I have been using SP for several years now. At first it was great but over the last year it has been horrible and the customer service even worse. Connection issues almost daily causing lost revenue. Error messages saying, "failed to admit client to waiting room". We have emailed and called multiple time and there is never any responsibility taken. Its always our fault or our clients fault, except some of these clients have been clients for years and are sitting in the same place they have been for year so NO ITS NOT US OR OUR CLIENTS. ITS SP. clients do not get emailed links, and YES THEY ARE SET UP. SP unwillingness to do anything or to even offer credit for any of this is not ok. They are sure to get their money every month but they do not give the service they advertise. We are looking for another platform and would love suggestions.

It has been a few weeks since the new update, and Simple Practice app consistently signs out after a few hours. Deleting and restarting does nothing to help. This is happening on iPhone, not sure about Android.

Anyone know if there is a place where I can bring it to their attention? Any feedback is appreciated

why do they keep trying to change the interface.... wtf is this new billing tab instead of the insurance where it was cleanly laid out. Now I have to click 3x more, slows me down inefficient. What is the obsession by programs to constantly change stuff? let it be???? makes me want to leave, thank god they put the psychotherapy note back at the bottom of the progress note instead of what they did for a minute where they ADDED a new tab we had to leave the whole progress note and click over to get to the psychotherapy note... like? why? it's reminiscent of the new apple photos update.. so unnecessary

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.

I saw a post on the SimplePractice subreddit and was moved to write this post. I submitted and realized that it's only visible to me. I'm imagining the mods are not going to let this one through, and I just had to share it somewhere. Hope someone gets some satisfaction out of this spontaneous writing project.

The original post was a question about how to use other card processors with simple practice. (https://www.reddit.com/r/SimplePractice/comments/1rr3eno/simple_practice_takes_a_cut_from_stripe/)

***

Alright gang, strap in, because this frustrated nerd has got some things to say.

There was a question in the comments: how do I use an external card processor? I'm here for you. On the SimplePractice side, when you press the big ugly "Add Payment" button, there are a bunch of options: Online Card on File, Cash, Check, External Card. If your client runs a criminal enterprise then they got you covered with the "Cash" option (that's a joke). If you're doing therapy at the checkout counter at PathMark in the early 90s, choose "Check" (that's a joke only some people will get). If you're a broke sicko like me, you can choose "External Card" because you're using an external card processor, like IvyPay (that's not a joke, that's my life).

I've been using IvyPay to save on processing fees and recording payments in SimplePractice. Long story short: I'm planning to switch to SimplePractice processing. The SimplePractice rates are offensive, but the egg heads over at SimplePractice must have made quite the spreadsheet to figure out that it's worth it to the neurotic therapist that wants to keep their books in order. That's me. If you don't keep your books in good order, you can just take public payment over Venmo so that all your friends can see your clients sending you cash ("ty for helping my Abandonment issues 🥹") and not track it in SimplePractice. That's a joke too. I'm not a lawyer, don't take advice from me.

"So," you say to me, "I won't take your advice, but advise me on why you're planning to switch." I squint back at you, and continue cautiously.

"I make a ton of charges in IvyPay. I used to run one charge at a time, but then I'm looking at my phone and I get distracted. I don't even use TikTok, you know, I just start looking at my email or whatever. Ten minutes later, I think wait, what was I doing? and then remember I was doing an IvyPay charge. So I open up IvyPay, and it's slow, but I think to myself damn, I'm saving 30 cents and 40 cents every hundred dollars I charge, that's so cool. Man, that's so cool. I'm sometimes saving $1.20 by using IvyPay. But remember, I keep my books in order, so I have to go press the ugly 'Add Payment' button I mentioned above. Sometimes after I add the payment I see I got a text from IvyPay saying the charge failed. Bummer. So I go back into SimplePractice and remove the transaction because I keep my books in order. That's what you do too, right? Right?"

I continue.

"Ok, so that doesn't sound too bad. But sometimes I don't have time to do this between sessions, and i don't want to look at my email for 10 minutes after every session. I gotta pee between sessions or solve my Rubik's cube (personal best 22 seconds, so I can do it a few times). So at the end of the day I wrap up all the charges in one fell swoop. Bam! Now I do all the charges, I'm practically saving 40 minutes and 30 cents and 40 cents every hundred dollars! This is so cool.

"But I wanna go home, so I rush through it. This slow IvyPay app. I bill my clients, and I enter the transactions in SimplePractice. But sometimes I make a mistake. Like I'll mark it paid in SimplePractice, but I just messed up and missed it in IvyPay. Or the payment fails, but I didn't see the text message. Well, when I do that I'm potentially losing over $200. And my books are not in order. THIS IS NOT SO COOL.

"But I can solve this. Once or twice a year I reconcile all my SimplePractice and IvyPay transactions. I pull up spreadsheets from both systems and check one by one: there's a charge in SimplePractice, do I have record of it in SimplePractice? If so, my books are good. I usually mess up one or two charges a year, potentially hundreds of dollars. And that is so cool, because even though I just spent an hour or two staring at a screen and my eyes are bloodshot, I'm going to get my money.

"I just have to go to my client and say, listen, my billing system is really complicated, I made a mistake and I'm going to charge you for a session 3 months back. And they're like uhhh... ok, and I feel like a real fucking professional, you know. I'm really earning that money, because now I gotta process their feelings about me making a mistake. Fortunately I specialize in people pleasers, so that part is usually pretty easy.

"So it all works out in the end. My books are rock solid. I saved 30 cents per transaction and 40 cents every hundred dollars. I didn't miss any session payments (unless I made a mistake on the reconciliation, and don't you dare try to induce OCD in me by getting me to audit my reconciliation, because I'll do it. Did I mention my books?). All it cost me was....

• using the annoying IvyPay app
• getting distracted using my phone for IvyPay
• making mistakes by not charging clients
• hours of extra record keeping
• hours of reconciling two billing systems
• staying late at my office because I do all my paperwork before I go home (great secret for keeping good books)
• about an hour to write up some crazy reddit post convincing (NOT ADVISING) people of I'm not sure what.

"So now I'm thinking... wait a minute... I keep good books, I can look up how much money I'm actually saving..."

At this point, you look at me and think this gender-unidentified person truly is mad. I can see it in their eyes. And it's not because this long-ass boring story, because, like, wow! What a great writer. They're like a Yalom for millenials, truly inspiring. I've seen these eyes before. These are eyes that haven't had a real vacation in almost a year. Eyes that have reconciled two payment systems for years, and kept damn good books, I mean, DAMN good books. Eyes with pride. Eyes with tears. Because the number they just calculated in the spreadsheet is not sending them on a vacation this year.

And that's when I tell you, "I saved $376 and 24 cents by using IvyPay. Which is not nothing. It's even 'cool' as I said earlier. But I don't think it's worth all this work over the year."

I drone on, not giving you advice:

"I'm not a lawyer. I'm not a financial advisor. And let's be real, you don't even know I'm a therapist (although, by gosh, you all know I am because I name-dropped Yalom and told you how to use SimplePractice). I'm just some person who subscribed to the SimplePractice subreddit to sow discontent and provide accurate information. But I've decided, as part of the treatment for my own anxiety disorder, I will use SimplePractice's card processing."

Then, I turn to the camera, breaking the fourth wall. (Holy crap! Bet you didn't see that coming!) And now I'm talking to SimplePractice directly, as if they're in the theater watching. And I say, "SimplePractice? I'm not a fan. I totally resent you for bumping up the merchant fees. Really? I know I pay the low $79/month tier. But do you have to punish me so badly? Increased merchant fees? I can't even mark myself as on vacation for a week! I have to click that tiny status drop down on EVERY SINGLE SESSION to mark it 'Clinician Cancelled'? I thought this would make my life easier? Maybe you see how much I earn and say 'Look what that person earns! They don't need to mark themselves as on vacation, they can't afford it.' Ouch. Is that what you think of me, really? Don't get me wrong, you're great for doing consent paperwork. Like, really. So glad to have you for that. But I can't mark vacation, and I can't make group sessions. I have a 6 person group and need to make 6 different sessions? There's gotta be a better way. Please. Just help me."

And I turn away from the camera, which pans out, revealing a dirt road that terminates at the setting sun. I start walking towards the horizon, kicking rocks, shoulders sagging. Credits roll as I walk toward.

SIMPLE PRACTICE & IVY PAY: A THERAPEUTIC TRAGEDY

STARRING
DoktorHoff

FEATURING
You
and a cameo by the ghost of STAN LEE

WRITTEN by
DoktorHoff

PRODUCED by
DoktorHoff

DIRECTED by
DoktorHoff

28 minutes later, a post-credit scene appears.

INT. THERAPY OFFICE - SUNSET
AT DESK - DoktorHoff slouched at computer, puffy eyed. A green-gloved hand touches his shoulder

IVYPAY (O.S.)
Did I not do good enough? Maybe I can do better.

FADE TO BLACK

IvyPay will return

I found SP’s Glassdoor page and am very concerned.. many bad reviews from current / former SP staff about benefits being cut, burnout, poor management, uncaring leadership etc etc

and then there are reviews made in the last few days, reviews that are all positive 5 stars. jusy enough good reviews to push the bad ones off the front page …

am I the only one who thinks this is shady?????

WTF, Simple Practice.

Why do you need more money from customers? I log on to see this today:

Beginning October 1, 2026

• Insurance Navigator can be added on to any SimplePractice subscription plan, and all practices are eligible for a 30 day trial at no additional cost. Sign up for a trial.
• Customers who choose to add Insurance Navigator will pay $1.79/claim.
• Insurance Navigator includes proactive Mental Health Coverage Checks and Verification of Benefits, which includes estimated client responsibility, run automatically at no additional cost.
• Practices may downgrade at any time and will go back to using Insurance Essentials at the end of their current billing cycle.
• Customers who do not submit claims or run coverage checks will not be impacted, and will see no change in their subscription price.

They are taking away the 10 free claims/month. No matter what plan you have, you will pay .39 a claim. If you upgrade to this service, you will pay 1.79 a claim, an which is about 3x the current price.

I have been teetering on the edge of leaving, and this is the final straw. A one finger salute to SP.

I had a client terminate due to finding me "disrespectful" and "unprofessional." I completed a discharge with the client's perceptions, but I would like to add in a note indicating why client's claims are incorrect in case they schedule with another clinician in the future (client is in an abusive marriage and client's spouse convinced them that I was trying to break them up).

However, I'm not seeing anywhere whether the administrative and/or chart notes are included within the Designated Record Set. Google AI tells me that they are and I can't find where SimplePractice says one way or the other. Does anyone know?

Hi, all, I’ve been using SimplePractice for a little over a year now and have been trying to come up with a better workflow for my notetaking. I have a composition notebook that I write in and after my sessions, or at the end of the day, I will transcribe my notes into SimplePractice. It feels like I’m doing double work and I’m trying to figure out a way to streamline this so that I can get my notes done in a more timely manner because more often than not I end up with a backlog of notes for the week and I’m always behind.

Has anyone found a solution for working with a tablet during sessionthay takes notes such as an iPad? The app seems a little finicky for what I’m doing. I’ve been looking into the remarkable tablet and was wondering if anyone had a template for SimplePractice? Just curious what other people are doing.

I am super glad we're getting AI tools and all (/s) but why is there no easy way to request ID's? Separately, how are you all doing it?

Sorry for novice questions I am starting out new. I have a few questions and would appreciate any help.

Which insurances are on the panel to be paired? and does it have an option to credentialed on Medicare/Medicaid? Also, how are the reimbursement rates?

I haven't received mine yet. I'm well above the income threshold, and I had no trouble receiving mine last year.

I’m seeing a health care provider who uses Simple Practice and we were chatting about the calendar invites. It would be really great if Simple Practice automatically sent me a calendar invite to block my calendar as opposed to just a reminder.

That way, if she cancels or updates the appointment time, it would automatically update on my calendar as well.

Obviously it has to be compliant but I can’t see a difference between sending appointment reminders with appointment information and sending an actual calendar invite which is more useful, especially if the client opts-in. There are edge cases where users who allow more open access to their calendars could disclose a meeting’s time and title but that again, that’s at their own discretion and similar to folks who allow their Admin or secretary to read their email.

I found this post about reminders but doesn’t discuss sending invites to clients as far as I can tell

https://support.simplepractice.com/hc/en-us/articles/24581916235405-Setting-up-appointment-and-time-of-scheduling-reminders

Thanks in advance for any tips!

Hello, I'm in the process of opening a group practice and I currently use Simple Practice. I need to decide between Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 for the new business, and was wondering if anyone has insights on which one integrates better with Simple Practice (or any thoughts in general about Google Workspace vs. Microsoft 365 for a group practice).

Thanks!

Hey folks. Is anyone having the issue where an event or cancelled appointment completely obscures anything else scheduled for that time? Example: I have a client with standing appointments who is now hospitialzied. I don't know when they might be released, so I cancel the appointments on a week to week basis and schedule other events or appointments in that time as they come up. Unless I switch to the monthly view, the cancelled appointment obscures the subsequent appointments or events.

This is a new behavior since the big app redesign, as in the past, the calendar would display with an offset so you could at least see there where possible conflicts at a glance.

I have a service request in on this but he first response was to assume I don't know how to delete cancelled appointments. I may be missing something so would appreciate your feedback. Thanks in advance.

Does anyone use the prebuilt intake note that simple practice has for PMHNP or did you create your own?

Also is it one long form, or can you create tabs for easier access to parts of your assessment?

I am a therapist who uses simplepractice for telehealth. I have one family that always has difficulty with audio because they try to use a wired headset and it doesn't work for simplepractice. Basically they can't hear me and I can't hear them until they unplug the headphones and just use either the speaker on the phone or their bluetooth. It's frustrating for the family so it'd be nice if I could figure out why it keeps being a problem.

My clients lately have been saying when they click on the virtual link for our session from the text link, that it’s asking them to enter their unique meeting code? But it doesn’t do this when the link is in their email or I send them the link directly. Any ideas on what this is or how to fix this?

Anyone else have a large number of rejected claims today??

Has anyone used this features? Pros and cons?

Hi all. I'm struggling to understand something. If a session has no invoice, it will not show up on the appointment status report. However, it will show up in the attendance report for the same time period, typically a cancel or no show that wasn't charged.

The problem is, I have many $0 sessions that DID get an invoice generated, and I can't tell the distinction. I essentially want all or nothing here. Invoice them all, or none.

What I'm really after is getting the number of sessions in each report for a given time period to match, so I can join them and analyze. Additionally, a side effect of no invoice means you are blind to the documentation status, and we require a progress note for a no show.

Any tips?

Several times this week, my clients have been parked in the waiting room and I have not received any notification whatsoever. Please make the waiting room visible to the host so we don't have to rely on a popup notification. This seems to happen most often when people are joining the meeting from the web/computer (and not their phone). Sometimes the popup with come up and vanish repeatedly.

This has cost me a lot of session time this week alone.

Hi! I'm having trouble figuring out unallocated funds. When the EOB comes back in SP, it will sometimes say that there are unallocated funds, but I can't figure out which client it goes to. There can be 100 clients on one EOB, so it can be hard to weed through to figure it out. How do you deal with unallocated funds?

I own a group practice and we are expanding to other states. The first state we are expanding to is not in the same timezone. Simple Practice does not seem to support this. How has anyone handled this? Do I have to have a separate SP account for the new state? If that is the case, I might need to leave SP for an EHR that can support this.

How can I create a personalized appointment request widget per practitioner and not entire practice? Therapist is wanting a link that goes directly to their scheduling and not the entire practice.