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While a decade ago, the idea of seeing a provider for a virtual visit may not have seemed like an imminent reality, in our post Covid world, it certainly has become a mainstream offering, with new terms such as ‘Teleneurologist,’ and ‘Teleradiologist’ now in the medical jargon used routinely around the hospital. Electronic medical records (opens in new tab) have needed to evolve to keep up with the changing times. This has included various practice models, from a traditional practice model that has only in person visits, to a totally virtual practice, and also for practices that offer both types of visits with a hybrid model.
While some larger EMR’s may not be as noble to incorporate these various practice models, SimplePractice (opens in new tab) embraces them, with a platform built to offer telehealth, online appointment requests, and paperless intakes to both streamline a traditional office, and enable online visits that continue to grow.
SimplePractice: Features
SimplePractice has a number of features that make it well suited for certain practice models. In addition to the clinical documentation, we like the ease of which it can file both electronic claims with both primary and secondary insurers, and also handle online credit card processing. Another highlight is the HIPAA compliant integration of Telehealth platform, complete with its own dedicated app, well suited to completely online, or challenging hybrid practice models.
Scheduling is also well done with automated scheduling, and free reminders to keep patients returning. Finally, secure messaging from within the platform is valuable to communicate with patients in HIPAA compliant fashion, without the need for a separate app, with an additional cost.
Patient Portal
A strong point of SimplePractice is the client portal. Designed for ease of use for patients, this powerful portal can be used for scheduling of appointments, management of bills, and even secure messaging of providers.
Mobile
We found mobile apps for both the iOS and the Android platforms. In fact, we found one app for the medical record, and another for the telehealth component. We also like that the iOS app can work on the Apple Watch to keep a busy clinician on track as it displays the appointment schedule.
SimplePractice: Drawbacks
The major drawback we see for SimplePractice is the focus of this software. It has a definite focus on behavioral health services. It also has an emphasis on other groups, such as social workers, occupational therapists, and speech language pathologists. While it is likely well suited to these groups, that other EMR’s often don’t focus on, we can surmise that it is not focusing on traditional medical practices, and we did not find anything that catered to medical or surgical specialists, such as a cardiologist or orthopedics practice. It is also only for outpatient practices, and not for inpatient facility EMR requirements.
SimplePractice: Support
The support for SimplePractice is more centered around self help, rather than lots of direct hand holding. Towards that end, there is a well developed library of content, with articles on everything from clinical topics, coding and business information. There are also webinars (opens in new tab), and letter templates to cover a wide variety of needs. There are also on demand classes for common issues, such as setting up the account for the practice, or getting started with telehealth. We also like that the content that we did review had recently been revised to keep it fresh and relevant.
Realize that when the issue goes beyond the pre-done content, the direct support is more minimal. We did not find a direct email, direct phone number, a support portal, nor even a fax number. Rather, there is but a sole support option, which is chat. While that may be just fine for some issues, we would prefer to see some other options available as well.
SimplePractice: Pricing
SimplePractice offers a series of tiers to choose from depending on the features chosen. There is no free tier, but there is a free 30-day trial, without a credit card of the Plus tier. Also keep in mind that the lower two of the three tiers can only be used for a solo practice.
At the bottom is the Starter tier, at $29/month. It offers unlimited clients, paperless intakes, a client portal, and a client mobile app. While it can store and process credit cards, the telehealth is left out of the base package, and is a $15/month additional charge.
Next up is the Essential plan, which rises up to $69/month, but this plan includes telehealth. This inclusion makes it a better deal considering that it also has appointment reminders, secure client messaging, customizable notes and assessments, along with 10 electronic claims/month, with additional a modest $0.25 per claim.
At the top is the Plus plan, which costs $99/month, and can also add in practice managers for $39/month per person, and additional clinicians for $59/month per person, which allows this plan to be used for a group practice. This also includes calendar sync, The Wiley Treatment Planner, an appointment request widget and advanced calendar filters.
SimplePractice: Final verdict
Overall, SimplePractice does not try to be everything to all, but rather focuses on offering a rounded feature set well suited especially to behavioral practice models. We like the pluses such as transparent pricing, the choice of tiers, the integrated telehealth, and the app support. There are some minuses, including the highest tier required to have more than a single practitioner, the single direct support option, and that some medical specialists will not find this EMR focused at all on their needs. Overall, balancing the two, it is hard to argue with a free 30-day trial, making this a viable option to see if SimplePractice works for your practice’s needs.
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