SimplePractice - Santa Monica, California

Jennifer N.

I have been using Simple Practice since 2018. It seems cliche to say that this platform makes running my practice simple, but in this case that really is the best word. I think for me there are 3 things that make running my solo private practice almost too easy.

1. Scheduling. I love that I can schedule clients for weeks at a time. I can properly schedule clients who are every other week and weekly and be able to add in one-time sessions in between and minimize the problem of double booking myself. Clients can cancel themselves and I can also see who would be in person or virtual. I love that I can create any time of appointment so that I don’t schedule clients without leaving time for eating. The scheduling includes the billing codes, alerts before each session and much more so it’s not something easily recreated in google calendar. And now that other calendars and Simple Practice can sync, it makes my weekly schedule that much more simple.

2. Billing. There was lots of intimidation around bilingual insurance. Enter Simple Practice. I still cannot believe that I can submit billing for multiple clients at once with one click. That’s it. And if I ever have an issue (very rare) the customer support is so good, they give step by step instructions to fix the issue making email communications simple as well.

3. Telehealth. My clients love that they can join a session from their iPad, laptop or phone with the click of a button. This is great for adolescent clients and allows for using a backup device in the moment if a laptop or phone dies mid session. They can send a message while on session in the chat or I can share my screen to work on exercises when needed. It has been super simple to have family sessions on multiple devices when needed.

Running a practice from intake to termination is so easy that sometimes I feel like I’m forgetting to do something. It’s almost too simple. But guess what, Simple Practice even alerts you when you forget to do a note or a client has an outstanding balance, so even forgetting is made simple too!

Patrick D. T.

SimplePractice is a really collaborative electronic health record system. I have actually visited the Santa Monica, CA headquarters multiple times: prior to 2020 and then in the newer location quite recently. It has been amazing to meet people in person that work there. I appreciate being able to utilize the built-in marketing features to receive in-network referrals. SimplePractice has an internal feedback forum that I have found to be helpful in relaying feedback to SimplePractice engineers directly about current and potential features. I do appreciate the speed of SimplePractice and the customization that allows for my own forms to be used.

I was really disappointing in competitor products that had fixed forms that could not be customized, or weren't as intuitive. I've also found insurance billing to be so simple, as I can be in network and not be forced to use some haphazard system that isn't user-friendly.

Over the years, the features have improved and made things more simple but robust too. As a clinician who uses scheduling features, insurance features, telehealth, and marketing, I see this platform as one that I can collaborate with. They recently launched measurement-based care, which is excellent for insurance needs. The platform keeps growing and I have been pleased in the recent advancements in being able to connect to support staff and personalized assistance with specific claims when I've been confused as to how to navigate a certain report (only has happened a few times).

I look forward to continuing to use and benefit from SimplePractice, and look forward to the refinement of existing features and introduction of newer ones too. The platform is HIPAA-compliant and takes security seriously. When I've asked them about features, security has always been clearly a top priority rather than an assumed piece of the puzzle, which is nice to experience.

Stormie B.

I have been "just getting into" simple practice for a while now. The ticket that I did send in took 5 days to respond to. Currently while I'm having issues setting up this service, I can only contact via email despite the other two options they offer-the number offered sent me to a voicemail that repeated itself rerouting me to the website, the bot on the website goes into an infinite loop of asking me to sign in OR just asks me to send an email.

My experience has been rather disappointing.

Marilyn N.

There is nothing simple about Simple Practice. There is no way to reach them by phone, if there is you have to work your tail off to figure out how to reach someone. Nothing with them is simple. I had an issue where a customer disputed a charge, instead of informing me so I could handle it with the customer, they took it upon themselves to refund the customer, charged me 30 dollars for something, I'm no sure, and then locked my account. I contacted the customer myself who informed me that he didn't know why he was charged. he thought his EAP was handling everything. After researching, he provided no EAP information and no Insurance information for billing. therefore the office manager billed the credit card on file. after speaking with him he apologies for the inconvenience and stated he would cancel the dispute. Not sure if he did or not but as of today my account is locked, they say after several log in attempts which I have not logged in for a while and if I did my log in credentials are saved. first of all Simple practice, you are not my office manager or accountant, you have no right to refund anything from my account without my permission. secondly, you guys need to provide a direct way to be contacted to providers so issues can be resolved. Today if I needed to see patients virtually....how?...I'm locked out. As soon as this is resolve you guys will be history and I will never recommend you to others...For future reference...Leave the accounting issues to the providers...and if you take someone money for service...part of that service is providing a customer services phone number so you guys can be reached (a live representative). Shame on you guys for providing such horrible customer service... Can someone recommend a better EHR service provider?

Aubrey C.

PSA: Our group practice used to face service interruptions maybe 1 day out of a quarter, but as Simple Practice has grown we have seen a huge uptick in how many general interruptions occur where a key feature like Telehealth are completely inaccessible due to heavy traffic, server issues, etc. This feels like a big thing for prospective customers to know about. For a practice that sees clients heavily on weekdays, having 7 out of 60ish business days is over 10% of our time we pay for where connectivity issues occur!! It really isn't acceptable and leaves us scrambling to re-schedule or re-route our clients. Simple Practice has not offered any alternatives to these complaints outside of "we hear your feedback," and has said they are unwilling to refund for the impacted days as well. You can decide for yourself if that is the kind of support response you'd like to operate a partnership with. (attached is an image of simple practice's own metric for identifying interrupted service for the past 90 days)

Elle O.

Simple practice is horrible!
The registration process from our old system to SP took almost two weeks because we had to wait 24-48 hours for responses. When we finally switched over to the SP system, we had all of our patients (over 5,000) DOB off by one day with no resolution from SP.

The customer service, for the amount that we are charged, is poor. There is no way around that. The live chat boxes highlight what you can find on line and then they escalate your question(s) and you wait 24-48 hours. When we do get a response, they highlight the same response that is online. Then you have to schedule a video call to actually get a response. You can try to call, one time I waited almost 30 minutes and then it forced me to leave a voicemail.

We joined in June and so far there has been four "glitches" that took us offline for an extended period of time. We are a telehealth practice and we have Doctors in different states and we constantly have issues with patients/doctors joining video appointments. Constantly have to play the log in and out game until it finally syncs.

We also have a lot of lab results, photos, tests and medical records with no way to organize. Everything goes under files.

There are some positive aspects to the platform but the connection issues and customer support do not make them worth it.

Carolyn B.

Even though I love the practice management program, it is extremely difficult to get in touch with them. They do not offer a phone number and only a chat bot. If you miss the communication from them on email, they close the contact down quickly.

Ericka D.

Not a Fan. Actions (such as sending new ROI’s to existing clients) are not intuitive. Accessing telephone support is almost impossible. I’m definitely not getting the most out of this site due to the lack of support to set me up for success. I’d really love for Simple Practice to improve their response to request for support, and prove me wrong!