SimplePractice New Client Intake Scheduling

A first call is really a fit question

Someone calling a therapy practice for the first time rarely asks for a specific appointment. They say things like "my daughter has been having panic attacks" or "my wife and I keep having the same fight" or "I think I need someone who understands ADHD." Turning that into a booked intake means working out who the client is, what kind of clinician fits, how they will pay, and when they can come in.

In most practices that work falls on one coordinator, between everything else. When the coordinator is on another line, the new caller goes to voicemail, and the fit conversation turns into several rounds of phone tag.

The intake questions Katie asks

You decide the question list. A typical set for a SimplePractice therapy group looks like this:

• Who the appointment is for, their age, and the caller's relationship to them
• What they are looking for help with, in the caller's own words
• Insurance carrier and member details, or self-pay
• In-person, telehealth, or either, and which office if you have several
• Days and times that work, including before and after school or work
• Preferences about the clinician, such as gender, faith background, language or a specific name
• For telehealth, the state the client will be in during sessions

Capturing the concern without assessing it

Katie writes down the presenting concern exactly as the caller describes it. She does not diagnose, screen, decide on a level of care, or tell anyone they are a good or poor fit. If a caller describes something your practice does not treat, such as an eating disorder needing a higher level of care, that judgment belongs to a clinician reading the summary, not to the receptionist.

If a caller describes a safety concern during intake, Katie switches to the escalation rules your clinicians set, and the summary is marked urgent.

From summary to the first session

The structured summary hands your coordinator a complete picture: who called, why, what they need and how urgent it is, plus every matching detail above. When your matching rules point to a clinician with an opening, Katie books the intake visit type directly into SimplePractice during the call, and the new client information she gathered is captured for SimplePractice intake. Cases your rules hold for review go to the coordinator to match instead. Either way, staff send intake documents the way they already do, and MedReception AI is live with practices on SimplePractice, so this becomes the front half of a routine your team knows well.

Your practice also decides which visit types exist and how long they run. An initial assessment that takes longer than an ongoing session, or a separate psychiatric evaluation, is defined once and applied consistently.