Setting up a group practice account in SimplePractice

This guide will walk you through a recommended setup for a new SimplePractice group practice account.

Note: The individual who started the account will be the Account Owner by default, and they'll have the ability to customize all of the settings described below. Access to these settings will vary depending on your role and permission level. For more information, see the section on Team member roles.

Below, we'll cover:

• Profile and practice settings
• Billing services and automations
• Best practices for billing
• Team member roles
• Calendar
• Client Portal settings
• Documentation
• Supervision
• Professional Website
• Therapy Finder

Profile and practice settings

This section walks through the key account- and practice-level settings you’ll need to complete when setting up a group practice in SimplePractice. You’ll start by entering your profile and clinical information, then configure practice-wide details that affect scheduling, documentation, billing, and client-facing workflows.

Profile and security settings

These settings apply to your individual account and are used for account access, security, and clinician identification.

To enter your personal and contact information:

1. Navigate to Settings > Profile > Profile and security
2. Click Edit next to SimplePractice profile

3. Enter your Name and Date of birth, then click Save
4. Select the Security tab
5. Click Edit next to Contact information

6. Enter your password and click Continue
7. Enter your contact information
   • This email address and phone number are used for account-related communication, including login and security verification
   • Make sure the phone number you enter can receive text messages
8. Click Save

Clinical information

Use this page to manage your clinical credentials, which are required for documentation and insurance billing.

To add your clinical and license information:

1. Navigate to Settings > Profile > Clinical info
2. Next to Clinician details, click Edit to enter your specialty, taxonomy code, and NPI number
   • The NPI number entered should be your individual (Type 1) NPI, as this will appear as your Rendering Provider NPI on claims
3. Click Save
4. Next to License and degree info, click Edit to enter your license details
5. Click Save

Practice details and locations

These settings are client-facing and practice-wide.

Note: Only Account Owners, practice managers, and clinicians with entire practice access can adjust these settings.

To set up your practice details:

1. Navigate to Settings > Practice > Practice details
2. Enter your Practice Name and Practice Email
3. Select a practice Time Zone
   • This applies to the entire practice
   • Team members can also set their own primary time zone
   • To learn more, see Managing time zone settings

4. Add a Practice Logo
   • To learn more, see Adding a practice logo to printable documents
5. Add a Practice Phone

After adjusting these practice details, add your practice’s location(s):

1. Scroll down to the Office location section
2. Click Add a location
   • You can add multiple office locations
3. Use the Search address dropdown to enter your address and automatically populate the Street, City, State, and ZIP
   • This populates a 9-digit ZIP code, which is often required for insurance claims

4. Choose the appropriate Insurance Place of Service
   • This is important if you plan to bill insurance through SimplePractice or if clients will seek reimbursement directly from their payer
5. Click Save

Further down the page, you’ll see a Video Office location listed under the Telehealth section. This location can be used to schedule telehealth appointments through SimplePractice. For more information, see Getting started with telehealth.

After adding your office locations, scroll down to Billing addresses and select your:

• Business Billing address, which appears on your SimplePractice receipts
• Client Billing address, which appears on client-facing billing documents

Billing services and automations

Once your practice details are set up, you can configure billing settings that control how invoices, insurance claims, payments, and services work across your practice.

Note: Only Account Owners, practice managers, and clinicians with entire practice access can adjust these settings.

Client billing automations

Use this page to set up billing automations for clients. These settings apply to your entire practice.

To configure client billing automations:

1. Navigate to Settings > Client billing and insurance > Client billing documents
2. Choose your automation settings for:
   • Invoices
     • We recommend Daily invoicing to keep billing documents current and client balances accurate
   • Statements
   • Superbills
   • General billing automations
3. Click Save changes

To learn more, see Setting up automations for billing documents.

Insurance billing settings

This page is used to enter your group’s insurance billing information and configure how claims are generated. If you won’t be using SimplePractice to bill insurance, you can leave this section blank.

To set up insurance billing:

1. Navigate to Settings > Client billing and insurance > Insurance documents
2. Enter your practice's Tax ID or SSN
3. Enter your group (Type 2) NPI under Organization NPI
4. Under Billing provider info > Default, click Edit

5. Select Organization and enter the group’s billing provider information
   • This information populates box 33 on claims
6. Click Save profile

Individual clinicians’ rendering provider NPIs will populate box 24j automatically, based on the information entered in their Clinical info settings.

If certain clinicians or payers require different billing information, you can create additional billing profiles. For more information, see Managing billing profiles for insurance.

This page is also where you can: 

• Enable modifiers
• Include the Service Facility Location on claims
• Select whether multiple diagnosis codes populate to claims and superbills

Online payments and AutoPay

You can enable online payments to process client credit cards directly through SimplePractice. To learn more, see Getting started with online payments.

You can also enable AutoPay, which will automatically charge clients for their invoiced amounts overnight. For more information, see Getting started with AutoPay.

Note: Only an Account Owner and practice manager can access Online payments settings.

Services and products

Service codes and products determine what can be billed and invoiced in your practice.

To add or edit service codes:

1. Navigate to Settings > Services and products > Services
2. Click + Add service to create a new service code
3. Select an existing service code to edit it

When creating or editing a service, you can enter:

• Service code
• Description
• Rate
• Duration
• Allow for online appointment requests
• Clinicians offering the service
• Each clinician can have a default rate assigned
  • For more information, see Setting default rates for clinicians

You can also add products for non-appointment items at Settings > Services and products > Products. Products can be added to invoices and charged through SimplePractice.

Best practices for billing

The recommendations below outline common best practices for managing both client billing and insurance billing in SimplePractice.

Client billing

Client billing in SimplePractice is primarily invoice-based. When a client is responsible for a fee, an invoice is created to add that amount to the client’s balance. Once the invoice is marked as paid, the client’s balance is adjusted based on the invoice total.

Note: For an overview of client billing documents, see Understanding invoices, statements, and superbills.

Any appointment fees that haven’t been invoiced appear as Uninvoiced in the Client billing section of the client’s profile.

To keep client balances accurate and billing workflows consistent, we recommend the following:

• Create one invoice for each appointment
• Make any necessary changes to appointments as soon as possible
• Collect payment in full at the time of session whenever possible
• Enable Daily invoicing so invoices are generated automatically and balances stay up to date

Note: If a client no-shows or late cancels, update the appointment status in the calendar flyout as soon as possible so invoices reflect the correct charges. For more information, see Managing appointment statuses and billing.

AutoPay can help automate client billing by charging clients automatically for invoiced amounts. You can enable AutoPay at Settings > Payment processing > AutoPay. For more information, see Getting Started with AutoPay.

Insurance billing

In a group practice, insurance claims are typically submitted under the same group (Type 2) NPI in box 33.

Each clinician should enter their individual (Type 1) NPI in Settings > Profile > Clinical info, which populates box 24j on claims. If you have clinicians in your practice that bill with their individual NPI in box 33, you can create additional billing profiles. To learn more, see Managing billing profiles for insurance.

Enrollments and Payment Reports

If you plan to submit claims through SimplePractice, you may need to complete enrollments at Settings > Client billing and insurance > Payers. Submitting enrollments is also required to receive Payment Reports (ERAs). 

For more information, see Submitting enrollments to file claims and receive Payment Reports.

Note: If you're transitioning from a solo practice to a group practice, we recommend contacting your insurance payers to confirm they have your updated practice information before submitting new enrollments or updating billing details

If team members will be billing insurance under a supervisor’s credentials, see Billing insurance under supervision.

Team member roles

You can add team members to your SimplePractice account and assign them clinical or non-clinical roles based on their responsibilities. For step-by-step instructions, see Adding and managing team members.

Only Account Owners and practice managers can add and manage team members.

Important: Each person logging into a SimplePractice account is required to use their own email and password, even within a group practice. Sharing account login credentials violates Section 6 of our Terms of Service, results in an inaccurate HIPAA Audit Log for compliance, and puts the security of client data at risk.

Clinician roles

Clinician roles are assigned to team members who provide services to clients. There are 5 clinician roles, each with a different level of access.

Non-clinical roles

Non-clinical roles are intended for team members who do not provide services to clients, such as office managers, schedulers, or billers. There are 4 non-clinical roles available.

Note: If a non-clinical team member doesn’t need access to client files, consider assigning them the practice biller or practice scheduler role. Team members can also hold multiple non-clinical roles.

Calendar

Calendar settings in SimplePractice include both practice-level controls and clinician-level options. Practice-level settings affect how clients interact with scheduling and cancellations, while clinician-level settings help individual team members manage their own calendars.

Practice-level calendar settings

You can set your practice's cancellation policy at Settings > Scheduling and inquiries > Calendar.

Use the Cancellation policy dropdown to:

• Set how many hours in advance clients must cancel to avoid a fee
• Choose whether clients can cancel appointments online through the Client Portal or are required to call

For more information, see Setting up your practice's cancellation policy.

Clinician-level calendar options

Clinicians can manage certain calendar preferences individually. These settings do not affect other team members.

Each clinician can choose to sync their SimplePractice calendar with a personal calendar to view appointments outside of SimplePractice. For setup instructions, see:

• Managing calendar sync for Apple Calendar
• Managing calendar sync for Google Calendar
• Managing calendar sync for Microsoft 365 Outlook Calendar

Note: Calendar sync links a SimplePractice calendar to one external calendar. A SimplePractice calendar can’t be synced to multiple external calendars at the same time. For best practices on coordinating calendars in a multi-clinician practice, see Using your calendar in a group practice.

Team members can also adjust their calendar display and set a primary time zone from the calendar by selecting the gear icon > Calendar preferences.

Client Portal settings

The Client Portal allows clients to schedule appointments, complete intake forms, upload documents, and pay invoices.

Note: These setting can be adjusted by the Account Owner or a practice manager.

To enable the Client Portal:

1. Navigate to Settings > Scheduling and > Client portal permissions
2. Under Default domain, customize the URL for the practice's Client Portal
   • This URL is used across your entire practice, so choose one that represents all clinicians

Note: For a full overview, see Setting up the Client Portal.

Online appointment requests

From the same page, you can enable and customize online appointment requests. For setup instructions, see Enabling online appointment requests.

Documentation

SimplePractice includes clinician- and client-facing documentation features you can configure to support group practice workflows.

Template library

The template library includes templates for the main types of documentation that can be used in SimplePractice, such as scored measures, intake forms, progress notes, diagnosis and treatment plans, and other documents.

Note: The template library is only accessible to Account Owners, practice managers, and clinicians with entire practice access.

From Settings > Documentation > Template library, you can:

• Preview and add pre-built templates to your library
  Customize and duplicate pre-built templates, or create your own

To learn more, see Using pre-built templates and your template library.

After adding templates to your library, selecting the checkbox next to a template makes it available for clinicians to use and allows it to be shared with clients.

Shareable documents

In Settings > Documentation > Shareable documents, you manage the consent forms and uploaded files you share with clients.

From this page, you can:

• Customize consent documents and intake forms
• Choose which documents are selected by default when sending intakes to clients

For more information, see Managing consent forms and Managing intake forms.

You can also configure the Demographics form and Credit card information form, which can be used to collect collect client contact and payment information. For more information, see Collecting demographics and credit card information from clients.

Sharing documents with clients

Clients can receive forms and documents through the Client Portal for completion or e-signature. All clinicians, practice managers, and practice schedulers can share documents with clients.

For more information, see Sending intake forms and documents to clients.

Business files

The Business files page allows the Account Owner and practice manager to upload internal practice files and share them with specific team member roles.

For more information, see Managing business files.

Note: Team members can only view or download the files that have been shared with them. Clients won’t have access to business files.

Supervision

Supervision settings allow you to designate supervisors and supervisees, manage how documentation is reviewed, and monitor supervision-related activity across the practice.

Adding supervisors and supervisees

You can assign which team members supervise others and which clinicians work under supervision. To grant the supervisor role to a team member, see Updating a team member’s roles.

After designating a supervisor, you can assign supervisees. To assign a supervisee to a supervisor:

1. Navigate to Settings > Team > Team members
2. Select a team member
3. Next to Clinical info, select Edit
4. Toggle Under supervision on
5. Select their supervisor from the Supervisor dropdown menu

6. Click Save

Although Account Owners and practice managers can assign supervisors and supervisees, a supervisee can also designate their own supervisor. To do this, they can:

1. Navigate to Settings > Profile > Clinical info
2. Check the box for I'm pre-licensed under supervision
3. Select the supervisor from the Supervisor dropdown menu

Reviewing and signing documentation

When a supervised clinician completes a progress note, diagnosis and treatment plan, or other documentation, they sign and share it with their supervisor for review. Supervisors can then request edits or sign and lock the documentation.

To view documentation awaiting review, supervisors can select Supervision from the left navigation menu. This page shows:

• All unsigned documentation
• A counter indicating how many items are awaiting review

Tip: Supervisors can view previously signed documentation under the My signed notes tab.

For step-by-step instructions, see Reviewing and signing documentation under supervision.

Using tools such as Wiley Treatment Planners can help standardize diagnosis and treatment plans in alignment with many insurance payer requirements, while supporting efficient documentation workflows.

Locking a note signs and timestamps the documentation, helping ensure records meet standards for audits or third-party requests.

Monitoring supervisee activity

Supervisors can monitor documentation completion using the Appointment status report. To view documentation status:

1. Navigate to Analytics > Reports > Appointment status
2. Select More
3. Toggle Include Documentation on

This report displays appointments within a selected date range and shows the status of associated documentation:

• No Note
• Unlocked
• Locked
• Supervision

Practice billers can also use this report to confirm that progress notes are completed before submitting insurance claims.

For more information, see Navigating the Appointment status report.

Note: Supervisors receive notifications if a supervisee’s client is missing a progress note or diagnosis and treatment plan.

Professional Website

The Professional Website provides a simple, clean way to showcase your practice and give clients a central place to access their Client Portal. An Account Owner or practice manager can customize the practice’s Professional Website.

To turn on the Professional Website:

1. Navigate to Marketing > Website and domain
2. Click Turn on website

The domain for your Professional Website will default to your Client Portal URL ending in clientsecure.me.

Tip: If you plan to use an external domain hosted by a third party, you can connect it as a custom domain. For setup instructions, see Connecting a custom domain.

Once enabled, your Professional Website functions as a landing page where existing clients can log in to their Client Portal.

Note: To learn how to customize your website, see Customizing your Professional Website.

Therapy Finder

Therapy Finder is an online directory that helps clinicians connect with prospective clients while maintaining a consistent online presence. Therapy Finder integrates directly with SimplePractice.

Each clinician in your account can have a Therapy Finder profile, as long as they’re assigned a supported specialty. To learn more, see Benefits and eligibility for listing on Therapy Finder.

To turn on Therapy Finder for your practice and enable it for clinicians:

1. Navigate to Marketing > Directory
2. Click Turn on directory access
3. Select Manage clinician profiles to control which clinicians can list on Therapy Finder
4. Hover over the clinician and click Manage
5. Select Full Access
6. Click Save

Note: Clinicians can edit and manage their own Therapy Finder profile only if they’ve been granted Full Access. Account administrators can grant access, but they can’t edit or manage a clinician’s profile on their behalf. For more information, see Customizing your profile for the Directory and Professional Website.