Owl Practice EHR Review (2026)

Overview

Owl Practice is a cloud-based practice management and clinical documentation platform built specifically for the Canadian mental health market. Founded around 2017 and headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, the platform serves therapists, psychologists, counselors, and social workers across Canada who need a system that understands Canadian billing, tax compliance, and provincial insurance requirements out of the box.

What sets Owl Practice apart from the larger US-based behavioral health EHR platforms is its deliberate focus on the Canadian healthcare context. The platform handles HST/GST tax calculations, direct billing to Canadian insurance providers, provincial regulatory compliance, and Canadian privacy frameworks (PIPEDA and provincial equivalents) -- details that platforms like SimplePractice and TherapyNotes were not designed to address. For a Canadian therapist, this eliminates the workarounds and manual adjustments required when using a US-centric platform in a Canadian practice.

The platform covers the core practice management needs of solo and small group therapy practices: scheduling, client portal, secure messaging, progress notes, treatment planning, telehealth, outcome measures, and billing. It is not a clinical EHR in the enterprise sense -- there is no e-prescribing, no PDMP integration, no ASAM-criteria workflows -- but for talk-therapy practices that do not prescribe, it covers the essential workflow from intake to billing.

Owl Practice is now backed by Welsh Carson Anderson & Stowe, a private equity firm, and is the result of merging four separate companies. This PE ownership introduces considerations around long-term product direction and support that prospective buyers should evaluate carefully.

For a broader view of where Owl Practice fits relative to other behavioral health platforms, see our behavioral health EHR comparison.

Key Features

Canadian Billing & Tax Compliance

This is Owl Practice's primary differentiator. The platform handles Canadian-specific billing workflows including direct billing to Canadian insurance providers, HST/GST tax calculations on invoices, superbill generation for Canadian payors, and compliance with provincial billing requirements. For Canadian therapists, this means the billing system works correctly without needing to adapt a US-focused platform to Canadian tax and insurance rules.

Scheduling & Calendar Management

Owl Practice includes online booking, appointment reminders (email and SMS), recurring appointment scheduling, and calendar management for solo and group practices. Clients can self-book through the client portal based on provider availability, reducing phone-tag and administrative overhead. The scheduler supports multiple providers and locations for group practices.

Client Portal

The client-facing portal allows clients to book appointments, complete intake forms, sign consent documents, view invoices, make payments, and communicate with their therapist through secure messaging. Intake forms and consent documents can be customized to the practice's requirements. The portal reduces administrative work by allowing clients to handle paperwork before their first session.

Clinical Documentation & Progress Notes

Owl Practice provides note templates for common therapy documentation formats including SOAP, DAP, and customizable templates. Clinicians can document during or after sessions, and notes are linked to the client record for easy retrieval. The documentation system is designed for the therapy workflow -- it is straightforward and focused on the note types that therapists and counselors actually use.

Treatment Planning

The platform supports structured treatment plans with goals, objectives, interventions, and target dates. Treatment plans are linked to client records and can be updated as therapy progresses. This supports both clinical best practices and insurance documentation requirements for practices that need to justify ongoing treatment to Canadian payors.

Telehealth

Owl Practice includes built-in video telehealth that integrates with the scheduling and documentation workflow. Clients join video sessions through the client portal without downloading separate software. The telehealth feature supports the hybrid in-person/virtual practice model that has become standard across Canadian therapy practices since the pandemic.

Outcome Measures

The platform supports standardized outcome measures that can be sent to clients before sessions. Tracking treatment outcomes over time helps clinicians monitor progress, adjust treatment approaches, and demonstrate efficacy to clients and payors. This is increasingly important as Canadian insurers move toward requiring evidence of treatment effectiveness.

Group Practice Management

For small group practices, Owl Practice offers multi-provider scheduling, role-based access controls, and centralized billing. Practice owners can manage multiple clinicians' schedules, track revenue by provider, and maintain appropriate access boundaries so that clinicians only see their own clients' records.

Secure Messaging

Encrypted messaging between clinicians and clients through the platform, providing a secure alternative to email. Messages are stored within the client record, maintaining a communication history that is accessible for clinical reference and audit purposes.

Private Equity Ownership & What It Means

Owl Practice is backed by Welsh Carson Anderson & Stowe, a private equity firm with significant healthcare holdings. The current Owl Practice platform is the result of merging four separate companies under PE ownership -- a consolidation strategy that has become increasingly common across the behavioral health EHR market.

This matters for prospective buyers because PE-backed consolidation in healthcare software follows a predictable pattern: acquire multiple smaller companies, merge them onto a single platform, extract cost efficiencies, and eventually sell or take the combined entity public. While this can produce a more comprehensive product in the short term, the track record across the behavioral health EHR space shows that post-acquisition outcomes for end users are mixed at best.

The common risks include:

• Support degradation: Cost-cutting measures often target customer support headcount, leading to longer response times and less personalized assistance.
• Price increases: Post-consolidation pricing often rises as the PE firm seeks to improve margins ahead of an eventual exit.
• Slowed innovation: R&D investment may be redirected toward integration work (merging the four acquired companies) rather than new feature development.
• Platform migration friction: Users of the original acquired products may be forced to migrate to a unified platform, which can be disruptive and may not preserve all the features they relied on.
• Exit uncertainty: PE firms operate on investment timelines (typically 3-7 years). When the eventual sale or IPO happens, the platform may change hands again, introducing another cycle of uncertainty.

This is not unique to Owl Practice. The broader behavioral health EHR market has seen extensive PE-driven consolidation, with similar patterns affecting multiple vendors. For a deeper analysis of how PE acquisitions are reshaping the behavioral health technology landscape, see our guide to behavioral health EHR acquisitions.

Pros

Cons

Pricing

Owl Practice is priced at approximately $25 to $49 USD per provider per month, making it one of the most affordable practice management platforms in the behavioral health space. Key pricing considerations include:

• Plan tiers: Lower-tier plans cover basic scheduling and documentation. Higher-tier plans add the client portal, telehealth, outcome measures, and advanced billing features.
• Per-provider pricing: Costs scale with the number of providers. Solo practitioners pay a single provider fee, while group practices pay per clinician.
• Canadian dollar vs. USD: Owl Practice may price in CAD, so the effective USD cost depends on exchange rates. The $25-$49 USD range is approximate.

Compared to competitors: SimplePractice starts at $49/month and TherapyNotes starts at $69/month, both in USD. Owl Practice's pricing is competitive, particularly for Canadian practitioners who would otherwise pay for a US platform and then work around its Canadian billing limitations. BreezyNotes is another affordable option worth comparing for practices focused on simplicity.

Who Should Use Owl Practice

Strong Fit

• Canadian therapists and counselors who need a practice management platform that handles Canadian billing, HST/GST, and provincial insurance requirements natively.
• Solo Canadian practitioners looking for an affordable all-in-one platform that covers scheduling, documentation, telehealth, and billing without the complexity of enterprise systems.
• Small group therapy practices in Canada that need multi-provider scheduling, centralized billing, and role-based access in a Canadian-compliant platform.
• Canadian psychologists and social workers who want a straightforward system designed for talk-therapy workflows without the overhead of medication management features they do not use.
• Practices that value simplicity. Owl Practice's clean interface and focused feature set make it easy to learn and use, which is appealing for clinicians who prioritize ease of use over advanced functionality.

Not the Best Fit

• US-based practices. The platform is designed for Canadian billing and compliance. US therapists should use SimplePractice, TherapyNotes, or BreezyNotes instead.
• Prescribing clinicians. There is no e-prescribing, PDMP integration, or medication management. Psychiatrists and psychiatric NPs need a platform with prescribing capabilities.
• Mid-size to large group practices. Owl Practice is designed for solo and small practices. Groups with 10+ providers may outgrow its administrative and reporting capabilities.
• Substance use disorder treatment centers that need residential census tracking, bed management, ASAM-criteria workflows, and level-of-care management.
• Practices that need extensive third-party integrations. The integration ecosystem is limited. Practices that depend on lab interfaces, clearinghouse connections, or specialized clinical tools should verify compatibility.
• Risk-averse practices concerned about PE ownership. The Welsh Carson acquisition and four-company merger introduce long-term uncertainty. Practices that prioritize vendor stability may want to consider alternatives with more predictable ownership structures.

For help evaluating which platform is right for your practice, see our EHR selection process guide and our best EHR for therapy practices comparison.

Frequently Asked Questions

Verdict

Owl Practice fills a real gap in the behavioral health EHR market: it is a purpose-built practice management platform for Canadian therapists, counselors, and psychologists who need a system that understands Canadian billing, tax, and regulatory requirements without workarounds. For its target audience -- solo and small group therapy practices in Canada -- it delivers a clean, affordable, and focused solution that covers the core workflow from scheduling through invoicing.

The Canadian-market focus is both the platform's greatest strength and its most significant limitation. If you practice in Canada, Owl Practice eliminates the friction of adapting a US-centric platform to Canadian requirements. If you practice in the United States, this platform is not built for you.

The elephant in the room is PE ownership. Welsh Carson's acquisition and four-company merger follow a pattern that has not always served end users well in the behavioral health technology space. The platform works well today, but prospective buyers should evaluate the long-term risks of PE-driven consolidation -- pricing stability, support quality, and product roadmap continuity -- alongside the platform's current merits. For a deeper look at how PE acquisitions are reshaping this market, read our behavioral health EHR acquisitions analysis.

At $25-$49 per provider per month, the financial barrier to entry is low, which makes Owl Practice easy to try and relatively painless to leave if the PE ownership story does not unfold favorably. That affordability, combined with genuine Canadian-market fit, makes it a reasonable choice for Canadian therapists who want a simple, focused, and compliant practice management tool -- as long as they go in with eyes open about the ownership dynamics.