Getting started with SimplePractice: Video training

All SimplePractice customers have several ways to connect with a live SimplePractice customer success team member. In this video, we'll review how to get help, including how to interact with our SimplePractice help bot powered by AI, how to access our help center, and how to connect directly with us via email, live chat, or phone call. Start by logging into your SimplePractice account. In the lower right of your calendar page, click the question mark icon. Click share feedback to request a product feature or vote for one that has already been requested. Click view guides to open our help center website, support dot simple practice dot com. Here, you can sign up for one of our weekly live Q and A sessions, access our on demand classes, or search our guides. To use the SimplePractice help bot, select ask questions. Our chatbot is powered by AI and works best when you ask a detailed question, just like you'd ask a person. To submit the question, type enter on your keyboard or click the paper airplane icon. The bot will present an AI generated answer summary and a relevant help center guide. If the resources presented don't answer your question, click I still need help. You'll be presented with the available support options appropriate for that subject. Select send an email request, call a specialist, or chat with a specialist. Please note that depending on the time of day or topic, some support channels may not be available. Click the link on screen to review our live chat and phone support hours. For more complicated questions, sending an email request is the best option. So let's review how to send an email help request. To send an email help request, select send an email request. Next, confirm or select the topic of your question to make sure your support request goes directly to the correct specialized team. Type a subject line for your request. This checks our help center to present additional resources. Scroll down and add your message and details in the description field. Please do not include PHI or information about treatment here. If this request pertains to a specific client or claim, which would include PHI such as the client's name or other identifying details, please select yes. This gives you the option to paste the link to that page in the secure client or claim URL field. Because most email correspondence isn't HIPAA compliant, you'll only be interacting with our team through your secure help center portal for requests that involve PHI. This is to ensure the security of your and your clients' data. Next, fill out the form fields. The more detail that you can provide here, the quicker we'll be able to help you get an answer. When you're finished, click submit. Submit. You'll receive a confirmation email that we've received your request and a specialist will follow-up as soon as possible. In addition to reading your help request responses in your email, you can also access them in your SimplePractice account. In the upper right hand corner, click on your account avatar and select open help requests. In the request tab, you'll see a list of all of your current and previous help requests. Click on the name of the request to read any responses from our team or reply to a message. When you feel your question has been answered, click mark as solved to close the request. We look forward to connecting with you. Thanks for watching.

Welcome to your new SimplePractice account. This video series will help you get started with SimplePractice in fifteen minutes or less. First, we'll jump right in by scheduling an appointment with a sample client and sending them intake paperwork. Then in the next video, we'll review the three most important areas to set up before you start using SimplePractice. Scan the QR code to play this video on your phone and follow along on your computer. When you first log in to your SimplePractice account, the SimplePractice calendar is your home page, like your weekly planner. You'll see our demo client, Jamie Appleseed, has a couple appointments scheduled. On the left menu, the clients page shows a list of all of your clients with tools to filter and manage them. If you just started your trial, you can build out your client list with the transfer client data tool here. Or if you have fewer than around twenty clients, it's also reasonable to manually add your clients. So let's cover how to create a client and schedule that client on the calendar. First, click create client. Here, we can add the basic details. If you're seeing minors or a couple, those offer different profile options. Let's enter the client's name, and we'll stick with these default settings for now. Next, scroll down and add their email. Email is crucial because that's how they access your client portal where they can fill out their paperwork, pay bills, and manage their care. You can also add a phone number and enable automated appointment reminders by email, phone messages, or text message. Click continue. After you create a client, it will pull up the option to send intake forms. As you set up your account, you can customize these forms and add your own. If you want to wait to send your intake packet, you can also close this window without sending. If you want to upload notes and documentation from your previous EHR, just click upload. This will securely store the information in the client's files tab. Next, you can schedule an appointment on the calendar. First, you can click directly on the calendar and search the client's name. Select the service for this appointment, and don't worry. These service templates can be customized later in your settings. Group practices can select the clinician who will be seeing this client, select the office location, and even set this as a recurring appointment. Click save, and your appointment will appear on the calendar. When first getting started, we recommend playing around and scheduling test clients and sending them intake paperwork. So let's walk through sending an intake form. First, search for the client. You can use Jamie Appleseed, who is a demo client in your account. Click their name to open their profile. Click the share button in the upper right corner. This three step process starts with selecting the forms that you'd like to send. The demographics form is where clients can easily add more information, which will auto populate in your account. Next, there is the option to customize the email message, and last, review and send. Once you share the intake forms, the client will receive an email with an instant sign on link for your client portal. The client portal starts with this welcome message that you can customize to give specific instructions to your clients. And then it walks through all of the intake forms so you can collect electronic signatures for the forms that you need. Then it goes through the demographics form where clients can fill out their detailed information and even add a picture of their insurance card. Once the client fills out their intake forms, it will automatically populate into their chart, so you don't need to scan or upload any documents. If you wanna review a client's completed intake documentations before your session, first, open their profile page. To access a client's profile, click the client's name or use the search box above the calendar. The overview tab has their appointment schedule, documentation, and notes in a timeline format. The files tab lists any intake forms, questionnaires, consent documents, or other files that have been shared with the client so you can see exactly when a form was viewed or signed by a client. The measures tab will display a graph of the client's responses from scored measures questionnaires, and the billing tab organizes all the client's billing records like invoices, insurance claims, and payments. The billing tab is also where you can create a new invoice, statement, super bill, or insurance claim. On these tabs, there is a date range selector and filters to quickly find what you need. This line on the calendar shows you what time it is in real time. All of your future appointments will show in blue and appointments you've had are green. You can also click and drag these appointments around to change the time. Click on the appointment to see more details. You can do notes or billing directly from this window. For example, after the appointment, if you're collecting payment, you can click add payment directly from the calendar. And when you're ready to add a note, you can click this add note icon, which we'll review later. If a client cancels, you can quickly change the status of the appointment, letting you or your team know that the appointment has been canceled or late canceled. With SimplePractice's integrated telehealth platform, you can start a video appointment directly from the calendar. Just click on the appointment and set the location to your video office. This gives you the option to click start video appointment. Simple practice will open a new tab for your secure telehealth appointment. Next, let's talk about how to save time when you're writing a note after your appointment. Whether you're writing your daily notes, SOAP notes, or plan of care after an appointment, all of your client management can be completed directly through the simple practice calendar. Once an appointment has passed, it will appear in green. Click on the appointment to view the details. To add a note, click add note. Here, you can use a template, whether it's an evaluation or SOAP note. If you've added a note for a previous session, you can click load last note to pull up the content from that note and update what you need. On the side, you can also click to view treatment plans or other documentation that you may need to reference in your note. If you've added access to SimplePractice notetaker tool, which is powered by AI, you can access the session transcript and draft note here. Once you're done making your edits, click save, and then you'll have the option to sign and lock. This finalizes the note and also includes your esignature and credential. Let's briefly review how to accept a payment. On the appointment fly out, you can update the services or fees. Below, you can click to create the invoice and add payment. If your client has filled out the credit card intake form, you can select that card to process the payment right after the appointment. Or if clients send you payment at a later date, you can also add the payment on the client's profile by clicking the billing tab and then add payment. Before we end, we should also highlight the Simple practice for clinicians mobile app. This top rated app is available for iOS or Android and is another way to access your practice to get work done whenever and wherever you want. Now that you have an overview of the most common workflows in Simple practice, the next step is to customize the settings for your practice. This trial is a fully featured account, so it's worth it to use this free trial period to set it up. Click the link on screen to jump right in with the next video.

As a simple practice customer, you have your own client portal. It's a secure website where your clients can sign in and manage their care. Here's a quick sneak peek of what the client portal looks like from your client's perspective. Many doctors offices and other professionals use systems like this, so your clients will love the security and convenience the client portal offers. Plus, it's mobile friendly, so your clients can easily complete their intake forms on their smartphone. Simple practice also offers a client portal I phone app. This way, your clients have a dedicated app to manage their care and even join telehealth appointments. This video is the first step to start using the client portal. We'll set up the client portal basics. The second step is to review our you about the top five features of the client portal and set up the ones you wanna use. The third step is to customize your paperless intake documents and consent forms. In this video, we'll set up the basics, including choosing the domain, how to update your client portal greeting message, and how to customize the practice details. Let's go ahead and get started. Your domain is the web address where your client portal can be accessed on the internet. To start, navigate to settings. Under client care, click scheduling. Then client portal permissions. Under default domain, you'll see a web address When you started your simple practice account, we created this placeholder with your first and last name. You're able to customize part of this by clicking and edit the text. When you're ready, click save and lock. You can click view link to open your client portal webpage. Or click copy link to copy the web address so you can paste it into an email or social media. If you need to edit the domain after you lock in, reach out to the customer success team. Next, let's update the client portal greeting message. Scroll to the client portal greeting section, and you'll see a preview of the template message. Click edit. The fly out allows you to customize the text or add different macros, which appear as bracketed text. These automatically insert specific information from the client or clinicians profile to give your client a more personalized experience. Last, let's up your practice details because this information will be visible to your clients in the client portal. Under operations, click practice. Then practice details. This page has settings for your practice name and location info, which is displayed at the top of the client portal. Next, we'll customize the optional features of the client portal. Click the link to continue.

Simple makes it easy to share intake forms, questionnaires, and more for your clients to complete in the secure client portal. To view and customize the templates Simple practice offers, in the settings menu, select documentation, and then shareable documents. If you'd like to use them for your practice, it's important to note that in some cases, these documents have placeholder text where you will need to add information specific to your practice before sending them to a client. To start, a consent form is a simple text document that only requires a signature from the client. For example, a consent for telehealth consultation. From the client's perspective, they will scroll to the bottom and type their name to signify that they agree to the terms above. Then, they can click submit to continue. Once the document is completed, you'll see a line at the bottom with the client's name and the date and time they signed the document. On the right side, click edit. You'll see the placeholder text in brackets, such as insert practice name. The text in this window is editable, so you can delete the placeholders and type in your practice details. There may be other placeholders further down the document. Do this for each form template that you want to use. You can also create new consent forms by clicking the new consent form button. This creates a blank text document where you can type your own content or copy language from a document outside of simple practice and paste it in to recreate it as a signable electronic consent form. Next, you can select defaults. They will automatically be selected to be section, you can upload any PDFs that you'd like to share with your clients before your session. These can be anything from a worksheet you'd like them to print and bring into the next appointment or materials they can keep for their reference. Please note that the client will be able to download this PDF file, but will not be able to sign If you have a PDF consent form, we highly recommend transcribing that into a new consent form to simplify sharing and collecting a signature from your clients. Let's preview the demographic form. It saves you time by asking your client to fill out their own contact details, opt in to email and text reminders, add an address, demographic details, and an emergency contact. The information from this form saves automatically in the client's profile when they click submit. You can also choose to enable optional fields like their preferred name, gender identity, and even insurance information. For a more detailed look at the demographics form, please click the link. Next is the credit card information form. This form securely stores client credit card information on file if needed for future payments. Their credit card information is encrypted and isn't visible to anyone in your account. To be able to accept payments from clients through simple practice, you'll first need to set up your online payments account. You can click to set this up if you haven't already. Next, let's review how to customize intake forms. From your client's perspective, these forms ask for more information than just their signature, such as an intake questionnaire or release of information. Your account comes preloaded with several intake form templates. To update these defaults, click manage forms. This is a shortcut to the template library page. To edit an intake form, click on the title and it'll open in the template editor. You can also click create new to create your own intake form from scratch. Or, to view the full library of templates, click view pre built templates. Click the link at the end of this video to learn more.

The simple practice calendar can help you stay organized and see a clear picture of your weekly schedule. Let's get started with a tour of the calendar page. To the left of your calendar is our main menu with important areas like your client list, billing, and settings. There's also quick access to your appointment requests, notifications, and marketing settings. In the top right corner of your calendar, click the gear icon. This is where you can quickly manage your availability and appointment request settings. The privacy toggle makes the appointments display initials only. In the bottom right corner is the help menu, where you can ask a question to search our help center. If the recommended guides and videos don't answer your question, just scroll down and click to connect with our customer success team by email. Chat and phone support are also available here during operating hours. In the top right corner, your account avatar has a logout button, new feature highlights, as well as access to your help requests. To the left of your avatar, customers with active plans will see a referral button, so you can earn credit by referring your colleagues to SimplePractice. Trial accounts have an activate plan button. You can activate your plan at any time during the trial period, and you won't be billed until your trial is over. Next is the create button, where you can create a new client, create an appointment, or add availability to your calendar. If enabled, the income tracker gives you a quick snapshot of income that month. In the search field, you can quickly search for a client's name or phone number and click to bring up their client profile. Above the calendar are buttons to navigate as well as switch views. You can view your calendar in day view, week view, or month view. You can apply a calendar color filter as well. Group practices can filter the calendar with advanced filters, as well as by office location and clinician. By connecting your practice schedule and your notes and billing all in one place, you can save time and simplify your administrative tasks.

If you feel like you're constantly playing catch up with your notes and documentation, it's worth it to take a moment to consider your workflow and make improvements. After all, documentation is something you do every day. Anything you can do to save time in this process will really add up in the long run. As a quick preview, let's open our demo client and add a new progress note right now. I'll click on the appointment, then the client's name to open the client overview page. We are on the overview tab. So at the top, we have a box for chart notes, which aren't associated with a specific appointment. To the right is a button to add a quick administrative note, which is like a sticky note on the client file. This new button gives options for adding an assessment, a diagnosis and treatment plan, and a mental status exam. Below, there is a list of the previous appointments. If there isn't a progress note attached to an appointment, you'll see a button to add one, or you can click the appointment title to open the appointment page. This page has text boxes where we can type our notes as well as easy access to all my details about the appointment on the right Simple, and even a button to reference the treatment plan for this client. Since my notes for this session use several of the same details from my last session, I can click the load previous note button and update what I need. Skipping ahead, I'll scroll down and click save. After saving the note, I can click sign to add a signature and lock the note. If needed, you can use the buttons in the upper right to attach handwritten notes to this appointment, print the note, or download a PDF version of the note as seen here. In this section, we'll review how you can make your documentation more efficient and simple practice. Let's get started.

Consistent and effective billing is essential for your practice to thrive and continue helping others. Think of it as the fuel that allows you to keep providing valuable services and positively impact your clients' lives. Without it, your practice's ability to operate and grow would be limited. Here's a quick overview of the billing process. Let's say I just finished my appointment with Jamie. If they pay at the time of the appointment, I can click on the appointment in the calendar, confirm the amount for the session, and click to create an invoice and add payment right then. The add payment window shows the appointment details where I can edit the amount. Below, I select the payment method. I can process a card payment using the integrated online payment system, or record that I received cash or check, or that I used an external card processor. Then I simply click add payment to confirm. If Jamie wants a receipt, I can click to print it or email it to them. Or let's say Jamie wants to pay later. I can set Simple practice to automatically create and send invoices at the end of every day. This way, they can log into the client portal and easily pay with their credit card. Or if Jamie just wants to set it and forget it, we can turn on autopay for their account, and Simple will automatically process the payment. On the left menu, the billing page shows all recent billing activity for my practice in a timeline format, and the billing documents tab shows all billing documents. Then to review or edit any of the details, I can simply click the client's name to jump right to the billing tab on their client profile. On the client profile, the billing tab lists all billable items for this client from the last thirty days. This date range can be updated or filtered to find specific items. If there is an invoice or other document created for the appointment, you'll see it here below the appointment. And I can click manage, view details to access billing history. To create a billing document, I can click the new button to manually create a new invoice, a statement, or a super bill for a certain time period. To the right, the client billing summary box has another add payment payment button, so you can add a payment just by pulling up the client's profile. Having simple practice as your billing assistant can save you time and make sure you're compensated for the work you do. And by making the payment process so professional and easy for your clients, you can feel good asking for the rates you deserve.

SimplePractice simplifies billing insurance and allows you to track your insurance payments. In this video, we'll review what you need to know about the process of billing insurance companies and receiving timely payment. Let's set up our sample client, Jamie Appleseed, as an insurance client. Search for Jamie and click on their name to open the Client Overview page. Click Edit and select the Billing and Insurance tab. Set this client to Insurance Pay. Scroll down and add insurance information. We can also use the Demographics form in the portal ask the client to enter their own insurance information, and even take a picture of their insurance card and upload it into the platform. Now that we have Jamie set up as an insurance client, you can add a co pay. Then you can create your insurance claim. When you create the claim, it auto populates with all the things you need, like client contact information, services provided, diagnosis, and more. Now that we've created a claim, let's file it electronically. All I needed to do is click Submit. And if you have several clients that are insurance clients, you can batch submit all of your claims at once. You can also enroll in a feature called Payment Reports, which outline how much you're being paid for an appointment and what the client's responsibility is. Click the link at the end of this video to learn how to set up your insurance billing settings.

SimplePractice offers several powerful marketing tools, all integrated into your account. On the left menu, click marketing. On the website and domain tab, you can watch the video preview of real customer websites and click to turn on the website feature. Click edit website to open the website builder and get started. No need to pay for another web hosting service that is difficult to update. Depending on your plan, you can connect a custom domain for your client portal or professional website. A custom domain is purchased outside of SimplePractice from a third party domain host. When a purchased custom domain is connected to SimplePractice, it directs visitors to the practice's professional website. Next, if your specialty is supported on the Monarch directory, you will also see the Directory tab, where you can enable access. On the Profile tab, you can customize and publish your Monarch Directory profile. Click the link on screen to learn how to publish your profile in just five minutes.