fit for solo, group, or hybrid setup after aligning license, legal identity, NPI, CAQH, W-9, service locations, telehealth authority, and payer records. | Strong fit for commercial and AHCCCS enrollment, claims, denials, and revenue operations. | Arizona psychologist qualifications statute |
| Trainee, postdoctoral, temporary, probationary, or compact authority | Do not treat training, supervision, temporary authority, restrictions, or an interstate privilege as a durable full-license or payer-contract substitute. | Behavioral-health temporary licenses require direct supervision and can carry time, place, and supervision limits. Psychology trainees and postdoctoral clinicians remain in supervised pathways. Verify each temporary, probationary, telehealth-registration, or PSYPACT condition separately. | Use the exact supervised, temporary, restricted, cross-border, or compact workflow. Do not configure it as ordinary independent Arizona licensure in public or payer-facing records. | Bomi can track authority-to-practice and payer risk, but should not imply AHCCCS enrollment, network participation, or commercial reimbursement. | Arizona temporary psychology license statute |