Sessions Health and SimplePractice are popular EHRs and practice management softwares. They are specifically designed to improve work processes for healthcare professionals. With these EHRs, mental health therapists can connect better with their clients.

Although some therapists find it difficult to choose the right EHR for the easy management of their practices. Therapist concerns can range from the price, ease of use, and client experience with these EHR systems.

This post shows the distinct features, advantages and disadvantages of both EHRs. By understanding the differences between the two EHR platforms, you'll be able to select the best one that meets your practice goals.

What is Sessions Health?

Sessions Health is an EHR system designed to help therapists run effective practices. This Electronic Health Record platform ensures mental health therapists have profitable practices. The following are the features of Sessions Health:

Treatment Plans

Sessions Health assists therapists in communicating treatment goals and assessment to clients. You can create a therapy plan to identify your client’s area of concern and share it through your client portal.

Client Portal

Sessions Health offers a safe and responsive portal for your clients. It is easy for your clients to grant consent forms and use electronic signatures. This feature also allows the clients to book an appointment with ease. It also allows them to fill in the required documentation before their appointment. You can share and readily assess every necessary information with ease.

Appointment Reminders

Sessions Health provides free reminders to clients through email, and text messaging. This helps to reduce the rate of cancellations from clients.

Dashboard

Sessions Health provides a clean and simple dashboard. It organizes your tasks into categories to keep you focused.

Scheduling

It is easy to schedule a new appointment with the calendar view on Sessions Health. It also allows you to sync the calendar with your Google plans.

Billing Automation

Sessions Health offers a billing automation feature. With this feature, it is easy to create and share invoices with your clients. This makes it very seamless to get online payments from your clients.

Client Management

Sessions Health comes with different features that allow therapists to focus on client care. As a mental health professional, you can add files like images or documents to your clients' records. To manage the client’s status, you can either delete the data permanently or hide it. You can also add an emergency contact for a client when necessary.

With the automation feature, you can manage larger client caseloads and clinical documentation. But, for a more streamlined note-taking and documentation process, Mentalyc is a great option. You can register with Mentalyc if you need a different practice management software App that will improve your productivity.

Advantages of Sessions Health

Free Version

You can access the free version of Sessions Health to attend to your clients and build your practice.

Cost Effective

Sessions Health is more affordable relative to SimplePractice. It can be used by solo practitioners and larger practices. However, it is more suitable for smaller practices and there are no issues of extra charges. All features are included in a single cost of $39 monthly.

Customer Support

Sessions Health users give lots of praise for the platform’s support. The platform provides quick and clear responses to questions, together with helpful explanations. It;s excellent customer support improves the satisfaction levels of the users.

Easy-to-use Interface

Another benefit of Sessions Health is its simple interface. Therapists can enjoy the simplified user-friendly interface of Sessions Health. It offers a great experience for mental health practitioners and their clients.

EHR Transition

Sessions Health helps with the transfer of data from a previous EHR system. It provides help to therapists who are moving from a different EHR to Sessions Health. The data transferred include client records, intake or progress notes, and billing information. For example, some therapists have difficulty working with certain EHR platforms. With referrals from colleagues, these therapists are able to transition to Sessions Health with ease.

These therapists who need to transition are able to get all the data from the previous platform. This is why a dedicated support system and the right information is crucial. Sessions Health video guide tutorials, customer service and response times makes it easy for efficient work processes.

HIPAA-Compliance

There are several EHR software for private practices that assist mental health providers. However, for running an effective private practice, HIPAA-Compliant EHR platforms are important. Sessions Health has developed their HIPAA-compliant telehealth platform. It allows easier management of your practice and makes administrative work simpler. It also offers therapists a chance to focus on better quality of care for clients.

Training and Guidance

Sessions Health offers tutorials to ensure users understand how to use the platform. Their library of tutorial videos make it easier for the effective use of Sessions Health. The user reviews of Session Health are given high priority and attention. They use this review to implement changes that benefit its users. They also add features from time to time to improve their platform and users' experiences.

Functionality

Sessions Health has a much lower price relative to SimplePractice. Although, they have similar functionality. Sessions Health is also affordable for small private practices.

Disadvantages of Sessions Health

It requires extra charges for the telehealth features.

• It requires extra charges for the telehealth features.

The customized forms might be too basic for mental health practitioners.

• The customized forms might be too basic for mental health practitioners.

Sessions Health does not provide support for electronic prescriptions.

• Sessions Health does not provide support for electronic prescriptions.

It is prone to occasional glitches which can affect documentation.

• It is prone to occasional glitches which can affect documentation.

Sessions Health is right for you if:

You are looking for an easy and affordable option without a telehealth platform. Telehealth platform is optional with Sessions Health.

• You are looking for an easy and affordable option without a telehealth platform. Telehealth platform is optional with Sessions Health.

You do not need insurance billing tools.

• You do not need insurance billing tools.

Your practice needs a user-friendly EHR solution. It offers simple, easy-to-use customized forms and interfaces.

• Your practice needs a user-friendly EHR solution. It offers simple, easy-to-use customized forms and interfaces.

What is SimplePractice?

SimplePractice offers features that are beneficial to mental health professionals. They are for those who aim to connect better with their clients and manage their practices effectively. These features include customized forms and client portals, billing services, and others. SimplePractice is available for both small, medium, and large practices.

It offers a secure EHR portal for clients. This promotes easy communication between clients and medical health professionals.

Advantages of SimplePractice

Telehealth Integration

With SimplePractice, you can connect with your clients online. SimplePractice has a built-in telehealth feature and allows therapists to have video sessions. It also offers clear video quality for its users.

Billing Process

SimplePractice provides features to make payment and insurance billing processes easy. Clients can process their payments without hassles. It makes it possible for mental health practitioners to track payments. This feature enables therapists to create faster financial reports for their private practices.

Advanced Customization

SimplePractice offers a more customized portal design and platform. Its billing tool is more advanced and appealing to its users.

Disadvantages of SimplePractice

There are limits to the number of clients, storage, and extra user accounts you can have with SimplePractice. These services depend on your subscription plan. As a mental health therapist, if you need more features than your subscription plan, you’ll need to pay extra charges.

Challenges with Transitioning

New users might find it demanding to move from an old EHR to SimplePractice. Unlike Sessions Health, SimplePractice does not provide this personalized support to its users. SimplePractice does not have direct customer service support for moving from one EHRs to their own. Individuals who are not tech-savvy and need to save time might find it a bit difficult.

High Cost

SimplePractice often increases in fees with their added features. The price of SimplePractice is expensive, especially for therapists starting new practices. The SimplePractice reviews that are most common include users who enjoy the services. But, after a while, the users begin to complain about the cost. These users sometimes end up seeking more affordable EHRs to cater to their private practice. Some users operating smaller practices tend to opt for another EHR platform till the practice grows to a larger one.

Complexity for New Users

SimplePractice has a comprehensive customized interface and advanced features. This causes new users or solo practitioners to spend more time learning and adapting to the EHR system.

Availability of Limited Customer Support

In contrast with Sessions Health, SimplePractice users get a slower response from customer support. Some users complained of delayed responses from the support team.

Key Differences Between Sessions Health and SimplePractice

The key differences between Sessions Health and SimplePractice include:

SimplePractice has monthly fees ranging from $29 to $99+. Sessions Health charges one single fee of $39 per month.

• SimplePractice has monthly fees ranging from $29 to $99+. Sessions Health charges one single fee of $39 per month.

Although SimplePractice has a more aesthetically appealing and advanced design interface, Sessions health’s design interface is more basic and user-friendly. SimplePractice also has more modern features like website builders and marketing.

• Although SimplePractice has a more aesthetically appealing and advanced design interface, Sessions health’s design interface is more basic and user-friendly. SimplePractice also has more modern features like website builders and marketing.

Sessions Health is more expensive and most suitable for large practices. While Sessions Health has a lower price and is very affordable for solo practitioners, small and large practices.

• Sessions Health is more expensive and most suitable for large practices. While Sessions Health has a lower price and is very affordable for solo practitioners, small and large practices.

As a practice management software solution, SimplePractice offers Group telehealth and supports up to 16 participants. These participants include the clinician who will subscribe to the Plus plan. This telehealth feature comes at an additional fee of $15 per month. But, Sessions Health gives room for only 4 participants which includes the clinician. This integrated group telehealth health cost $10 a month per clinician.

• As a practice management software solution, SimplePractice offers Group telehealth and supports up to 16 participants. These participants include the clinician who will subscribe to the Plus plan. This telehealth feature comes at an additional fee of $15 per month. But, Sessions Health gives room for only 4 participants which includes the clinician. This integrated group telehealth health cost $10 a month per clinician.

Unlike SimplePractice, Sessions Health does not offer electronic prescriptions.

• Unlike SimplePractice, Sessions Health does not offer electronic prescriptions.

Features Comparisons for Sessions Health and SimplePractice

Conclusion

Sessions Health and SimplePractice are reliable EHR systems. They have features that can help to grow your practice. This post has provided you with comparable information about the two platforms.

Therapists with larger practices who need customized portal designs can go for SimplePractice. Sessions Health will be more suitable if you are looking for similar features at an affordable price. Your decision between the two platforms depends on practice requirements and personal preferences.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are Sessions Health and SimplePractice HIPAA-Compliant?

Yes, Sessions Health and SimplePractice follow HIPAA regulations. The platform ensures they follow the security measures required by HIPAA. This provides secure data and privacy for clients.

How Long are the Free Trials for Sessions Health and SimplePractice?

Both Sessions Health and SimplePractice have a 30-day free trial. You can test the software to know which aligns with your practice needs.

Can I Use Sessions Health to Process Credit Card Payments?

Yes. Sessions Health connects with Stripe to help with processing payments and refunds. Stripe adds $0.30 to each transaction fee of 2.9%. You can set up autopay with the client's card information to process payments and refunds.

How Does Online Payment with Simple Practice Work?

With SimplePractice seamless online payment system, you can process all major credit, debit, FSA, and HSA cards at a rate of 3.15% + $0.30. This payment will be deducted after every successful transaction.

Can I Refund Clients Through Simple Practice?

SimplePractice has now made it easy to refund clients so, you no longer have to add negative payments as a refund. On your client’s billing page, the refunded payments will be listed as an adjustment. You can check for their “Refunding a Client” menu option for more information.

What Can I Do If I Cancel My Account on Sessions Health by Accident?

Sessions Health offers a feature that prevents the loss of data by mistake. If you cancel your account, you have the chance to reopen your account. You can log in to your account, open settings, and click on reopen my account under the danger zone.

Does Sessions Health and SimplePractice have a Business Associate Agreement (BAA)?

Yes. Both EHR platforms have a Business Associate Agreement. The Business associate agreements are a requirement that has to be strictly met following the HIPAA Privacy Rule. It is a legal written agreement to protect clients medical information. You can check it, and you agree on it when you sign up for the free trial.

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