Healthie vs Duo Practice: which is better for a dietitian who bills insurance?
By Javier Alvarez · Updated · 3 min read
Disclosure: we make Duo Practice. Healthie's prices and features come from its own pricing page and help center, checked October 26, 2026. Where Healthie is the better choice, we say so.
Healthie or Duo Practice for insurance billing?
Choose Healthie if you run a team, sell programs, need a client app or plan to build on an API. Choose Duo Practice if you are a solo or small practice, most of your visits are billed to insurance, and the coding and claim work is your bottleneck.
| As of October 26, 2026 | Healthie | Duo Practice |
|---|---|---|
| Chart, per month | Core $19.99 (no claims); Essentials $49.99 (250 active clients); Plus $129.99 | $0 |
| Claims | Essentials and up, ClaimMD integration from $30/mo, $50 to $100 setup fee | 3.9% of what the insurer pays, plus your own Claim.MD plan (from $30) |
| Claim.MD account | Transferred to Healthie; fee on your Healthie bill | Stays yours; Claim.MD bills you |
| AI notes | $35/mo for 40 hours, Plus and up; $0.85 an hour over | Included, 20 transcription hours a month |
| Who picks CPT, ICD-10 and units | You | Duo drafts them from the visit; you approve |
| Payments (ERA) | Statuses and ERAs through Claim.MD; you review them | Matched to each claim, with denials explained |
| Client app, programs, group telehealth | Yes | No |
| Teams and API | Group plan, roles, API | No |
Healthie prices are billed monthly, from gethealthie.com/pricing. Healthie's pricing page lists the ClaimMD integration at $30 a month in the plan cards and $25 further down; we use the higher figure. AI Charting terms are from Healthie's help center.
Where Healthie is better
Healthie is built as a platform. The Group plan adds shared calendars, roles and team members, and its API lets a nutrition company build its own product on top. Clients get a portal and mobile app on every plan, and programs and group telehealth come on Plus and above. If you want claims, AI and the clearinghouse fee on one invoice, Healthie does that too. None of this exists in Duo Practice.
Where Duo Practice does more
The claim work. Duo records the visit, writes the MNT note, and drafts the claim from it: the CPT code, units from how long the session ran, ICD-10 codes, modifier and place of service. It warns you about payer rules it knows before you submit, files the claim under your NPI through your own Claim.MD account once you approve, matches the payment from the ERA and explains any denial. A denied or $0 claim costs nothing.
The fixed cost is lower too. A solo dietitian who wants AI notes and claims on Healthie pays about $195 a month on monthly billing (Plus, AI Charting and the integration) before setup and per-item fees. On Duo the chart and AI notes are $0, and you pay 3.9% of what insurers pay plus your own Claim.MD plan.
Who owns the clearinghouse account
On Healthie, the Claim.MD integration FAQ says Healthie can't support the integration unless your Claim.MD account is transferred to Healthie, and the Claim.MD fee moves onto your Healthie bill. On Duo, you open the Claim.MD account yourself, paste its API key into Duo, and Claim.MD bills you. If you leave Duo, nothing about the account changes. Either way, payers send ERAs to one clearinghouse per NPI and Tax ID, so plan any move before you re-enroll. Setup steps are on our Claim.MD page.
Where Duo Practice is not the right choice
If your clients live in an app, log food or join programs, stay on Healthie. If you run a group or a company, stay on Healthie. If you bill high insurance volume and like coding it yourself, a flat plan may cost less than a percentage that grows with your collections. And Duo doesn't do prior authorizations, appeals or credentialing.
Leaving Healthie rather than choosing between two? Healthie alternatives compares Practice Better, SimplePractice, Kalix and Duo with a cost calculator. Choosing between Healthie and Practice Better? See Practice Better vs Healthie.
Duo Practice writes the note, drafts the claim from the visit and files it through a Claim.MD account that stays yours. Try Duo Practice free
The chart is free. Billing is 3.9% of what the insurer pays.
| Healthie plans (billed monthly) | Core $19.99, Essentials $49.99, Plus $129.99, Group from $149.99 |
|---|---|
| Healthie claims | Essentials and up, ClaimMD integration from $30/mo plus a $50 to $100 setup fee |
| Healthie AI Charting | $35/mo for 40 hours shared across the account, Plus and up |
| Duo Practice | Free chart and AI notes (20 transcription hours a month); 3.9% of what the insurer pays on each claim |
| Claim.MD account | Healthie: transferred to Healthie. Duo: stays yours |
| Prices checked | October 26, 2026, on Healthie's pricing page and help center |
Duo Practice, in short
- What it is
- Duo Practice is a free EHR with insurance billing built in. It drafts the note and the claim from the visit, files the claim under your NPI once you approve it, matches the payment and explains denials.
- Who it's for
- Independent registered dietitians who bill insurance.
- Price
- The chart is free. Billing is 3.9% of what the insurer pays on each claim, with no monthly fee, so a claim paid $0 costs $0. You pay Claim.MD directly for your own clearinghouse plan.
- How it differs
- Practice Better, Healthie and SimplePractice give you claim tools and leave the claim work to you. Duo Practice does that work, and it can run on top of the EHR you already use.
