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Team member roles and access levels

Team member roles and access levels

To meet your practice’s unique needs, we offer various team member roles with different access levels.

You can use this guide to learn about each role and help you decide what’s appropriate for your practice and each of your team members. After reviewing both clinician and non-clinician roles, see Adding and managing team members to learn how to add and manage team members.

In this guide, we’ll cover: 

The ability to add team members is only available on the Plus plan. Clinician roles are an additional $59/month per clinician. The practice biller, practice scheduler, and supervisor roles are free, while the non-clinician practice manager role is $39/month per person.

Tip: We recently updated team member roles and access level titles. To see a chart of the old titles vs. the new titles, see What’re the updated names of the team member roles and access levels?


Selecting the right role and access level for a team member

Account Owners can grant team members different clinician and non-clinician roles so they can have the access levels they need.

In many private practices, the same team member manages scheduling and billing. To accomplish this in your account, you can assign multiple roles to one team member.

You can review each role below to make sure that you’re assigning the appropriate permissions to your clinicians, and that your administrative staff has the necessary access. 

Note: Once a team member has been added to your account as a clinician, you can't remove the clinician role to grant them non-clinician access only. If a non-clinician team member was previously granted clinician access, you'll need to delete this team member and re-invite them as the desired non-clinician role(s). For additional details, see Updating a team member’s role or access level.


Clinician roles

There are 5 clinician roles in SimplePractice, including the Account Owner:

Important: All other clinician roles except the Account Owner can be assigned to multiple clinicians, at an additional $59/month per clinician. For more information, see SimplePractice pricing and subscription FAQs.

For information on how these roles affect client announcements permissions, see Understanding team member permissions.

Account Owner

  • This role is given to the individual who started the SimplePractice account, and includes full access to all clients, documentation, practice settings, and reports
  • The Account Owner has exclusive access to Plan info in their settings, as well as the annual Tax Report
  • If the Account Owner role is better suited for someone else, you can submit a help request so our Customer Success team can assist with transferring account ownership

Important: Do not share your login credentials with anyone, not even to pass account ownership to another individual. Sharing login credentials to transfer account ownership to another individual can impact the integrity of your signed documentation, reports, and payroll data. This is also a violation of our Terms of Service.

Clinician with entire practice access

This role is typically granted to the co-owner of a practice or an administrator who needs this level of access. 

Clinicians with entire practice access can do the following for all clients in the practice:

Client care
Schedule appointments Entire practice
Edit appointments Entire practice
Create client profiles Entire practice
Delete client profiles Entire practice
Search for clients Entire practice
View files uploaded by clients Entire practice
Create progress notes Entire practice
View documents completed by clients Entire practice
Share documents with clients Entire practice
Manage appointment requests Entire practice
Billing
Edit clients’ billing info Entire practice
Edit service fees Entire practice
Create billing documents Entire practice
Add client payments Entire practice
Add insurance payments Entire practice
File insurance claims Entire practice
View Payment Reports Entire practice
Request coverage reports Entire practice
Refund payments Entire practice
Operations
Edit note and form templates Entire practice
Send client announcements Entire practice

Clinicians with entire practice access also include practice biller and practice scheduler permissions. For more information, see Non-clinician roles.

Clinicians with entire practice access can view the following Settings pages:

Clinicians with entire practice access can’t view the following Settings pages:

Tip: To learn how to grant clinicians additional permissions, such as the ability to unlock progress notes for all clients or export client data, see Adding additional team member permissions.

Clinician with full client list access

Clinicians with full client list access can do the following for either all clients in the practice or is limited to their own clients as noted:

Client care
Schedule appointments Entire practice
Edit appointments Entire practice
Create client profiles Entire practice
Search for clients Entire practice
View files uploaded by clients Their clients
Create progress notes Their clients
View documents completed by clients Their clients
Share documents with clients Their clients
Manage appointment requests Their clients
Billing
Edit clients’ billing info Entire practice
Edit service fees Entire practice
Create billing documents Their clients
Add client payments Their clients
File insurance claims Their clients
View Payment Reports Their clients
Request coverage reports Their clients
Refund payments Their clients
Operations
Send client announcements Their clients

Clinicians with full client list access can view the following Settings pages:

Tip: To learn how to grant clinicians additional permissions, such as the ability to unlock progress notes for all clients or export client data, see Adding additional team member permissions.

Clinician with billing access

This role can do most actions in SimplePractice for their own clients only. By default, all other clients in the practice will be hidden from their view. Clinicians with billing access can do the following for their clients:

Client care
Schedule appointments Their clients
Edit appointments Their clients
Create client profiles Their clients
Search for clients Their clients
View files uploaded by clients Their clients
Create progress notes Their clients
View documents completed by clients Their clients
Share documents with clients Their clients
Manage appointment requests Their clients
Billing
Edit clients’ billing info Their clients
Edit service fees Their clients
Create billing documents Their clients
Add client payments Their clients
File insurance claims Their clients
View Payment Reports Their clients
Request coverage reports Their clients
Refund payments Their clients
View financial dashboards and reports Their clients
Operations
Send clients announcements Their clients

Note: Clinicians with billing access will only be able to see profile and appointment information for another client in your practice if they’re granted access to that client.

Clinicians with billing access can view the following Settings pages:

Tip: To learn how to grant clinicians additional permissions, such as the ability to unlock progress notes for all clients or export client data, see Adding additional team member permissions.

Clinician with basic access

Clinicians with basic access can do the following for their clients only:

Client care
Schedule appointments Their clients
Edit appointments Their clients
Create client profiles Their clients
Search for clients Their clients
View files uploaded by clients Their clients
Create progress notes Their clients
View documents completed by clients Their clients
Share documents with clients Their clients
Manage appointment requests Their clients
Operations
Send client announcements Their clients

Clinicians with basic access can view the following Settings pages:

Tip: To learn how to grant a clinician additional permissions, see Adding additional team member permissions.


Non-clinician roles

There are 4 non-clinician roles that you can grant within SimplePractice: 

Supervisors, practice billers, and practice schedulers are free to add to your subscription on the Plus plan. The practice manager role is an additional $39/month per person. 

Note: If you previously granted an office manager clinician access but you’d like to only give them practice manager access, you’ll need to delete this team member and re-invite them as a practice manager. For more information, see Adding and managing team members.

You can grant any team member more than one role. For example, a team member can be both a practice scheduler and a practice biller, or an existing clinician with entire practice access can also be a supervisor.

supervisor.simplepractice.editteammember.png

Important: Access to the SimplePractice mobile app requires a clinician role. Practice managers, practice schedulers, practice billers, and supervisors can’t access the SimplePractice mobile app unless they also have a clinician role.

Practice manager

Note: To customize the access each individual needs, you can grant the practice manager role in addition to other roles. If this role is paired with a clinician role, you’ll only be charged the rate of $59/month for an additional clinician.

Practice managers can do the following with all clients in the entire practice:

Client care
Create client profiles
Delete client profiles
Search for clients
View all documents uploaded by clients and the practice
Share documents with clients
Billing
Edit clients’ billing info
View Payment Reports
Request coverage reports
Operations
Edit note and form templates
Add team members
Send client announcements

Tip: To learn how to grant practice managers additional permissions, such as the ability to view and create chart notes, financial dashboards, and reports, see Adding additional team member permissions.

Practice managers can access all Settings except for Plan info, which is exclusive to the Account Owner.

Note: Practice managers can change the payout schedule, statement descriptor, bank account, and the addresses on file for the practice’s Online Payments account. Any additional changes to the Online Payments account must be requested by the Account Owner or the business representative on file. For more information, see What information can I change after my account has been verified?

Supervisor

The supervisor role is exclusively intended for team members supervising pre-licensed clinicians. When a pre-licensed clinician is under supervision, all of the supervisee’s progress notes will be sent to the supervisor for their review and signature.

Supervisors have permission to do the following for their supervisee’s clients:

Client care
View appointment details
Search for clients
View documents uploaded by clients
Create progress notes
View documents completed by clients

Note: While a supervisor can supervise an unlimited number of pre-licensed clinicians, a pre-licensed clinician can only have one supervisor at a time. For more details about a supervisor’s abilities in SimplePractice, see Adding a supervisor to review and sign notes.

Practice biller

Practice billers have limited access to all client profiles. They can create and send billing documents to any client, process payments for any client, access billing-related reports, and manage payroll.

Practice billers have permission to do the following for all clients:

Client care
Edit appointments
Search for clients
Billing
Edit clients’ billing info
Edit service fees
Create billing documents
Add client payments
Add insurance payments
File insurance claims
View Payment Reports
Request coverage reports
Refund payments
View financial dashboard and reports

Practice billers also have permission to do the following for all clients:

  • View the calendar
  • View client diagnoses
  • Add and update client contact and demographic information
  • View their own activity in the Account Activity log
  • Access their own reminders
  • Secure Message all clients and team members

Tip: To learn how to grant practice billers additional permissions, such as the ability to view client documents, intake documents and uploaded files, see Adding additional team member permissions.

Practice scheduler

This role has a limited view of client profiles within the practice. Practice schedulers have permission to do the following for all clients:

Client care
Schedule appointments
Edit appointments
Create client profiles
Search for clients
Manage appointment requests
Share documents with clients
Billing
Edit clients’ billing info
Edit service fees
Create billing documents
Add client payments

Practice schedulers have permission to do the following for all clients:

  • Edit existing client information
  • Assign clinicians to any client in the practice
  • Modify a clinician's Availability

Note: An Account Owner, practice manager, or clinician with entire practice access will need to first enable online appointment requests in Settings > Scheduling > Client Portal permissions before Availability can be added or modified. To learn more, see Enabling online appointment requests.

  • View their own activity in the Account Activity log
  • Access their own reminders
  • Secure Message with all clients and team members
  • View documents that have been sent and/or completed by clients

Tip: To learn how to grant practice schedulers additional permissions, such as the ability to view client documents, intake documents and uploaded files, see Adding additional team member permissions.

Practice schedulers have the following abilities when they view documents:

  • They can only view the title of each document and its completion status
  • They’ll receive reminders for clients who have incomplete documents pending

Note: If a team member doesn’t have the necessary permissions to view and delete documentation attached to an appointment, this will prevent them from deleting the appointment. For more information, see Deleting an appointment


Granting specific client access for a clinician

Having client access means that you're either the primary clinician for a client, or you've been granted access to that client. Access to a specific client can be granted by:

  • The client's primary clinician
  • The Account Owner
  • Clinicians with entire practice access
  • Practice managers
  • Practice schedulers

Granting client access to another clinician in your practice allows you to collaborate with that clinician. To grant a clinician client access:

  • Navigate to a client's profile
  • Click Edit
  • Under Clinicians granted access, select the clinician in question

grantclientaccess.simplepractice.overview.png

  • Click Save Client

Important: Clinicians with entire practice access are automatically given access to all clients, and will appear under Clinicians granted access with a gray checkbox. The permissions for this role can’t be altered to restrict access to specific clients.


Removing client access for a clinician

To remove specific client access for a non-primary clinician, navigate to the client’s Overview page > Edit, and uncheck that clinician’s name under Clinicians granted access. Once this is done, click Save Client.

If the client has future individual or couple appointments with this clinician scheduled on the calendar, you can either Delete their future appointments with the clinician, or Assign these appointments to another clinician.

futureindividualappts.simplepractice.clientedit.png

If you choose to Assign, you can select which clinician will be assigned these appointments. Once you’ve made your selection, click Save and continue

Note: If one or more of these future appointments are locked, you’ll only be able to assign the future appointments to another clinician. To unlock appointments, see Editing an appointment.

If the client also has future group appointments with the clinician, the client will be removed from the clinician’s group appointments. This will be indicated in the modal.

groupandindividualremoval.simplepractice.clientedit.png

Note: If future group appointment(s) are locked, the modal will note that access can’t be removed for the clinician. Once these appointment(s) are unlocked, you’ll be able to remove them.


Updating a team member’s role or access level

To update a team member’s role or access level:

  • Navigate to Settings > Team > Team members
  • Click the name of the team member you'd like to change
    • Next to the team member, you can also click the 3 horizontal dots > Edit team member
  • Under Role info, click Edit

editroles.simplepractice.settings.png

  • Select the box for the appropriate role
  • Click Continue 
  • Toggle any of the additional permissions on, if applicable

  • Click Continue
  • Review update(s) to your SimplePractice plan, if applicable
  • Click Save changes

Once a team member has been added to your account as a clinician, you can't remove the clinician role to give them only non-clinician access. If a team member with clinician access needs to be updated to only non-clinician access, you'll need to delete this team member and re-invite them with the desired role(s). 

To do this:

Note: To learn more about each role, see Clinician roles and Non-clinician roles.


Adding additional team member permissions

An Account Owner or practice manager can add additional permissions for individual team members. To do this:

  • Navigate to Settings > Team > Team members
  • Click the name of the team member you'd like to change
    • Next to the team member, you can also click the 3 horizontal dots > Edit team member
  • Under Role info, click Edit
  • Click Continue 
  • Toggle any of the additional permissions on

  • Click Continue
  • Review update(s) to your SimplePractice plan, if applicable
  • Click Save changes

Account Owners can choose to add these additional permissions for clinicians:

Client care
Unlock progress notes
Unlock other documents
Unlock diagnosis and treatment plans

Note: Account Owners can’t add additional permissions for supervisors. To add additional permissions to a supervisor, a clinician role, or another non-clinician team member role can be added.

Account Owners can choose to add these additional permissions for practice managers:

Client care
View and create chart notes
View completed questionnaires and scored measures

View client documents

Operations
View financial dashboards and reports
Export client data

Account Owners can choose to add these additional permissions for practice billers and practice schedulers:

Client care
View and create chart notes
View completed questionnaires and scored measures

View intake documents and uploaded files 

View client documents

Note: Granting a team member permission to view client documents gives them access to view progress notes, psychotherapy notes, mental status exams, other documents, diagnoses, and treatment plans, and Secure Messaging transcripts.


Viewing reports as each team member

In addition to the Settings page, each team member role has different access to the Analytics Dashboard and Reports

Note: To learn more about Analytics, see Understanding your Analytics dashboard and reports

Below, you can learn more about the reports that each team member role can access:

Role Access
Account Owner
  • Can access all reports in their SimplePractice account, including the Tax Report, at a practice-wide level
  • Can access the Dashboard at a practice-wide level
Clinician with entire practice access
  • Can access all reports at a practice-wide level, except the Tax Report 
  • Can access the Dashboard at a practice-wide level
Clinician with full client list access
Clinician with billing access
  • Can’t access the following reports:
  • Can access the following reports for all clinicians:
  • Can access all other reports and the Dashboard, but only for own clients and appointments
Clinician with basic access
Practice manager
Practice biller
Practice scheduler
Supervisor
  • Can’t access the Analytics Dashboard and reports

Tip: If a team member needs access to a report that isn’t included in their role, the Account Owner or practice manager can update their role from Settings > Team > Team members.

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