Switching guide
Switching from Sessions Health, without losing your records or your week
Sessions Health is a lean, well-liked EHR, and if it is working for you, staying is a fine decision. Practices that do switch usually name one of a few reasons: they want documentation help built in rather than sold separately, they want scheduling, telehealth, billing, and notes under one login, or their needs changed — a group practice forming, insurance billing becoming a bigger part of the week. Whatever the reason, the thing that keeps most people from moving is not the new system. It is the migration.
This guide is the honest version of that migration: exactly what Practice Harbor's Sessions Health importer moves for you, what you rebuild by hand, and a day-by-day plan for the first week. Practice Harbor has a working, purpose-built importer for the Sessions Health export format — this page describes what it actually does, not what a sales page wishes it did.
What moves automatically
Start in Sessions Health: go to Account Settings → Data Exports, click + Add, and generate an All Clients export — leave the "combined" option unchecked so each note exports as its own file. Download the zip, then upload it in Practice Harbor under Settings → EHR Import.The importer reads the export and creates:
- Client profiles — name, date of birth, sex, email, phone, mailing address, and active/inactive status for every client in your export.
- Diagnoses — ICD-10 codes from your export become chart diagnoses on each client's record.
- Insurance basics — where your export includes a payer name and member ID, the client gets a coverage entry with that payer and member ID, ready to check eligibility against.
- Contacts — emergency contacts and family contacts come over with their relationship, and a contact marked as the billing contact is set as the responsible party on the client's billing account.
- Progress notes — each individually exported note PDF becomes a readable chart note (session date, title, note text, and the note's diagnoses), and the original PDF stays attached to the chart as a document. Nothing is retyped and nothing is discarded.
- Treatment plans — plan PDFs are parsed into a draft treatment plan (presenting problems, goals, objectives, interventions, frequency) linked to the client's imported diagnoses, with the original PDF attached. Plans arrive as drafts on purpose: you review and sign each one as your own.
- Everything else in the export — billing PDFs, uploaded documents, and treatment summaries are filed as documents on the right client's chart.
Two safety nets sit underneath all of this. First, a review screen: after the import runs, you see each client side by side with your export file — demographics, diagnoses, insurance, contacts, and file counts — and finish the import only when it looks right. Second, one-click undo: every imported record is tagged to the import batch, so undo removes exactly what the import created. Re-running is safe too — the importer skips anything already in place, so an interrupted import heals by running again.
What you re-create by hand
No EHR export carries everything, and it is better to know the gaps before you start than to discover them in week two:
- Services and fee schedule — session types, CPT codes, and your fees.
- Note templates — rebuild the two or three you actually use.
- Calendar and appointment history — the export has no structured appointment data, so your calendar starts fresh from the switch date.
- Invoice and payment history — billing records arrive as PDFs on each chart, not as live invoices. Keep a final export for your books.
- Client portal invitations — clients get a fresh invite to the new portal.
- Cards on file — saved payment cards do not transfer between systems; plan to collect card details again at the next session or through the portal.
- Consent forms and intake paperwork — set these up before your next new client.
Your first week, day by day
Day 1 — Import your clients and verify the roster
Export your data from Sessions Health (an "All Clients" export with the combined option unchecked), then upload the zip in Practice Harbor under Settings → EHR Import. The importer creates your client profiles, diagnoses, insurance basics, contacts, notes, and documents, then shows a side-by-side review screen. Compare each client against your export, spot-check a few charts, and click "Looks good — finish import" — or undo the whole batch with one click.
Day 2 — Set up your services and fees
Fee schedules do not travel in any EHR export, so recreate your service list by hand: session types, CPT codes, durations, and your fee for each. Have your old fee schedule open in one window and enter it in the other — for most solo practices this is under an hour.
Day 3 — Rebuild note templates and consent forms
Recreate the note templates you actually use (most therapists use two or three), and set up your intake paperwork and consent forms so new clients can e-sign. Your historical notes are already in each chart from Day 1 — this step is about the notes you will write next week.
Day 4 — Connect payment processing and run a test invoice
Connect your payment processing, then create and immediately delete or void a test invoice for a test client so you have seen the full charge flow before a real client needs it. Saved cards do not transfer between systems, so plan to collect card details again — at the next session or through the client portal.
Day 5 — Turn on telehealth and appointment reminders
Run a test telehealth session by joining from your own phone as the client, and configure appointment reminders. Then add next week’s appointments to the calendar — appointment history does not travel in the export, so your calendar starts fresh from the switch date.
Week 2 — Run both systems in parallel, then cancel
Keep your Sessions Health account open in read-only fashion for at least a week or two of real sessions: write notes, send invoices, and run telehealth in Practice Harbor while you still can check the old system for anything you missed. Only cancel the old subscription after a full billing cycle has gone through cleanly and you have downloaded a final export for your records.
What to watch
An honest list of the sharp edges, so none of them surprises you:
- Export notes individually. If the "combined" option was checked when you exported, notes arrive as one merged PDF document per client instead of individual chart notes. Re-export with it unchecked and run the import again — already-imported records are skipped, so nothing duplicates.
- Imported diagnoses are dated on migration day. Sessions Health exports do not carry the original diagnosis date, so imported diagnoses show your import date. The original dates remain visible in the attached note PDFs.
- Verify insurance details before your first claims. Imported coverage assumes the client is their own subscriber (the export does not say otherwise). For clients covered under a partner's or parent's plan, correct the subscriber before running eligibility checks or claims.
- Treatment plans arrive as drafts. Review and sign each one — a migrated plan is not a signed plan until you make it yours.
- Couples files come over as documents. Shared couples notes do not belong to one person's chart, so files from a couples folder are copied to each partner's chart as documents rather than chart notes.
- Group practices: coordinate first. A self-serve import files everything under the uploading clinician. If several clinicians share the account, contact support before importing so each clinician's clients land under the right person.
- Keep the old system until the parallel run is done. Do not cancel Sessions Health until you have verified a full week or two of real work in the new system and saved a final export.
Common questions
Do my progress notes come over as real chart notes, or just PDFs?
Both, when you export them individually. Each individually exported note PDF becomes a readable chart note in the client’s record — with the session date, title, note text, and diagnoses — and the original PDF stays attached as a document. If you use the "combined" export option, notes arrive as one merged PDF document instead of individual chart notes, so leave that option unchecked when you export.
What happens to my calendar and payment history?
Sessions Health exports do not include structured appointment or payment data, so those cannot be imported as live records anywhere. Billing PDFs in your export are filed as documents on each client’s chart, and you should download and keep a final copy of your full export for your records. Your calendar starts fresh from your switch date.
Can I undo an import if something looks wrong?
Yes. After the import runs you get a review screen that compares each imported client side by side with your export file. If anything looks off, one click undoes the entire batch — every imported record is tagged so the undo removes exactly what the import created and nothing else. Re-running an import is also safe: it skips anything already in place.
I have a group practice with several clinicians — does that work?
The self-serve import files everything under the clinician who uploads the export. If your Sessions Health account has multiple assigned practitioners, contact support before importing — free import assistance can split the export so each clinician’s clients land under the right person.
What if my export is very large or something fails?
Large exports are handled by free import assistance: upload the same file, and the team runs the import for you and confirms when your clients are in. If you hit anything confusing at any point, email support@practiceharbor.com.
This guide describes the Practice Harbor importer as built and verified against real Sessions Health exports. Sessions Health's own export options are theirs and can change — check your export contents, and keep a final copy of your export regardless of where you land.
Upload your Sessions Health export and see your clients in a side-by-side review — with free import assistance if you want a human to run it with you.
Start free — import included