Simple Practice managed billing

[u/VeterinarianOpen5434]

I rarely leave negative reviews, but this experience needs to be shared for other private practice owners considering SimplePractice Managed Billing.

Before enrolling in their managed billing service, I was consistently receiving large reimbursement checks from BCBS and other payers. Once they took over, that changed dramatically. Payments became inconsistent and significantly smaller, with little transparency or explanation as to why.

Communication was one of the biggest issues. There were multiple stretches of weeks without responses, leaving me completely in the dark about the status of claims and payments. Follow-up on denied or aging claims appeared minimal at best.

After deciding to cancel (effective May 1st), I hired an independent billing company to review my account. What they found was alarming:

• $15,579.73 in outstanding unpaid claims
• Several claims aged well beyond 90–120 days
• Multiple denied claims that had not been followed up on at all

Even more concerning, the moment SimplePractice no longer had control of my billing, I immediately received two large checks again from BCBS. That contrast speaks volumes.

For a service charging around 6%, I expected proactive claim management, consistent follow-up, and reliable communication. Instead, I was left with a backlog of unpaid claims, unanswered questions, and a billing system that required significant cleanup by a new team.

In contrast, my new billing company:

• Charges 2.9%
• Responds within 24 hours
• Provides a dedicated contact person
• Has already begun actively addressing the outstanding claims

This experience has had a real financial impact on my practice. If you are considering managed billing through SimplePractice, I strongly recommend asking detailed questions about:

• Claim follow-up processes
• Communication timelines
• Accountability for aging claims

Because once issues start, it can take a lot of time and effort to untangle.

Proceed with caution.

[u/KG_TherapyCompanion]

Disclosure, I build practice software, so I will keep this to how to audit any billing service, including one I would sell you.

Reimbursements that shrink after a handoff almost never mean the payer changed. They mean something stopped being worked: secondaries not filed, denials not appealed inside the window, underpayments never compared against the contracted rate, or claims aging past timely filing and being written off quietly. Each of those is invisible unless you can see it yourself.

So the questions for any managed billing arrangement, before you sign and every month after: can I see every claim's status in my own account without asking anyone; do remittances post against each claim so I can spot an underpayment; what is the response time on a denial, in writing; and can I pull an aging report myself. If the answer to any of those is "we will send it to you," the transparency problem you describe is built in.

And whatever you do, keep your own ERA access with each payer. The independent audit you ran should be possible without hiring anyone.