You can set up service codes and products in your account to charge clients for the different services and items you offer in your practice.
In this guide, we'll cover:
Creating and using service codes:
- Adding a new service code
- Creating a new custom service code
- Editing an existing service code
- Assigning service codes to clinicians
- Setting a default service code and custom rate for a client
- Changing or adding service codes when creating a new appointment
- Using add-on codes
Creating and using products:
FAQs:
- How do I bill for a package?
- How do I bill for an initial client balance?
- Can I add a client discount as a service or product?
What are services and products?
Services are billable appointments that you record in the calendar. These are services like "90834 - Psychotherapy 45 minutes", or more general ones like "Art Therapy" and “Supervision.” All services include the option to write a progress note.
Products are non-appointment items that you can add to invoices to charge a client. These can include books, online courses, workshops, returned check fees, reports, or services that don't need to be on the calendar and don't have any documentation.
Important: You may choose to add credit card processing fees to your invoices as a Product. Before doing so, make sure to verify whether passing credit card fees to your clients is legal in your state. See Am I able to add a credit card processing fee to an invoice? to learn more.
Adding a new service code
Every appointment that you create on the calendar will require a service (CPT) code, regardless of whether you bill insurance.
To add a new service code to offer in your practice:
- Navigate to Settings > Services and products > Services
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Click + Add service
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Select the service code
- SimplePractice is already populated with commonly used codes that are billable to insurance
- You can type in numbers to see the list of available codes
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If you select a pre-populated service code, the Description will auto-fill
- If you edit the service code description, the change will reflect on the online appointment requests page for clients, as well as invoices, statements, and superbills
- The description won’t show on claim forms
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Select the service code
- Check Make this the default service if you want this service code to be the default when creating new appointments
- Edit the Description, if needed
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Enter the Rate
- You can also bill services in units and add multiple service codes to appointments
- To learn more, see Using Unit Billing and multiple service codes
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Choose the Duration
- This will be the default duration for the service, but an appointment’s duration can be manually adjusted on the calendar
- Select the Booking options
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If you’re part of a group practice, choose the Clinicians offering this service and adjust their rates as needed
- For more information, see Setting default rates for clinicians
- Click Save
If you’ve enabled online appointment requests for your practice, make sure that the Availability blocks in your Calendar offer the new services you’ve added. For a detailed walkthrough, see Managing your Availability.
Note: The order in which you added your service codes to your account will be the order that they appear in your online appointment requests.
Creating a new custom service code
If you don't see a code that you'd like to use, or if you provide services not billed to insurance, you can create a new custom service code. To do this:
- Navigate to Settings > Services and products > Services
- Click + Add service
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Enter the custom code in the Service field
- You can enter letters or numbers here
- Click Add new code
- Check Make this the default service if you want this service code to be the default when creating new appointments
- Type the Description
- Enter the Rate
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Choose the Duration
- This will be the default duration for the service, but an appointment’s duration can be manually adjusted on the calendar
- Select the Booking options
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If you’re part of a group practice, choose the Clinicians offering this service and adjust their rates as needed
- For more information, see Setting default rates for clinicians
- Click Save
Editing an existing service code
You can edit the description, rate, duration, booking options, offering clinicians, and the active or inactive status of existing service codes.
To edit an existing service code:
- Navigate to Settings > Services and products > Services
- Click the service you want to edit
- Make updates to the fields, as needed
- Select Save
If you’d like to edit the service code itself, you’ll need to delete and recreate the service code. To do so, click the service and select Delete Service.
If a service code is set as the practice default, you won’t be able to delete it or make it inactive. You can select a different service to be the new default practice service and then return to the first code to delete it or change its status to inactive.
Important: Editing service codes won’t update existing appointments on the calendar. If you’re trying to update a recurring series of appointments already set in the calendar, you’ll have to delete all future appointments in this series and recreate the series so the changes to the service code apply. For more information on managing your appointments, see Adding and managing appointments.
Edits made to the service code in your settings won’t carry over to your Availability blocks automatically. If you're offering the service for online appointment requests, make sure to update the Availability blocks on your calendar. To do this, remove the service, then re-add it to apply the change. To learn more, see Setting Availability.
Assigning service codes to clinicians
If your practice has multiple clinicians, you can assign specific service codes to each of them and assign their default rates. To assign a service code to a clinician:
- Navigate to Settings > Services and products > Services
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Click the service
- By default, all clinicians will offer the service. Click the checkbox to the left of the clinician’s name to unassign the service
- If a certain clinician offers the service at a different rate, update their Rate field
- Click Save
Setting a default service code and custom rate for a client
If you're seeing a client on a sliding scale or for a different rate than others, you can set a default service code and rate specific to that client.
To set a default service code or rate for a client:
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- Navigate to the client's Overview page
- Click Edit > Billing and Insurance
- Scroll down to Client Default Services
- Select a service code from the dropdown menu
- Enter a custom Rate Per Unit for that service code
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If modifier(s) are required for the client's service, enter this under Modifiers
- For more information, see Adding modifiers to claims and superbills
- Click Save Client
Note: Default client rates will override any clinician default rates for that same service. For more information, see Using client-specific rates.
The new default service code and rate will automatically apply to all new appointments created moving forward. You'll still be able to select a different service code and manually edit the rate when creating or editing an appointment, if needed.
Changing or adding service codes when creating a new appointment
When you create a new appointment on the calendar, the default service code that populates will be the code set as the practice default in your Services settings, unless the client has been assigned their own default service code.
You can always change the service code by selecting a different option from the following dropdown menu in the appointment flyout.
You can also update the fee by editing the amount when you're creating the new appointment.
If you want to add multiple service codes to the same appointment, click + Service.
Note: To learn more about adding multiple service codes to an appointment, see Using Unit Billing and multiple service codes.
Using add-on codes
Frequently used add-on codes are already populated in our platform. Like regular service codes, you can add these codes to your settings to use them for appointments.
Important: The add-on codes available in SimplePractice are based on what insurance companies frequently accept. If a code doesn't appear in your Services settings, this likely means that it isn't accepted by insurance companies. If you notice any discrepancies, submit a help request so we can further assist you.
To set up add-on codes in your account:
- Navigate to Settings > Services and products > Services
- Click + Add service
- Enter the + symbol in the Service field and select an add-on code
- Edit the Description, if needed
- Enter the Rate
- Choose the default Duration
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If you’re part of a group practice, choose the Clinicians Offering this Service and adjust their rates as needed
- For more information, see Setting default rates for clinicians
- Click Save
Once add-on codes have been entered in your settings, you can add them to appointments. To do this:
- Create a new appointment or click an existing one
- Click + Service and select the add-on code
- You’ll only be able to select an add-on code as an additional service after a regular service code has been selected
- Click Done
Adding a product
To charge clients for products or non-appointment items, you can first add these items to your Products list. To do this:
- Navigate to Settings > Services and products > Products
- In the first line, type the Product Name
- Enter the Price
- Click Save changes
Note: Product names and prices can also be edited when you add them to invoices.
Charging a product with an appointment
You can add a product as a line item to any unpaid invoice. The product fee will reflect in the client's overall balance.
To add a product to an invoice:
- Open the unpaid invoice
- Click More
- Select Edit
Note: If the invoice has already been marked as paid, you can delete it and create a new one to add the product. New invoices can be edited before they're saved. To learn more, see Creating invoices.
- Click + Add Line Item
- Click + Add next to the product you want to add
- You can add as many products as you need
- Make edits to the Description or Amount for the new product line item, as needed
- Click Save
Charging for a product only
To create an invoice for a product only with no appointment:
- Navigate to the client's Overview page > Billing tab
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Click New > Invoice
- If there are uninvoiced appointments, deselect all of these by unchecking the box to the left of the Date label in the top row
- Click Create Blank Invoice
- Click + Add Line Item
- Click + Add next to each product you want to add to the invoice
- Make edits to the Description or Amount, as needed
- Click Save
How do I bill for a package?
You may offer packages for a set number of appointments to clients at a discounted rate. Offering a package also allows your client to pay you upfront for multiple appointments, instead of paying after each session.
To bill for a package:
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Add a new product for your package
- Create an invoice for only the package product
- Add a payment for the invoice to charge the client
Next, you can download the paid invoice and share it with your client for your records. To do this:
- Click the download icon
You’ll then need to delete the paid invoice from the client’s profile so the amount can be used as a credit for scheduled appointments that are part of the package. To do this, click the trash icon at the top of the invoice.
After deleting the invoice, the amount paid for the package will become a credit in the Client billing summary.
After an appointment takes place and an invoice is created for it, you can allocate the credit to that invoice by selecting the invoice for that date of service, checking the box next to Apply available credit, and clicking Allocate credit.
Note: If AutoPay is enabled for the client, the available credit will allocate to their oldest unpaid invoice. If there are unpaid items that aren’t part of the package, we recommend disabling AutoPay for the client so the credit isn’t applied to an unrelated invoice.
You can use administrative notes to track how many appointments are remaining in the package as they occur.
How do I bill for an initial client balance?
If you're adding a new client who already has a balance, you can add this amount to their profile as a billable item. To do this:
- Add a new product for the initial balance
- Create an invoice only for a product
- Add the initial balance as a line item and edit the description or amount, as needed
- Click Save
The initial balance will now be included on this invoice, which can be paid immediately, or at a later time. The invoice will be viewable from the client’s Overview page > Billing tab:
Can I add a client discount as a service or product?
You may list discounts on your clients’ invoices or superbills. To do this, add the discount as a service and enter a negative rate. For example, if you’re offering a $50.00 discount to your clients, you would enter the rate as -$50.00.
To add your discount as a service on your client’s appointment:
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Create a custom service code for the discount
- The rate should be a negative number
- Enter a description for the service code’s details
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Set the duration to 5 minutes
- This is the minimum duration for a service
- If you’d like, you can manually shorten the appointment’s duration on the calendar to adjust for this additional time
- Select which clinicians in your practice can use this discount code
- Add the discount service to a new or existing appointment
Important: Make sure to uncheck the box next to Allow online appointment requests under Booking Options. This will prevent the service from being added to an Availability block.
By adding the discount to an appointment as a service, the code will be listed on the client’s invoices and superbills.
Invoice
Note: On the invoice, the amount listed will be totaled to reflect the full fee minus the discount, rather than listing them as two separate line items. If the primary service and discount need to be separate line items, this will be reflected on a superbill, or by adding the discount as a product.
Superbill
You can also add the discount as a product, but it will only appear on invoices. This is because superbills don’t include products, and statements will only reflect the final balance on each invoice. To do this:
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Add a new product to your account
- Under Product Name, enter a description of the discount
- The Price should be a negative number
- Add the discount product to the appointment's invoice
Note: Discounts added as a product will not appear on superbills.