Practice software or online booking? What therapists really need

People opening a practice usually search for "practice software" and mean everything at once: appointments, records, invoices. In fact these are two different jobs. One is managing the treatment; the other is how clients get an appointment.

Some practice software includes online booking; much of it does not, or only at extra cost. And a booking tool alone keeps no records. It is worth looking at the two separately.

Practice software for therapists runs the treatment: core data, progress notes and documents in the record, then recording services and invoicing. In Switzerland this often includes billing by tariff, for example tariff 590 in complementary therapy, with the reimbursement slip for supplementary insurance.

This is specialist software, so the programs differ by profession. Psychotherapy, physiotherapy, complementary therapy and nutrition counselling have different tariffs and different forms. Compare providers that explicitly name your profession and your tariff.

A booking tool ends the back and forth of finding a time. You set when you work and share a link on your website, in your email signature or in your association's directory. Whoever wants an appointment picks a free time. It then appears in your calendar, and both of you receive a confirmation.

A booking tool knows no diagnoses, tariffs or invoices. That is not a gap; it is the boundary. It should know as little as possible about the person.

If you bill health insurance or supplementary insurance, you need practice software, or at least a program that produces invoices by your tariff. A booking tool does not replace that.

If your clients pay themselves, as is common in coaching, supervision or psychological counselling, a booking tool, a calendar and an accounting program are often enough. And if your practice software has no online booking, or an awkward one, a booking tool fills the gap.

The two programs meet in the calendar. Connect the booking tool to the calendar you already keep, for example Google, Outlook or Apple. It checks there when you are free and adds new appointments.

If your practice software writes its appointments to the same calendar, the booking tool sees them and does not offer those times. Check this before you start, with a test appointment in each direction.

The mere fact that someone books with a therapist can reveal something about their health. So ask in the booking form only for what you need for the appointment: name, email, perhaps a phone number. The reason belongs in the session, not in the form.

Also check where the provider stores data, whether the booking page exists in your clients' languages, and whether your canton's public holidays are right. Name the provider in your privacy notice.

Zitli is a booking tool, not practice software. Zitli keeps no records and does not bill health insurers. If you need that, you need practice software, and Zitli can handle online booking alongside it.

Zitli fits solo practices that want a booking page in German, French, Italian or English, with their canton's public holidays and hosting in the EU. Free costs CHF 0 for one booking page; Pro costs CHF 16 a month including VAT.