Switching guide
Switching from SimplePractice, without losing your records or your week
SimplePractice is the most widely used practice-management platform in therapy, and plenty of practices are well served by it. The ones that switch usually name a specific reason — consolidating add-ons, a pricing review, wanting documentation help built in, or simply wanting a change — and then stall on the same obstacle: years of client records living in the old system.
This guide is the honest version of that move. It has two halves: SimplePractice's own export tools, which are theirs and work the way they decide, and Practice Harbor's importer, which reads that export and rebuilds your charts. We can vouch precisely for the second half; for the first half the honest advice is always the same — export early, and check your export contents.
Step 1: Get your data out of SimplePractice
SimplePractice provides a data export you can request from your account settings. What it contains depends on your plan and settings, so open the download and check it — exports we have worked with include client contact files plus PDF copies of progress notes, treatment plans, questionnaires, invoices, insurance claims, and uploaded documents.Two rules of thumb:
- Export while your subscription is active. Confirm with SimplePractice what, if anything, you can retrieve after you cancel — the safe assumption is that you can't.
- Keep a complete copy for your records, independent of any migration. Your records-retention obligations outlive any software subscription.
Step 2: What the importer reads from that export
In Practice Harbor, go to Settings → EHR Import, choose SimplePractice, and add the export zip (password-protected zips are fine — recommended, even) plus the Client details and Client demographics reports. A person on our team runs the import, usually within one to three business days, and it creates:
- Client profiles — name, date of birth, phone, email, and address, with active, inactive, and prospective status, emergency contacts, and demographics from the two reports.
- Chart notes — progress notes and chart notes are parsed from their PDFs into readable notes with the session date, diagnosis, and billing code each note carried. When a PDF cannot be parsed cleanly, the original file is attached to the chart instead, so nothing is silently lost.
- Diagnoses — ICD-10 codes from treatment plans become chart diagnoses on the client's record.
- Treatment plans — parsed into a treatment plan record (presenting problem, goals, frequency, plan) on the chart.
- Insurance basics — where the export includes insurance details, the client gets a coverage entry with the payer name and member ID, and the source file is kept as a document.
- Couples — couples folders become a couple grouping linked to both partners' profiles, with shared files attached there.
- Past appointments — each signed progress note brings in its visit, with the session date, time, and service code, as history on the calendar and the chart.
- Everything else — completed intake forms, signed consents, questionnaires, and uploaded documents are filed as PDFs on the right client's Files tab. Billing documents (claims, invoices, statements, superbills) stay in your export as your billing record.
When the import is in, you review each client side by side, what your export said beside what is now on their chart, before you click Looks good — finish import. If anything is wrong, email us before charting: an import can be undone and run again.
What you re-create by hand
- Services and fee schedule — session types, CPT codes, and your fees.
- Note templates — rebuild the two or three you actually use.
- Future appointments — re-enter them from the list we send you of each client's next session. Past visits are already there as history.
- Invoice and payment history — billing documents and balances don't come over. Keep the 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.
- Consent forms and intake paperwork — set these up before your next new client.
Your first week, day by day
Day 1 — Export from SimplePractice and upload your files
Start a Complete data export in SimplePractice while your account is active, and while it prepares, download the Client details report (all four statuses, with Include Contacts on) and the Client demographics report. Add all three in Practice Harbor under Settings → EHR Import with SimplePractice selected; the page walks you through each step with pictures. A person on our team runs the import, usually within one to three business days, and emails you when your clients are in. Then review each client side by side against your export before you click Looks good — finish import. If anything looks wrong, email us before you start charting: an import can be undone and run again.
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 email and text appointment reminders. Then add upcoming appointments to the calendar from the list we send you of each client’s next session — past visits come over as history, but future appointments are re-entered.
Week 2 — Run both systems in parallel, then cancel
Keep your SimplePractice account available for at least a week or two of real sessions: write notes, send invoices, and run telehealth in the new system while you can still check the old one for anything you missed. Before you cancel, confirm with SimplePractice what you can still export afterward — the safe assumption is nothing — and download a final complete export for your records.
What to watch
The sharp edges, named up front:
- Check the export before you rely on it. SimplePractice's export contents vary by plan and can change; open the zip and confirm your notes and documents are actually in it before you plan the week around it.
- Note parsing depends on the PDFs. Most notes come over as readable chart notes; some arrive as attached PDFs when the text cannot be extracted cleanly. Review a sample of charts after import so you know which form your history took.
- Spot-check the diagnosis list. Chart diagnoses are created from treatment plans. A diagnosis that only ever appeared inside a progress note stays in that note's text — add it to the chart by hand if it is still active.
- Verify insurance details before your first claims. Imported coverage carries the payer name and member ID from the export — confirm subscriber details on each insured client before running eligibility checks or claims.
- Group practices: check each client's clinician. The review screen shows the clinician on every imported client; confirm assignments there before you finish the import, and tell us when you upload if several clinicians share the account.
- Time the switch around your billing cycle. Let in-flight claims and invoices finish in the old system rather than migrating mid-cycle, and keep access until the parallel run is done.
Common questions
Do my progress notes come over as real chart notes, or just PDFs?
Where the exported note PDFs can be read as text, each one becomes a chart note in the client’s record with the session date, diagnosis, and billing code the note carried. Where a note cannot be parsed cleanly, the original PDF is attached to the chart instead, so nothing is silently lost. Either way your documentation ends up on the right client’s chart — review a sample after import to see which form each note took. Notes you marked as psychotherapy notes in SimplePractice are left out by default and stay in your export, because we don’t keep psychotherapy notes separately from the chart yet.
What does the SimplePractice export actually include?
That is SimplePractice’s side of the fence, and it depends on your plan and settings — check your export contents rather than assuming. Exports we have worked with include client contact files plus PDF copies of progress notes, treatment plans, questionnaires, invoices, insurance claims, and uploaded documents. Export while your subscription is active, and keep a full copy for your records regardless of where you land.
What happens to my calendar, payment history, and saved cards?
Past visits come over as appointment history: each signed progress note brings in its visit, with the session date, time, and service code. Future appointments are re-entered, from a list we send you of each client’s next session. Billing documents (claims, invoices, statements, and superbills) are not imported; your SimplePractice export stays your billing record. Saved payment cards never transfer between systems, so plan to collect card details again through the portal or at the next session.
Can I undo an import if something looks wrong?
Yes. When your import is in, Settings → EHR Import shows every client with what your export said beside what is now on their chart, and nothing is final until you click Looks good — finish import. If something is off, email us before you start charting on the imported clients: the import can be undone and run again.
My export looks different, or it is very large — what then?
Upload it anyway. A person on our team runs every import, free, checks your files against each other before anything is created, and confirms when your clients are in, and large exports are handled the same way. Export formats vary by plan and change over time; if yours does not match what the import page expects, email support@practiceharbor.com.
SimplePractice is a registered trademark of its owner; Practice Harbor is not affiliated with SimplePractice. Their export tools are theirs and can change — this guide describes the Practice Harbor importer as built, and deliberately makes no promises on SimplePractice's behalf. When in doubt, check your export contents.
Export your data, upload it, and a person on our team rebuilds your charts, free, usually within one to three business days.
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