Electronic health record (EHR) systems are critical for securely storing patient health information and providing continuity of care.
Most healthcare practitioners recognize this, but there’s one major problem: Many EHR platforms just aren’t built for the specific needs of modern private practices.
Rather, many of the available solutions are clunky, outdated, and built for large enterprises. They also tend to be far too expensive to fit within a private practice’s budget.
This article reviews the five best EHRs for private practices and dives into the key features of each one. Read on to see why these platforms are ideal for modern practice management and find the one that’s right for you.
Practice Better is an all-in-one EHR for holistic healthcare practitioners. It helps a wide range of practitioners—including mental health professionals, dietitians, and chiropractors—improve client engagement and more effectively manage their private practices.
A few of Practice Better’s top usability features include:
Practice Better’s focus on holistic wellness, modern client engagement tools, and helpful automation functionality make it an ideal choice for independent practices looking to provide a more comprehensive, client-centered experience.
Check out Practice Better’s pricing plans, which start at just $25 a month.
SimplePractice is an EHR and practice management software for a wide range of healthcare professionals, including social workers, massage therapists, and psychiatrists. It’s used by small group and solo practices.
Some of SimplePractice's best features include:
SimplePractice’s all-in-one approach integrates calendar syncs, billing services, and patient documentation, making it a good fit for solo practitioners who need a single plug-and-play solution.
As one Trustpilot reviewer notes: “I’ve been using SimplePractice for 3 years. First at a group practice, and now at my solo private practice. I really enjoy the documentation features … The Wiley treatment planning feature and Google Calendar sync are game-changers for me!”
Unfortunately, these popular features aren’t part of the basic plan, meaning users will need to upgrade to the $99-a-month Plus plan to access them.
As another reviewer on G2 explains: “Too expensive … You don’t get the full basics, which would be an appointment calendar that syncs and a private portal for communication and billing for direct payments.”
See how SimplePractice stacks up against Practice Better.
Kareo bills itself as “purpose-built for the unique needs of independent practices.”
It combines electronic health records (EHR), practice management, billing, and patient engagement tools into a single system. It is especially useful for private practices that require more sophisticated financial tools for managing insurance claims but don’t need the overkill of a built-for-hospital EHR.
Unfortunately, Kareo falls short in a couple of key areas, most notably in its customer support. One reviewer on Trustpilot explained their experience trying to access support:
“Customer Service is non-existent. I have not been able to prescribe medications for over 2 months. Have spent hours, average wait time to speak to a human is 40 minutes, trying to resolve this issue without success. Never have received a call back from customer service or even an email despite numerous promises to get situation resolved.”
TherapyNotes is a well-regarded EHR, especially in the mental health arena.
It offers tailored documentation and note-taking tools, secure telehealth, basic scheduling capabilities, and integrated payment processing.
One reviewer on Software Advice comments on the platform’s note-taking abilities, “Writing case notes was something that used to take a long time and required me to create a whole new note every time. Thanks to TherapyNotes I can create and reuse a template to save time and make notes more organized and easy to read.”
However, compared to other solutions, TherapyNotes doesn’t offer a lot in terms of resources like intake forms. As another review notes, “Compared to SimplePractice, Therapy Notes resources for clinicians is null. I would say that has been the most disappointing as the only forms provided are for the demographics and any other forms must be created and uploaded by the clinician.”
DrChrono is known as one of the most flexible EHRs around. It’s highly customizable with a wide range of adjustable templates and an open API (application programming interface) for integrating with a practice’s existing software tech stack.
The platform is also renowned for its mobile-friendliness. It offers intuitive apps for mobile devices like smartphones and templates and even has a dedicated desktop app for newer Apple Mac devices.
DrChrono is also super strong on community resources. As one user notes in their GetApp review, “I love the ability to take templates that other users have created and then edit off of those.”
When choosing among the five cloud-based EHR software platforms discussed above, it’s important to conduct a thorough assessment of the features they offer.
Here are nine critical features to prioritize when considering an EHR solution:
The core differences between EMRs and EHRs are what they contain and who they’re used by.
EMR stands for electronic medical record. It’s a digital version of a patient’s chart that is specifically for one practice or provider.
EHR, on the other hand, stands for electronic health record. It is a broader, more comprehensive record of a patient’s health history designed to be shared across different healthcare providers and organizations.
EMRs are mainly used within a single practice to track a patient’s care over time, manage diagnoses and treatments, and store information such as prescriptions or test results. They are not typically designed for sharing outside the originating clinic.
EHRs are intended to provide care coordination by enabling authorized providers to access a more comprehensive record of health data, including records from various providers (such as specialists, labs, and the patient’s primary care provider). They are designed to be interoperable, allowing them to be securely shared across healthcare providers.
Why is it exactly that a private practice might not find enterprise-facing EHR platforms suitable? There are five reasons:
Private practices tend to have tighter budgets. They need an EHR system with an affordable pricing structure and flexible subscription options.
Many legacy systems don’t fit this criteria. Moreover, these tools often come prepackaged with complex features that don’t meet private practices’ needs. This means users end up paying for something they don’t require.
Private practices tend to have smaller, leaner teams. They need an EHR system that can help them reduce administrative burden, as they don’t typically have a large admin staff in the first place.
They also need a solution that is intuitive, easy to learn, and can integrate many common functions, such as scheduling, billing, and telemedicine, into a unified platform.
Many private practices offer specialized care, meaning they might want to employ an EHR with templates tailored to their specific areas, such as mental health or physical therapy.
They also often have specific documentation needs, such as progress tracking for physical therapy, which generic, non-specialized EHRs may not be able to handle well.
The client experience is often priority number one for private practitioners. In light of this, they may look toward EHRs that come with helpful, user-friendly client portals and tools like self-scheduling and secure messaging.
These features are less likely to be included in the outdated, clunky systems that large-scale healthcare providers use.
Unlike large corporations, private practices don’t typically have staff dedicated to meeting HIPAA compliance standards.
As such, they generally need EHRs that help them maintain compliance without excessive complexity.
There are plenty of usable EHRs out there, but only Practice Better is built to fit the needs of modern, holistic health and wellness practitioners.
Practice Better’s customizable client portal, health-tracking capabilities, and top-notch customer support make it the best EHR for private practices looking to elevate client care and streamline workflows.
Thinking of jumping ship? Learn about painlessly switching your EHR to Practice Better, or dive right in and register for Practice Better today.
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