SimplePractice

Pros

I love all of the things that the developers decided to incorporate in this platform. You can upload your business documents, any documents relevant to your client records and so much more. I have created questionnaires that are specific to my practice so that I can gather data upfront and this prevents me from missing out on money. I love the integration for scheduling appointments, telehealth and billing and invoicing. If you want to streamline your practice, this is for you.

Cons

Clients cannot pay partial balances in their client portal yet, those payments have to be taken in the office.

Pros

I really like their balance between practice management and clinical documentation for a small practice, as well as the degree of customization for forms and documents.

Their portal is pretty easy for clients to use (I rarely get people having trouble with it).

I like their booking widget for my website.

The telehealth video/audio quality is very good.

Their help database is one of the better ones I've seen, lots of great articles and clear instructions that seems to be kept up to date.

Cons

Their settings menu is not intuitive and you have to hunt around to find the setting you are looking for.

CEU offerings are not on topics of interest to me.

Their clearinghouse doesn't have one of the carriers I need.

Reporting and practice management tools are weak.

Their paid therapist collaboration group where potentially sensitive information is discussed is hosted by Facebook (perhaps the most untrustworthy and unethical software company on the planet) AND they charge us to be invited to participate on a platform that doesn't cost SimplePractice any money to host other than maybe some moderating? That doesn't align well with the brand reputation and quality of SimplePractice and isn't really a good value for the money (in my opinion).

Pros

The features that are most impactful are the paperless Intake process, the online billing, and the HIPPA-compliant storage of all PHI and billing information. It was fairly easy to learn to use and integrate into my business.

Cons

The Telehealth features are minimal and scarce. We really need better features to be able to do things that other platforms offer--writing board, chat within telehealth sessions, sharing sound from the client's screen when screen sharing, easier screen sharing for the client, better group video sessions.

Pros

**Note: I am very new to Simple Practice and I'm only three weeks in.

What I like most about this is the idea that everything will be located all in one place. No paper files to lug around, reduced costs on printing paper and ink for intakes and informed consents, and I'm excited about having automatic appointment reminders for clients. I like that I can send clients the documents ahead of time so they don't have to spend 20-25 minutes when they first arrive filing out paperwork. We can get started right away. And I appreciate that I can customize the way I contact the clients as their individual preference (some want texts, some want voice messages).

Cons

Although I am fairly tech savvy (I'm the top end of the millennials), I have not found simple practice as user friendly as I had hoped. I have used many support options so far and find the in-person ones most helpful. While trying to create my current intake form into one of the forms and documents...I found it rather nightmare-ish. It was tedious and I felt like it took 10 times longer than it needed to. I was SO glad my 30 minute phone consult had given me the heads up to use the pre-existing template and just change every question so I didn't have to totally re-invent the wheel. I am SO glad the template already existed! But I still felt like I was using a chisel on stone. It felt tedious and painful. I'm glad that's over!
Sometimes I get stuck on the calendar page and haven't yet found the button to default to the normal HOME setting so I have the sidebar. These are small things that I hardly ever have a hard time wasting time on..and yet I found myself not being able to get back there today multiple times.
Not as user friendly as I hoped.

Pros

Everything is integrated into one system and they don’t stop creating new features.

Cons

Need more reports and privilege access for group practices.