Sessions Health has a real bulk export, so you don’t have to go through your charts one at a time. You request the export once, Sessions Health builds it in the background, and you get an email when it’s ready to download.
A few things are left out of that export, though, so it’s worth reading the section below before you request it.
Before you request your export
The export only includes what’s finished and stored inside Sessions Health. To avoid finding a gap after you’ve closed your account, take care of these first.
Sign anything outstanding. Unsigned and incomplete notes aren’t included in the export at all. Go through your notes and sign anything still open before you request it.
Copy out your process notes yourself. Psychotherapy and process notes aren’t included in the export. If you keep them, save them somewhere else manually before you cancel your account.
Download any original files you want to keep in their original format. Everything you uploaded to a chart, including JPGs, Word docs, audio files, and drawings, is converted to PDF in the export. If the original file type matters to you, download it from the chart before you export.
Note down your couples and families. The export lists every client as a separate row, with nothing to show who belongs together. Make a list of which clients should be grouped as a couple or a family so those charts can be set up correctly in Upheal.
Check your secure messages. Whether Client Portal messages come through in the export can vary. If there are message threads you need to keep, save them manually to be safe.
Requesting your export
You request the export once and it covers everything: your client list, your demographics, and your clinical documents. There’s no separate step for charts.
To request your data export:
Log in to Sessions Health and go to Account Settings.
Select the Data Exports tab.
Click Add to start a new export request.
Select All Clients.
Choose your export mode:
All Data gives you PDFs of your notes, billing, and treatment plans, plus a CSV of client demographics and a CSV of contacts. Choose this one if you’re moving your practice.
Demographics Only gives you just the demographics CSV. Choose this one if you only want to get your client list across for now.
6. Click Generate Export. Sessions Health builds the export on its end and emails you when it’s ready.
7. When the email arrives, download the export and save it to a folder on your computer.
You now have your full export saved locally.
Note: The export isn’t instant. Sessions Health processes it in the background and the wait can be anywhere from a few minutes to considerably longer, depending on how much data you have. You don’t need to keep the page open, and it’s worth requesting it a day or two before you plan to set up Upheal.
What’s in your export
An All Data export contains three kinds of things:
A demographics CSV. One row per client, with their client ID, first and last name, email, date of birth, phone, address, whether they’re active or inactive, diagnosis, payer name, and insurance member ID. This is the file to use when you import your client list into Upheal.
A contacts CSV. Your clients’ emergency contacts. This one identifies clients by full name rather than by client ID, so if you have two clients with the same name, check those rows before you rely on them.
PDF files. One per document, covering your notes, billing records, and treatment plans.
⚠️ Couples, families, and conjoint clients export as separate rows. Sessions Health supports individual, couple, family, conjoint, and minor client types, but the export doesn’t record which is which, and there’s nothing linking the people who belong together. This is why it helps to write down your groupings before you import, otherwise you’ll end up with separate charts where you wanted one.
Practice forms with conditional logic
Custom forms that use conditional logic or drop-downs come through as flat PDFs, so you keep the content but lose the behavior. To have a working version in Upheal, you can simply upload the PDF, and Upheal will save it as a usable, online form with conditional logic and/or dropdowns.
Other things you may want to keep
These don’t go into Upheal, but they’re worth saving for your own records while you still have access to your Sessions Health account.
Your audit log or activity log. Not needed for setting up Upheal, but useful to have on hand if a billing question comes up about a past session.
Anything you’d want in its original file format. Uploaded attachments arrive as PDFs, so download the originals from the chart if the format matters.
What to do next
Once your client list spreadsheet and your files are downloaded, what happens next depends on whether you’re moving your data yourself or with help from us.
If you’re doing it yourself, follow Importing multiple clients at once from other EHRs. It covers uploading both your clients and your files.
If you’re doing an assisted migration with us, there’s nothing else you need to do right now. Come to the call you booked and our migration specialist will help you move your data into Upheal.
If something looks missing from your export, or you’re not sure which file is which, reach out to us and we’ll take a look with you.