My name is Jennifer, and I am the founder of a small group practice in Cambridge, MA, that specializes in nutrition therapy for eating disorders. My team and I have been striving to provide quality care to our community despite the high costs we face amidst declining reimbursement rates. What makes our effort more challenging is the new and unusual $20 fee per clinician for CPT code usage in SimplePractice, our Electronic Medical Records system. 

This unexpected fee, which most (if any) of the other software providers don't charge, is related to the licensing agreements with the American Medical Association (AMA) who owns the rights to CPT codes. However, the fact that there is other software offering uncharged services hints that more justifiable and affordable arrangements can be pursued. 

SimplePractice users were notified of this fee on August 19th, 2024. In their email notification, they stated "The fee for 2024 will be charged on your December 2024 invoicing date". However, users never agreed to any additional charge for this "service" that was delivered for January through August of 2024. Even if the fee is valid, they can, and should, offer a goodwill to their users by prorating this fee. This fact leaves many users of SimplePractice to question the transparency of the company, and wonder what other ways they will charge fees to their users without consent or adequate notice. 

As clinicians who choose to take insurance and provide equitable care to our communities, we have no other choice but to use CPT codes for our claims and billing. CPT codes are a requirement by all insurance companies for claims filing, and the only way to avoid the fee for usage rights of CPT codes is to not credential with insurance companies. This is not a choice for many providers, and begs the larger question of how our healthcare system has been monopolized by the AMA. While fixing this problem is not easy, SimplePractice has decided to cash in on this issue, instead of lobby against the AMA, and created the CPT code fee to pass the burden on to their customers. 

This additional fee burdens many clinicians like us, especially those in smaller practices or just starting. The challenge of providing care to our community is exacerbated by the declining reimbursement rates we face, leaving us to struggle in sustaining our practices in a tumultuous economy, and the crisis we face as corporations increase prices on common and basic goods. 

Lastly, SimplePractice is aware that leaving their service to use a new Electronic Medical Records system is a huge, overwhelming, costly, and burdensome undertaking. They know that their users cannot easily make a choice to switch to a new software. This fact feels like they are taking advantage of their customers and charging fees where no other software has done so, without consideration of how this change may affect users, and business budgets and financial planning.

Now, we call upon our fellow clinicians, practices, and industry representatives to ask SimplePractice to reconsider this new fee. We believe in affordable health care, and this begins by cutting unwarranted costs and promoting transparency in software pricing. We must also work with our legislators to address the monopolization of healthcare coding by the AMA, but here is a good place to start. 

Sign this petition and help us continue providing affordable, high-quality healthcare, and request transparency and fair pricing for the services we pay for, including not adding new pricing for CPT code usage.