We often hear from clinicians who are juggling insurance panels, documentation requirements, scheduling, and billing while also holding clinical work with care. The administrative load can quietly start to erode your energy and your confidence, especially if you are preparing for full licensure or trying to stabilize your income.
Migrating legacy processes into an EHR like Simple Practice is less about becoming tech savvy and more about building a system that supports your clinical work and your autonomy. The following outlines a practical, therapist-tested approach.
Before opening your EHR and clicking around, it helps to name what you are actually migrating. Common legacy processes we see for therapists include:
None of these means you are doing it wrong. They usually mean your practice evolved faster than your systems did.
Before setting anything up in Simple Practice or another EHR, pause and map how things actually work right now. Grab a piece of paper or a blank document and walk through:
This step matters. If you skip it, you risk recreating clutter inside your EHR instead of reducing it.
Tip for therapists accepting insurance: Make a note of where you verify benefits, track authorizations, and follow up on unpaid claims. These steps often live outside the EHR at first and need intentional integration.
Step 2: Decide What Belongs in Your EHR and What Does Not
Your EHR should be the home for clinical and billing workflows, but it does not need to hold everything. In Simple Practice, most therapists benefit from keeping:
You may still choose external tools for things like general accounting, personal task management, or team communication. At Coastline Counseling Association, we often help members decide what to migrate fully versus and what to link loosely so the system stays usable and not overwhelming.
This is where many therapists get stuck. If every note is structured differently, every intake asks different questions, or every insurance workflow lives in someone’s memory, then automation will only amplify the chaos. Before turning on features, take time to:
This step makes insurance credentialing, audits, and transitions to independence much smoother.
You do not need a single “switch flip” day. A phased approach often looks like:
Be mindful of record retention requirements and encourage clients to complete new digital forms rather than trying to recreate old paperwork perfectly. This is also a good moment to review compliance basics and confirm details with your licensure board and payers.
Insurance is often where sticky notes multiply. Inside an EHR, your goal is to externalize what you currently track in your head:
Many therapists choose to pair Simple Practice with full billing services, so they are not spending evenings chasing claims. At CCA, members work with a dedicated biller while retaining full ownership of their practice and payer contracts.
System changes are stressful, even when they are helpful. It is normal to feel slower at first or to worry you are “doing it wrong.” This is where community and consultation matter. Consultation groups, peer support, and founder check-ins can help you check what is required versus what is optional. They also prevent overbuilding systems that do not actually support your clinical values.
Migrating from sticky notes to systems is not about perfection. It is about reclaiming mental space and building a practice that can grow without burning you out. Concrete next steps include:
If you are starting a private practice in Washington or streamlining an existing one, you do not have to figure this out in isolation.
Ready to build a supported, independent practice in Washington? Apply to join Coastline Counseling Association or contact us with questions.