What onboarding actually looks like for pediatric practices switching to Prompt

When pediatric practices hesitate to switch electronic medical records (EMRs), the worry usually centers on the weeks it takes to get there: Therapists frustrated, kids thrown off their routines, claims stalled while everyone learns a new system.

That's a reasonable thing to worry about. "The overwhelming feeling of switching from one EMR to another was completely real," says Sue Khammar, a pediatric occupational therapist and owner of Cowtown Pediatrix in Fort Worth, Texas. Here's exactly how Prompt's onboarding is built to prevent it.

What kind of support does a pediatric practice get during onboarding?

Pediatric practices get a dedicated team led by a guide who has actually done the job. Every Client Success Manager (CSM) at Prompt that gets assigned to a pediatric team is a former practicing clinician who worked in a pediatric clinic.

That means you're matched with a CSM who specialized in pediatrics while treating patients, not someone who read a pediatric guide the week before your kickoff call. That also means a CSM who’s documented a pediatric caseload, knows the ins and outs of pediatric billing, and knows what it means to coordinate with caregivers as well as patients. 

That background shapes the very first conversation. Instead of a generic feature tour, your CSM starts by learning how your practice actually runs:

• Which disciplines see the same child, since one kid might work with PT, OT, and speech
• Where treatment happens: Clinic, home, school, or center, and whether that means setting up an additional facility
• How you organize care across disciplines
• Your authorization and Early Intervention referral workflows

Tina Snyder, a therapist and owner of Pediatric Movement Center in Maryland, describes what that looks like day to day: "I have a dedicated success person who's also a PT, a pediatric PT, who does business reviews with me and she's so helpful in making sure I've implemented everything in the best possible way. It's just genuine people that are offering the support, and I think that really means a lot when you especially work in peds and you really care about the heart."

What does a pediatric practice's onboarding plan actually include?

Before your practice starts on Prompt, your onboarding team builds a structured onboarding project with a task for every step. Each of those tasks has an owner, a deadline, a time estimate, and a specific contact you can reach out to with questions. Nobody on your team has to guess what they're responsible for.

The plan is also broken out by role, so a clinician isn't sifting through billing enrollment tasks and your front desk isn't buried in clinical setup. Owners get their own track, right alongside separate tracks for clinical staff, billing, and front office, covering:

• Orientation for owners: Who to contact at Prompt with questions, how the go-live date works, and how to lead your team through the change
• Scheduling every onboarding call up front, so you know exactly what to expect
• Site setup, training enrollment, and progress check-ins
• Data transfer: Pulling reports, a rehearsal upload, then the real one
• Deciding which integrations make sense, from eligibility verification to patient engagement
• Insurance enrollments and billing setup, so claims start flowing without a gap in cash flow
• Role-specific clinical and front-office tasks once your data lands

Eric Glow, PT and Vice President of Clinical Services at Easterseals Central Illinois, saw that structure firsthand: "It was very clear on who owned what task, what needed to be done to complete the task, when it needed to be done, and why it's important to the next step in the onboarding process. Prompt really held our hand through the entire process."

Does onboarding help the practice owner with change management?

Yes. Onboarding doesn't stop at configuring the system. It also includes direct coaching on the human side of the switch. Your CSM works with you on:

• How to set expectations with the team before go-live
• How to handle pushback and hesitation from the team
• How to identify a couple of "super users" who become the in-house experts other clinicians turn to

Your CSM builds this coaching into the plan directly, so you're not figuring out team adoption on your own.

Brielle Panarese, SLP and Chief Clinical Officer at Seashore Pediatric Therapy Center, describes what that first stretch actually felt like: "The thought [of transitioning] was definitely super overwhelming.  But once everybody was on board and we passed that 2 week transition period of really struggling, it became super seamless. As much as it was daunting to transfer everyone over, I knew it was going to get better. 

Is EMR training built for pediatric clinicians, or just adult PTs?

Pediatric clinicians train on pediatric content from day one, built specifically for pediatric work rather than adapted from PT and adult materials:

• Pediatric clinicians go through a Pediatric Clinical Training Course, built around pediatric examples and workflows instead of generic ones
• Pediatric documentation resources include a full walkthrough of a pediatric occupational therapy evaluation
• Every seat in the clinic gets a role-based training track, with built-in check-ins so training doesn't quietly stall
• Documentation can be customized: Hide sections your practice doesn't use, and build your own templates and treatment libraries

"We had a lot of training videos that were broken up into small chunks, and that was really nice because providers and support staff were able to watch a short video, 2 to 3 minutes, and then go immediately test that and gain the confidence in what they were doing," Eric Glow says.

That investment shows up in how the system handles each discipline, not just how it trains people on it. As Glow put it: "Prompt has really spent a lot of time understanding each of those unique situations, and they've built a system that supports each of those disciplines in a way that they're able to operate and feel confident with the EMR system, not that they are being kinda shoehorned into an EMR system that isn't built for them."

Does the switch to Prompt pause billing or patient care?

No. The clinic stays fully operational throughout the transition. Here's what keeps it that way:

• A rehearsal data upload happens before the real one, so the first migration attempt isn't the live one and any mistakes or problems can be addressed in a training environment.
• Insurance enrollment work starts early with you and your lead biller, which protects cash flow through the transition.
• Your CSM works with you to decide which integrations make sense, from card processing and faxing to eligibility verification.

Dr. Shae Minnick, PT and owner of North Georgia Pediatric Therapies, says, "Prompt was very good about getting a lot of things uploaded [from our old system]. It was easier than I thought it would be."

What happens on go-live day, and after?

“Go-live day” is what Prompt calls the day you officially start using the software in your clinic. It usually falls on a Monday, and is your billing start date. Here's what the first stretch looks like:

• Many practices intentionally schedule below full capacity for the first few days, a normal way to ease in.
• A billing review with a certified biller happens once real claims are in the system.
• Your CSM stays on for ongoing business reviews, measured against pediatric benchmarks rather than PT or ortho standards.

"We really gained confidence that the transition was gonna be smooth, but then we also made the right decision in transferring to Prompt," Eric Glow says.

The bottom line

A pediatric practice switching EMRs gets a peds-experienced guide, a mapped plan, training built for pediatric work, and a system already configured for how pediatric care actually happens, all before a single patient is affected.

"I've been in outpatient therapy for almost 25 years now, and everybody complains about an EMR system. We don't get complaints about Prompt from our clinicians, which is incredible," Eric Glow says. 

Or, as Jocelyn Washington, PT and owner of Rafa Physical Therapy, puts it: "I would definitely recommend Prompt if you're a pediatric practice owner. I think they're very innovative in what they're trying to do in the pediatric space."

FAQs

What happens if we're mid-caseload when we switch?

The clinic stays fully operational throughout onboarding. Data transfer runs on a rehearsal upload first, then the real one, so patient flow doesn't pause while the migration happens.

Do our current Medicaid and Early Intervention authorizations carry over?

Your CSM works through unit-based and code-specific authorization tracking as part of setup, and your kickoff call covers your existing authorization and referral workflows directly. Confirm carryover specifics with your CSM, since requirements vary by state.

How long does onboarding take for a pediatric practice?

Timelines vary by practice size and complexity. Every task in the onboarding plan has its own deadline and named owner, so your team sees the full sequence and expected pace before it starts.

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