How and Why Group Practices Are Switching EHR Systems

November 14, 2023

A female group practice owner smiles into the camera, upon successfully switching EHR systems.

Electronic health record (EHR) systems can save wellness practitioners and therapists time by helping to streamline and automate administrative tasks. Choosing the right EHR system for your needs is important.

But, what if you realize your current EHR and practice management system does not have all the functionalities you need to run your business? You may want to consider switching EHR systems.

Changing EHR systems, including transferring data from one EHR to another, may seem like it will be time-consuming and difficult, but it doesn’t have to be.

As the founder and director of a group practice called Wasatch Family Therapy, counselor Julie Hanks, PhD, LCSW, may be one of the busiest private practitioners out there.

Hanks is an author, relationship expert, media contributor, blogger, speaker, performing songwriter, college professor, and licensed therapist—with more than 28 years of experience counseling women, couples, and families.

Hanks’ outdated EHR system could no longer keep up with her thriving professional commitments. Pretty soon, Hanks came to the conclusion that switching EHR systems that could accommodate her needs, far outweighed the daunting prospect of learning a new EHR system and the administrative burden associated with switching.

She knew she needed to focus on switching EHRs, and she needed to make an EHR transition plan quickly.

In this article, learn more about Hanks’ experience switching EHR systems as a group practice owner.

The backend work of running an organized, efficient group practice

Guiding clients through the therapy process and seeing them make progress brings joy to most therapists in private practice.

However, for practitioners like Hanks, who are running group therapy practices, there are lots of organizational and administrative tasks going on behind the scenes that are crucial to running an efficient and organized business.

Finding and using the right EHR and practice management software is essential, but it’s not always easy to sort out which practice management system is going to work best for you.

Switching EHR systems can seem daunting—especially for those practitioners, like Hanks, who juggle the responsibility of running a group practice and maintaining a full client workload.

According to Hanks, her practice was in need of a change.

“There are a wide variety of EHR features that are incredibly important for my practice—like easy and immediate reporting options, an online scheduler, integrated credit card billing, and a great client portal,” she said.

Hanks’ group practice had been using an EHR for three years that, despite having some great clinical features, lacked reporting options that were conducive to evaluating clients and the health of her practice as a whole.

Alas, her group practice needed an EHR upgrade.

If you think your practice is due for an upgrade too, download our EHR Core Functionality Checklist for free.

How one group practice approached switching EHRs to SimplePractice

Hanks’ team at Wasatch Family Therapy completed the process of switching EHRs to SimplePractice.

After reviewing the other options out there, SimplePractice was the most innovative practice management software she could find that would meet her group practice’s needs.

In case you’re also fed up with your current EHR and considering switching EHR systems, Hanks shared her experience switching EHRs to SimplePractice.

It’s important to remember that no matter how great the software is, transitioning a group practice to a new system comes with its own set of challenges.

Hanks’ team experienced a lot of anxiety prior to switching to SimplePractice—as is to be expected since an EHR is an integral part of any practice, both from a clinical and business standpoint.

And the unknown factors—the possibility of errors that might impact their business and livelihoods—were daunting.

According to Hanks, a few weeks before the target date for switching EHRs, she sent all of her team members their login information so they could get familiar with SimplePractice by testing out the platform, creating test clients, using the calendar, and exploring the clinical notes.

“I asked them to jot down all of their questions and any difficulties they had navigating the software,” Hanks said. “Then, they could send their feedback to me and my office manager, Brittany.”

Hanks explained that Brittany watched the SimplePractice training videos in preparation for switching EHRs. She also went through all of the administrative options, inputted all of their therapists, and customized the auto-responders and invoices.

Hanks’ team held two hour-long training sessions during their regularly scheduled team meetings to walk everyone through the SimplePractice platform. Each clinician brought their laptops or smartphones, so they could follow along on their own devices.

Brittany guided everyone through scheduling a client, writing notes, syncing with Google Calendar, and more.

Hanks also asked the team to explore and play around with the SimplePractice client app.

“During these training sessions, I noticed something ironic—our tendency to want to complicate SimplePractice,” Hanks said. “It wasn’t long before therapists started requesting a variety of clinical notes and forms.”

Hanks’ clinical director, Mike, did a great job of vetting the suggestions by saying, “You have to make a really good case for me to add anything to SimplePractice.”

When embarking on the process of switching EHR systems, it’s important to question why we approach things the way we do.

Sometimes getting to the better way of doing things takes some time and adjustment, and that’s OK.

Challenges transitioning to a new EHR

The main problems Hanks’ team experienced during the process of switching EHR systems were actually caused by their old practice management platform.

For example, their previous payment portal didn’t require CVC codes, and they soon realized that they couldn’t run any of their clients’ credit cards.

They had to ask every client for their CVC code, or had to manually input their credit card information via the client portal.

Having to deal with these inefficiencies from their previous practice management software system only reinforced their decision to upgrade to SimplePractice.

What Hanks’ group practice loves about SimplePractice

“From my group practice clinicians’ point of view, SimplePractice is very user-friendly,” says Hanks. “They’ve mentioned that the simple intake and clinical note forms take a lot less time to complete now.”

From an office manager’s vantage point, SimplePractice makes accepting and running clients’ credit cards a breeze.

The seamless integration with Stripe payment processing significantly reduces the time and effort it takes to process credit card payments.

Hanks’ team also loves the automated messaging feature that instantly gives new clients access to both the SimplePractice client portal and new client forms.

As the owner and executive director of a group therapy practice, Hanks appreciates how easily she can access financial reports to see if her practice is meeting their financial goals.

“Now I have the insight and information I need at the touch of a button,” she said.After just one month of using SimplePractice, Hanks knew she made the right decision for her group practice in switching EHR systems.

Meet the team that helps onboard your group practice

Group practice team members work together to make switching EHR systems seamless. Both team members have their computers open as they learn how to use SimplePractice, they're helping each other switch EHRs.

You have important practice information and sensitive client data to bring to a new platform, so you want to make sure it’s done right.

The SimplePractice Switching Team helps you make a smooth and painless transition.

The main concern for many practitioners is migrating their client data.

Luckily, with SimplePractice, the intuitive process allows you to upload all of your client data in just four easy steps. Plus, the Switching Team will be by your side providing detailed instructions and personally guiding you through the uploading process.

To switch your client data to SimplePractice, follow this EHR implementation checklist:

Export your client data from your previous EHR with our export instructions
Upload client data by using our switching template
Send a Mass Document Request to your clients with the click of a button
Start using your pre-populated account

In addition to our Switching Team, you’ll also have the support of SimplePractice’s top-rated Customer Success team who are available to help you every step of the way.

Make the switch today.

How SimplePractice makes it easier to run your group practice

SimplePractice is practice management software that includes everything you need to run your group practice—from booking and scheduling to insurance and client billing.

Your group practice clinicians can streamline all of their client engagement—like scheduling and payments—using the client portal.

Plus, SimplePractice keeps your group therapy practice efficient by offering your clinicians a robust template library of customizable notes and documentation. And, your clinicians can speed up their documentation process by loading any notes they took from a previous session.