EHR Integration · Updated October 6, 2026 · 8 min read

SimplePractice Billing: Claim Fees, Time Cost & How to Extend It

SimplePractice is one of the most popular EHRs in behavioral health, and its billing works. The complaint we hear from group practices is rarely that claims fail. It is the time every claim takes, and, as of October 1, 2026, what every claim costs. One group practice owner told us they spend about an hour a night on billing after a full day of sessions. Here is where that time and money go, and what to automate.

What SimplePractice billing does well

SimplePractice covers the core revenue-cycle basics inside one platform: electronic claim submission, superbills, payment tracking, and integrated card processing, alongside the scheduling, notes, and client portal that are the reason most practices choose it. For solo clinicians and small groups with a simple payer mix, it is often all the billing infrastructure needed.

Where the time actually goes

Billing in SimplePractice is not hard. It is a lot of small steps, repeated for every claim. The sequence practices describe to us looks like this:

• The claim. Load it, review it, save it, submit it.
• The copay. Create the invoice, open it, save it, go to payment, open the card on file, charge it.
• The exceptions. Anything rejected, underpaid, or missing information goes back through the loop by hand.

Each step takes seconds. Across hundreds of claims a month they become an evening, and in a group practice that evening usually belongs to the owner or the one part-time admin who is also answering the phones. SimplePractice offers settings that automate parts of this; how much they remove depends on how the practice is set up and on its payer mix.

What SimplePractice now charges per claim

SimplePractice changed its insurance pricing effective October 1, 2026. Claim fees no longer depend on the subscription plan, and the free claims that came with some plans are ending.

From SimplePractice's October 2026 insurance pricing announcement. Plus plan customers keep free coverage checks through March 31, 2027.

Insurance Navigator bundles access to SimplePractice's insurance specialists, automated coverage checks, benefit verification with client cost estimates, a Claim Assistant that suggests corrections for rejected or denied claims, and EOB autofill. At group volume, the per-claim math adds up quickly:

Monthly claim fees before any volume discount. SimplePractice says volume discounts apply, so confirm your actual rate with them.

Why per-claim fees hit Medicaid practices hardest

A per-claim fee scales with volume, not with how hard the claim was. On a $100 reimbursement, a $1.79 fee is 1.8 percent of the claim, before the staff time to submit it and collect the copay. Practices with a large Medicaid panel bill many low-reimbursement claims, so they feel this more than practices billing fewer, larger commercial claims. If your denial rate is already low, much of what you would pay for in a correction tool is a problem you do not have. Your cost is the submission work itself.

Where denials still matter

For practices with complex payer mixes, higher levels of care, or several Medicaid managed care plans, the back end still takes work:

• Denial management. Diagnosing the cause, correcting, and resubmitting. Insurance Navigator's Claim Assistant now suggests corrections, and someone on staff still has to apply them.
• Follow-up on unpaid claims. Aging accounts receivable need consistent chasing that is easy to fall behind on.
• Authorization tracking. For certain payers and services, lapsed authorizations quietly turn into denials.

Extend it, don't replace it

You do not have to leave an EHR your clinicians like. Stable works alongside SimplePractice as your system of record: it checks each claim against payer rules, submits it, and works what comes back, diagnosing the cause of a denial, correcting it, and resubmitting. Your team stops pushing every claim through the same sequence of buttons. That is the model an AI behavioral health billing specialist uses, and AI denial management covers the back end. Weighing your options? See what behavioral health billing costs, AI vs. outsourced billing, and SimplePractice alternatives before switching.

SimplePractice is a trademark of its respective owner. This article is independent commentary and is not affiliated with or endorsed by SimplePractice.

SimplePractice billing at a glance

Based on how the platform is generally positioned and used, and on SimplePractice's October 2026 pricing announcement; verify current capabilities and pricing with the vendor, since products change.

The best patient portal in the category still cannot answer a phone

SimplePractice has the strongest patient-facing experience of any platform on this list. The Client Portal, secure messaging, online booking, and reminders are good, and they are a real reason solo clinicians and small groups stay. The gap is not the portal. It is that every message in it lands on a clinician who is with patients all day.

• Portal messages become clinician homework. In a solo or small group practice there is no front desk to route to. Secure messages accumulate and get answered between sessions or after hours, which is exactly the unpaid administrative time practitioners cite when they burn out.
• Calls go to voicemail by design. A clinician in session cannot answer. Prospective patients calling several practitioners from a directory listing book with whoever picks up, and callbacks the next day frequently arrive after that decision was made.
• Booking still leaks. Online booking works well for patients who find it and use it. Many still call, and insurance questions in particular are almost never resolved through a booking widget.

SimplePractice solved self-service for engaged patients. Stable's AI front desk solves coverage: every call answered 24/7, text and iMessage handled conversationally, insurance verified at booking, and a portal that consolidates what the patient needs, so the clinician stops being the front desk.

More on using an AI receptionist with SimplePractice: every call answered and booked straight onto your SimplePractice calendar.

Frequently asked questions

Comparing options more broadly? See our mental health billing software buyer's guide.