Updated 2026-09-03 · 4 min read
When a clinic decides not to switch software, it's almost never because of the software. It's because of the history: years of records, preferences («prefers first thing», «can't climb stairs»), half-used packs. The feeling that switching means starting from zero with a thousand patients.
It doesn't, and it's worth separating two things. The clinical history —assessments, progress notes, reports— lives in your clinical software and stays there: ClaudIA works alongside it and neither asks for nor stores clinical history. What you bring over is the relationship: who each patient is, how to contact them, what they prefer, which insurer they come through and which pack they have. And that's a file that leaves one place and goes into another.
Step 1: getting the patients out of where they are
Every clinic program has an option in its dashboard to export the patient list to a CSV file, a simple spreadsheet. It's usually under Patients or Settings. If you can't find it, ask their support for it: the data belongs to the clinic, not to the provider.
What usually comes: name, phone number, email, sometimes date of birth and notes. What usually doesn't: future sessions and, depending on the program, the history. If the clinic keeps its patients in the phone's contacts, they're brought over just the same: the dashboard gives the exact instructions for Android and iPhone.
Step 2: uploading the file and marking who's a patient
In the dashboard, under Patients, you upload the file. Everything comes in unticked and you tick those who are patients: the contacts also include the treatment-table supplier, the bank and the machine technician, and if they get in they clutter the list and the reports. There's a search box to go quickly. Ten minutes.
Step 3: duplicates, and why the key matters
A patient who had already written on WhatsApp already has a record. If the import doesn't detect it, you end up with two records and the history split. The normal thing is to deduplicate by phone number, the piece of data WhatsApp uses; if the file comes with perfect emails and patchy phone numbers, deduplicating by email may be better. A serious program lets you choose the key and shows you which records will be merged before touching anything. And one phone number with several patients —a couple, a parent and child— isn't a duplicate: they're linked records, and it's worth checking they haven't been merged.
What's moved by hand, and how to do it quickly
Future sessions are entered again: half an hour with the week's calendar in front of you, and series are created in one go with «Repeat». Active packs are entered by hand with the sessions left and their expiry: there are few of them and it's worth checking them one by one, because they're money already collected. The insurers you work with are written once in Settings. And the clinical history doesn't move.
What the rules require, and the software does on its own
People brought over from another program haven't been asked for permission to receive marketing messages. That's why ClaudIA doesn't send anyone who arrives by import any of them —no campaigns and no «it's been a while since you came in» messages— until that person writes to the clinic or a session is created for them. Reminders of their sessions do reach them, because that's looking after them, not selling.
And the proof that a program respects your data isn't how it brings it in: it's how it lets it out. From your dashboard you download your whole patient list and calendar, with no minimum term and without needing to be up to date with payment. Switching software isn't starting from zero: it's a file that goes out and comes in.
Questions clinics ask
Can I bring my patients over from the program I use now? Yes. Every clinic program lets you export the patient list to a CSV file; that file is uploaded to ClaudIA's dashboard and the list is loaded in about ten minutes. Contact details and notes come over; clinical history stays in your clinical software.
What happens to half-used packs? They're entered by hand with the sessions left and their expiry. There are few of them and they're money already collected, so it's worth checking them one by one on the day of the switch. From then on, ClaudIA deducts them and gives notice when one or two are left.
Are records duplicated if a patient had already written on WhatsApp? No, if the import deduplicates properly. The normal thing is by phone number, which is what WhatsApp uses; ClaudIA lets you choose the key and shows you which records will be merged before touching anything. A phone number with several patients is kept as linked records.
Will my patients get messages because I imported them? No. ClaudIA sends no marketing to anyone who arrives by import until that person writes to the clinic or a session is created for them. Reminders of their sessions do reach them. The rules require it and it does it on its own.