Managing client contacts

Contacts help you coordinate care and communication with the people connected to a client, such as parents/guardians, caregivers, emergency contacts, or other related individuals. 

In SimplePractice, you can use contacts to maintain accurate relationship details, support billing workflows, and grant Client Portal access when needed for tasks like requesting appointments, exchanging Secure Messages, viewing billing documents, and completing and signing shared documents.

In this guide, we'll cover:

• Adding contacts to existing clients
• Managing contact profiles
• Merging duplicate contacts
• Sharing documents with contacts
• Client Portal from a contact's perspective

Adding contacts to existing clients

For all client types, you can add contacts directly from your Clients and contacts list:

1. Navigate to your Clients and contacts list
2. Click the three horizontal dots under Manage
3. Select Add contact

4. Choose an existing contact
   • You can also select Add new contact + to create and add a new contact profile if one doesn't already exist

5. Click Continue
6. Select the Relationship type from the dropdown menu 

7. Verify or update remaining information 
8. Click Save

Alternatively, you can add contacts from a client's Contacts tab. For more information, see Editing a client's information.

Note: A minor client can't be created without adding a contact. See Adding minor clients for additional details.

Managing contact profiles

You can manage your contacts from the Clients and contacts page or from a client's Contacts tab.

Managing contacts from the Clients page

To manage your contacts from the Clients and contacts page:

1. Select Clients from the left navigation menu
2. Use the Client status filter to select Contacts > Apply

You'll see each contact’s Name, Contact info, Relationship, and the option to Manage.

Clicking the three dots under Manage for a Contact will extend a dropdown that includes:

Managing contacts from the Contacts tab

You can also manage a client's contact from their Contacts tab. To do this:

1. Navigate to the client's Overview page
2. Click Edit > Contacts
3. To the right of the contact's name, click Manage

This will extend a dropdown that includes:

• View/Edit Contact info
  • Clicking this will allow you to view and edit the following for this contact:
    • Legal first name
    • Middle name
    • Legal last name
    • Suffix
    • Name they go by
    • Relationship type
    • Designate the contact as the client's Emergency Contact
    • Phone
    • Email
    • Address
    • Notes
      • This field allows you to add any notes about this contact
• Edit Appointment Reminders
  • Clicking this will allow you to enable email, text, and voice appointment reminders for the client's appointments
• Manage Client Portal & Billing
  • Clicking this will allow you to:
    • Set this contact as Responsible for billing for invoices, statements, and superbills associated with the client
    • Grant or revoke Client Portal access for this contact
      • To grant Client Portal access for the contact, Email ok must be selected under Manage > View/Edit Contact info
      • If the Client Portal is enabled for this contact, you can choose to allow this contact to:
        • View the client's upcoming appointments
        • Request new appointments for the client
        • Send and receive Secure Messages
          • Contacts can only Secure Message with clinicians and team members who have access to their profile
        • Access the client's billing documents (invoices, statements, and superbills)
          • Pay a balance with a credit card using online payments
        • Receive announcements for the client

Note: When you enable Client Portal access for a contact whose Relationship type is Physician or Other, all Client Portal settings will be disabled by default, except for sending and receiving documentation.

• Create an Individual Client
  • You can create an individual client from this contact if you start seeing this contact as a client
  • If you do create an individual client from this contact, this person will still be listed as contact for any applicable clients
• Remove Contact
  • If the contact is associated with another client, clicking Remove Contact will only remove them from the current client
  • If the contact isn’t associated with another client, clicking Remove Contact will delete the contact from your account

Merging duplicate contacts

Duplicate contact profiles for the same individual can cause confusion and difficulty accessing the Client Portal.

Note: While you can merge duplicate contact profiles with another contact profile or a client profile, there's no way to merge duplicate client profiles. To learn how to remove duplicate client profiles, see Removing a duplicate client.

To merge contact profiles from the Clients and contacts list:

1. Use the Client status dropdown to filter for Contacts

2. Click Apply
3. Toggle on Show X possible duplicate clients or contacts in the banner

4. Click the three horizontal dots next to the contact profile you’d like to merge
5. Select Merge with duplicate

6. Check the boxes for the profiles you want to merge

7. Click Preview merge
8. Select Confirm merge

Important: Merging profiles is a permanent action and can't be undone.

If you don't think certain contact profile are duplicates, see The clients or contacts that are marked as duplicates aren't actual duplicates. What should I do?

Sharing documents with contacts

Important: Sharing documents and forms with contacts is only possible if the Client Portal is enabled for them. For more information, see Managing contact profiles.

To share documents with contacts:

1. Navigate to the client's Overview page for whom the contact is associated with
2. Click Share

3. You’ll have the option to select whom you want to share items with
   • You can select just the contact, or both the client and contact

4. When you’re ready, click Continue to Share and select the items you want to share via the Client Portal

Client Portal from a contact's perspective

If a contact has been granted Client Portal access for multiple clients, they’ll be prompted to choose which client’s information they want to manage when they log into the Client Portal.

Once the contact selects the client profile they want to manage, they’ll see the Client Portal Welcome message the first time they sign. They can click Get started to review, sign, and/or fill out documents related to the client.

Once the contact has viewed all documents, they can:

• Click Appointments to:
  • Request a new appointment for the client by clicking Request now
  • View the client's Upcoming appointments
  • View the client's Requested appointments

Tip: For step-by-step instructions that you can share with clients and contacts, see Viewing and requesting appointments in the Client Portal.

• Click Documents to:
  • Attend to any document that needs to be completed
  • View Completed documents
  • Upload files under My Uploads

Sharing intakes, documents, and any forms with contacts follows the same process as sharing with clients. For more information, see Sending intake forms and documents to clients.

• Click Billing & Payments to:
  • Pay the total balance on the client’s account or make a payment toward the client’s total balance
  • View, download, and pay the client's invoices
  • View and download the client's statements, insurance reimbursement statements (or superbills), and Payment History
  • Manage their Payment Methods

• Click the name in the top right corner to choose another Profile or Sign out

Note: Contacts will only see what they've been granted access to in the Client Portal. For information on managing Client Portal access for contacts, see Managing contact profiles.