Creating superbills

A superbill, also known as a Statement for Insurance Reimbursement, is a document that clinicians can give to their clients to be reimbursed by insurance payers. This document is similar to a statement, but it provides additional information, such as CPT codes and primary diagnosis codes.

In this guide, we’ll cover:

• Entering a diagnosis
• Creating a superbill
• Updating information on a superbill
• Deleting a superbill
• FAQs

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

Entering a diagnosis

Before you can create a superbill, you’ll need to enter a diagnosis for the client so the insurance payer has the required information for reimbursement.

To enter a diagnosis:

1. Navigate to the client's profile
2. Click New > Diagnosis and treatment plan

3. Select a diagnosis
4. Edit the date and time as needed
5. Click Save

When a diagnosis is added, it applies to all appointments moving forward until a new diagnosis and treatment plan is created. If a diagnosis isn’t appearing on a superbill, make sure the diagnosis was dated before each applicable appointment.

Removing diagnosis descriptions from superbills

Diagnosis descriptions appear on superbills by default. If you don't want diagnosis descriptions to appear on superbills:

1. Navigate to Settings > Client billing and insurance > Client billing documents
2. Under Superbills, uncheck Include diagnosis description

3. Click Save changes
4. To remove the diagnosis description from an existing superbill, you’ll need to delete and recreate it

Note: To learn more about diagnosis and treatment plans in SimplePractice, see Adding diagnosis and treatment plans.

Creating a superbill

Note: Many practices prefer to automate the process of creating and delivering monthly superbills. To learn how, see Setting up automations for billing documents.

To create a superbill manually:

1. Navigate to the client's profile > Billing tab
2. Select the date range you want to create the superbill for

3. Click New > Superbill

4. Check the box next to the appointment(s) you want included on the superbill

Note: Each appointment can appear on only one superbill at a time. If an appointment is already included on a superbill, it will not appear here. To create a new superbill, you'll need to delete the existing one. For details, see Why are some appointments missing when I create a superbill?

5. Click Create Superbill

Once a superbill is created, it includes all relevant client and practice information needed for insurance reimbursement.

Note: An appointment can't be edited or deleted if a superbill is associated with it. If you'd like to edit or delete the appointment, you can first delete the superbill. For more information, see Deleting a superbill.

You can print, download as a PDF, email, or delete the superbill using the buttons at the top of the superbill. 

Updating information on a superbill

Once a superbill is created, the associated appointment(s) are locked and can’t be edited. This helps ensure the information on the superbill remains consistent for insurance reimbursement.

The client's primary clinician is automatically listed as the provider in a superbill. Another clinician can't be listed as the provider on the superbill. However, if the clinician is under supervision, you can make sure the supervisor's information appears in a superbill by checking Add supervisor info to notes and billing documents in Settings > Documentation > Template library. For more information, see: Adding supervisor information to documents.

If you need to make changes to the appointment(s) included on a superbill, you must first delete the superbill by clicking the trash icon. After deleting it, update the related appointments and create a new superbill.

Note: If you need to make billing changes to an appointment, see Appointment level billing changes for guidance.

If you need to edit an appointment but want to keep a copy of the existing superbill, download the superbill as a PDF and upload it to the client’s profile before deleting it.

Deleting a superbill

To delete a superbill:

1. Navigate to the client’s profile > Billing tab
2. Locate the appointment the superbill is attached to
3. Click on the superbill
4. Select Delete superbill from the bottom left

FAQs

• How can I update the NPI listed on a superbill?
• How do I add a signature to my superbills?
• How can I change "Make Payments to" on a superbill?
• Why aren't appointments on my superbills showing as paid?
• Why are some appointments missing when I create a superbill?

How can I update the NPI listed on a superbill?

The Individual, or Type 1 NPI, of the rendering provider for a specific date of service appears in the Provider section of a superbill.

If a superbill includes appointments held by multiple clinicians, the Individual NPI of the client’s primary clinician will populate instead.

If an Individual NPI is missing or incorrect, navigate to Settings > Profile > Clinical info and update the NPI Number.

Account Owners can also manage NPIs for other clinicians by navigating to Settings > Team > Team members, selecting a clinician, and updating the NPI number under Clinical info.

How do I add a signature to my superbills?

To add a signature line to superbills:

1. Navigate to Settings > Client billing and insurance > Client billing documents
2. Under Superbills, select the Include signature line checkbox

3. Click Save changes

Moving forward, a signature line will appear on all superbills.

How can I change the "Make Payments to" section on a superbill?

Superbills can be set so that reimbursement is sent to the provider, practice, client, or primary insured individual. To do this:

1. Navigate to the client's profile
2. Click Edit > Billing and Insurance
3. If the client doesn’t have insurance information added yet, select + Insurance info
   • If the client already has insurance information added, select Edit next to the insurance payer
4. From the For superbills, send payment to dropdown, choose who payments should be sent to

   • If the client is a dependent, make sure the appropriate Primary policy holder is selected and their information is entered

5. Click Save

Moving forward, the selected option will appear in the Make Payments to field on the superbill.

Why aren’t appointments on my superbill showing as paid?

A superbill will show appointments as paid only when the associated invoices are marked as paid.

If a payment has been added but the superbill still shows an appointment as unpaid, check for a green Paid stamp next to the client responsibility.

To check this:

1. Navigate to the client’s profile > Billing tab
2. Review the payment status of the appointment

If the invoice isn’t marked as paid, you can add a client payment.

If the invoice was marked paid after the superbill was created, delete and recreate the superbill so the updated status appears.

Note: Partial payments won't reflect on superbills.