What does my software stack really cost me per month?
More than most owners guess. When I add everything up for a solo practice, the total often lands somewhere in the range of a couple hundred dollars a month, and group practices with per-seat pricing can run several times that. Treat those as rough ranges and check them against your own statements, because software pricing changes often and every practice builds a different stack.
Here is what usually shows up. The EHR base subscription, plus whatever tier upgrade got added for a feature you needed once. A telehealth add-on, or a separate video platform. Appointment reminders and scheduling, sometimes billed on their own even when the EHR already offers them. An AI note-taking tool. Secure email, e-fax, a business phone line, cloud storage, website hosting, a domain renewal. Directory listings. Professional memberships and CE subscriptions. Accounting software. Every one of those feels too small to worry about on its own, and that is exactly why the total sneaks up on you.
Card processing is the one that hides best, because the fee comes out of your deposits instead of arriving as a bill you look at. Rates commonly land somewhere around the mid-2 to 3 percent range plus a small per-transaction charge, so a practice collecting fifteen thousand dollars a month can be paying a few hundred in fees without ever seeing a line item on a credit card statement. Pull your processor’s monthly statement and confirm what you are actually being charged.
The rest of the number hides for simple reasons. Charges hit on different days, on different cards, and the annual renewals disappear from your awareness for eleven months at a stretch. In QuickBooks I set up a clear category for software and subscriptions, sometimes with a second one for directories and advertising so the two do not blur together, and I code every recurring charge there the same way each month. After that, your profit and loss shows the whole stack on one line, and a twelve-month view gives you a real annual figure. Practices that add bill payment get one more benefit, which is that I see renewals coming before they post.
Once a year, sit with those twelve months and ask three things about each item. Am I still using this? Am I on a tier I actually need? Am I paying twice for the same function? The duplicates I run into most are telehealth inside the EHR alongside a standalone video subscription, scheduling running in two places, two note tools, and a directory listing that kept renewing long after the referrals from it dried up. If you have associates, note which subscriptions are per seat, because those belong in your thinking about what the next clinician really costs.
Bookkeeping for mental health professionals is most of what I do, and this is one of the quieter wins that comes with it. If you would like a clear picture of what your practice is spending every month, book a consultation with me and we will take a look together.
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More Questions
Why don't my SimplePractice deposits match my session income?
Your platform pays out after processing fees come off the top, and it batches those payouts on the processor's schedule rather than one per session. That means the bank will never match your session ledger on its own. Good books record the gross revenue and the fees separately so both numbers are real.
Read answerDoes keeping my office make financial sense versus staying telehealth?
This is arithmetic your books can settle. Add up the true all-in monthly cost of the office, divide it by the sessions you actually held in that room, and compare that to what the in-person work brings in.
Read answerPrivate-pay and insurance money arrive on completely different rhythms. How do the books keep that straight?
Card payments usually land in a couple of business days while insurance remittances take weeks, so any month's deposits are a mix of recent sessions and older claims. Clean books date revenue consistently, separate the payer streams, and break lump deposits back into their pieces so you can tell a slow payment week from a slow month of work.
Read answerHow much should I set aside from each payment so taxes never surprise me?
Common guidance runs 25 to 30 percent of profit, and your tax preparer should confirm the right figure for your situation. The percentage applies to profit rather than to the full deposit, so knowing your real profit number is what makes the reserve accurate.
Read answerWhat is a healthy overhead percentage for a practice?
Common guidance puts overhead under roughly 32 percent of revenue for a lean solo practice, with group practices running higher. Treat that as a starting reference to verify, since the number that actually helps you is your own, tracked month after month.
Read answerMy practice is brand new. When should bookkeeping start?
At the beginning, ideally before your first client payment arrives. A practice that opens with a separate business account, a proper QuickBooks setup, and a monthly rhythm never needs a cleanup later, and starting right costs far less than untangling a year of mixed records.
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