CRM That Works with Kareo (Tebra): Automating Patient Acquisition Beyond Built-in Tools 

Tebra (formerly Kareo) has evolved into much more than an EHR. Its platform brings together practice management, billing, scheduling, patient engagement, and tools designed to help practices grow. 

That makes the decision to add a separate CRM less straightforward: if Tebra already handles so much, what would another system really add? 

The answer lies in how your practice manages relationships around care. 

A CRM can complement Tebra when teams need a dedicated layer to organize their patient inquiries, referral relationships, follow-ups, and longer patient journeys. 

Instead of duplicating Tebra’s clinical or practice-management functions, it can help coordinate interactions across these journeys while giving teams greater visibility into the operations involved. 

This guide compares five best CRMs that you can integrate with Tebra, to help you understand which may best complement your existing workflows. 

What can a healthcare CRM add to Tebra?

1. Manage prospective-patient journeys 

Tebra handles online booking, intake, and appointment communication. A CRM can take ownership of the journey that leads to the appointment. Teams can see new inquiries in one pipeline, assign them to the right person, and track each follow-up until the prospect books or drops out. 

2. Manage referral relationships 

Tebra supports clinical referrals and keeps records of referral activity. A CRM can extend this into relationship management. Instead of viewing a referral only as part of a patient’s record, teams can track the referring organization as a partner. They can monitor activity, plan follow-ups, and understand which referral relationships generate results. 

3. Orchestrate complex engagement 

Tebra already automates reminders and other patient communications. A CRM can coordinate what happens next based on a person’s actions. Someone who responds can enter one workflow. Someone who doesn’t enter a different one. A cancellation can start a rescheduling journey. An inactive patient can enter a re-engagement campaign. 

4. Connect acquisition to outcomes 

Tebra provides tools for attracting patients and monitoring practice growth. A healthcare CRM can connect those efforts to what happens afterward. Teams can follow the path from acquisition source to inquiry, appointment, and conversion. This helps them understand which channels and referral relationships are leading to more patient acquisition.  

Does your practice need a CRM alongside Tebra? 

Not every Tebra practice may need a separate CRM. If your team handles a manageable number of inquiries and referrals, has straightforward follow-up processes, and can get the visibility it needs from Tebra’s existing tools, adding another platform may not be necessary. 

But a CRM becomes more worthwhile as those workflows grow more demanding. Consider one if: 

• Your team handles a high volume of inquiries or referrals. 

• Several staff members share responsibility for follow-ups. 

• Prospects regularly go cold before booking. 

• You rely on physicians for organizational referral relationships. 

• You run multiple acquisition campaigns across multiple channels. 

• You need deeper visibility into the journey from inquiry to appointment. 

• You have a large pool of inactive patients to re-engage. 

• Multiple locations or service lines make coordination harder. 

The key question is not whether Tebra can perform these individual tasks. It can. The question is whether your team needs a dedicated system to coordinate them at greater scale and complexity.  

What should you look for in a CRM for Tebra? 

1. A deep Tebra integration 

Start with the connection itself. Tebra provides APIs that allow third-party applications to access Tebra data and functionality. Ask what the CRM can exchange with Tebra. Check whether the integration is native, API-based, or requires custom development. Find out whether data moves one way or both ways. Also check which records synchronize and how often updates occur. 

2. Lead and inquiry management 

Look for tools that help your team capture inquiries and move them through a defined pipeline. Useful capabilities include lead routing, ownership, follow-up tasks, pipeline stages, and conversion tracking. The goal is to give staff a clear view of where each prospective patient stands. 

3. Referral relationship management 

Look beyond basic referral records. A healthcare CRM should let teams maintain profiles for referring providers and organizations. It should also support relationship history, referral follow-up, and performance tracking. 

4. Flexible automation 

Look for automation of multi-step workflows that can respond to what people do. For example, a response, booking, cancellation, or period of inactivity could trigger a different next step automatically. 

5. Useful reporting 

Look for reporting that connects the patient journey. This can include source-to-conversion tracking, referral performance, response times, pipeline metrics, campaign attribution, and lifecycle reporting.  

6. Healthcare readiness 

If the CRM must handle PHI, verify its HIPAA safeguards and BAA terms. Also check for role-based access, audit controls, encryption, and policies for protecting and limiting PHI. HIPAA requires appropriate safeguards for electronic PHI, while the minimum-necessary principle calls for limiting PHI to what is needed for the intended purpose. 

5 best CRM to integrate with Tebra 

1. LeadSquared 

LeadSquared is a healthcare CRM that helps practices manage the workflows surrounding patient acquisition and engagement. It brings inquiries, referrals, intake, follow-ups, patient communication, and marketing activity into a single CRM, while allowing the EHR or practice-management system to remain the source for core clinical and operational records. Its healthcare offering is designed for U.S. organizations and supports HIPAA-compliant workflows. 

LeadSquared pros 

• Captures patient inquiries from sources such as websites, phone calls, forms, and referrals. It also helps teams assign, qualify, and follow up with the referrals through a structured pipeline.  

• Supports referral management by helping teams capture referral sources, route referrals, monitor their progress, follow up with referring providers, and measure referral performance.  

• Automates multi-step patient communication across email, SMS, phone, WhatsApp, and other supported channels. Teams can trigger different workflows based on patient actions or changes in status.  

• Provides marketing and conversion visibility across the patient journey, helping practices connect campaigns and referral sources with inquiries, appointments, and conversions.  

• Supports integrations with EHRs and other healthcare systems through APIs and integration options, allowing practices to connect CRM workflows with their existing technology stack.  

• Offers healthcare-specific security controls, including HIPAA compliance, a BAA, encryption, access controls, and audit trails for organizations handling protected health information.  

LeadSquared cons 

• Setting up complex workflows and integrations can require more implementation effort than a basic CRM, particularly when multiple teams, locations, or healthcare systems are involved.  

• Its broad healthcare functionality may be more than a small practice needs if its requirements are limited to basic contact management and simple follow-ups.  

Pricing 

• Pro: $60/user/month  

• Super: $100/user/month  

• Enterprise: Custom pricing  

Ideal for 

Tebra users that need a dedicated healthcare CRM to manage patient acquisition, referrals, intake, engagement, and follow-up alongside their existing EHR and practice-management workflows. It is particularly suited to practices with multiple staff members, higher inquiry or referral volumes, or complex patient journeys. 

2. Keap

Keap combines CRM, sales automation, and marketing automation in one platform. For a Tebra user, its strongest role is managing the prospect and patient engagement workflows that happen around the core EHR and practice-management system. It can capture leads, automate follow-up, manage pipelines, and nurture contacts through email and text. 

Keap pros 

• Captures leads through forms and other channels, then organizes them with tags, custom fields, lead scoring, and pipeline stages.  

• Lets practices build automated follow-up sequences based on contact actions, pipeline changes, appointments, and other triggers.  

• Combines email and text marketing with CRM data, making it possible to segment contacts and tailor ongoing outreach.  

• Includes appointment scheduling, automated reminders, and follow-up workflows, which can help coordinate the journey from inquiry to booked appointment.  

• Provides lead-source tracking and reporting so teams can see where contacts originated and monitor their progress through the pipeline.  

• Can connect with Tebra through Keragon, with available workflows including creating or updating Keap contacts when Tebra transactions change. The connection is through Keragon rather than a native Tebra connector.  

Keap cons 

• Keap is built for small businesses rather than specifically for the needs of healthcare, so healthcare practices may need to customize the workflows around their clinical environment.  

• Its HIPAA controls must be explicitly enabled, and the practice must execute Keap’s BAA before using it to handle PHI. Enabling the controls alone does not make the practice HIPAA compliant.  

• The Tebra integration currently relies on a third-party integration platform, adding another component to the technology stack.  

Pricing 

• Keap: Starts at $299/month; annual billing is available at $2,988/year.  

• Additional users: $39/month per user.  

• Text marketing: Additional packages available from $24/month, depending on volume.  

Ideal for 

Small and growing Tebra practices that primarily want stronger lead nurturing, marketing automation, and follow-up without adopting an enterprise-level CRM. Keap is particularly suited to teams that want to automate the journey from new inquiry to appointment and maintain ongoing engagement with existing contacts.

3. monday CRM 

monday CRM combines traditional CRM functions with a highly customizable workflow platform. For a Tebra user, that flexibility can be useful when the practice wants to build its own processes for inquiries, referrals, follow-ups, and team coordination.  

monday CRM pros 

• Lets practices build custom lead pipelines with their own stages, fields, ownership rules, and workflows rather than forcing them into a fixed CRM structure.  

• Captures leads through forms and integrations, then supports qualification, assignment, follow-up, and conversion tracking from a centralized lead board.  

• Supports automated sequences and workflows based on changes such as pipeline stage, activity, or inactivity, helping teams reduce manual follow-up.  

• Provides customizable dashboards and pipeline views for monitoring lead status, conversion activity, and team performance.  

• Can connect with Tebra through Keragon, including workflows that create or update Tebra patient records from monday.com activity. This is a third-party integration rather than a native Tebra connector.  

• Offers HIPAA compliance on its Enterprise plan, with a BAA and security controls for organizations handling PHI.  

monday CRM cons 

• It isn’t healthcare-specific, so practices may need to design their own patient, referral, and intake workflows instead of using healthcare-specific workflows out of the box.  

• HIPAA compliance is limited to the Enterprise plan, which can make monday CRM less practical for smaller practices that need to handle PHI.  

• The Tebra connection adds an integration layer through Keragon, so practices need to evaluate the additional setup, data mapping, and ongoing integration requirements.  

Pricing 

• Basic: $12/user/month, billed annually  

• Standard: $17/user/month, billed annually  

• Pro: $28/user/month, billed annually  

• Ultimate: Custom pricing  

Ideal for 

Tebra users that want a highly customizable CRM and workflow layer rather than a healthcare-specific CRM. monday CRM is particularly suited to practices with distinctive processes, multiple teams, or a need to build their own inquiry, referral, and follow-up workflows around Tebra.

4. Freshsales

Freshsales is an AI-powered CRM from Freshworks that focuses on lead management, sales pipelines, communication, and automation. For a Tebra user, it can provide a structured layer for managing inquiries, follow-ups, and acquisition activity outside the core EHR. Its Tebra connection is available through Keragon rather than as a native Tebra integration.  

Freshsales pros 

• Provides customizable contact lifecycle stages, multiple pipelines, custom fields, and activity timelines for organizing prospective-patient journeys.  

• Automates lead routing, follow-up tasks, emails, and other actions using workflow rules and triggers.  

• Supports web forms, contact segmentation, marketing journeys, and attribution reports, giving practices tools to manage acquisition activity from capture through conversion.  

• Offers AI-powered contact scoring and deal insights that can help teams prioritize prospects and identify opportunities requiring attention.  

• Provides APIs and webhooks for connecting Freshsales with external applications and automating data flows. Tebra can be connected to Freshsales through Keragon, which provides a healthcare-focused integration layer.  

• Has a relatively accessible entry point, with a free plan for up to three users and paid plans starting at $9/user/month when billed annually.  

Freshsales cons 

• Freshsales is not currently covered by Freshworks’ HIPAA BAA. Freshworks states that its HIPAA BAA scope is limited to certain Freshdesk-suite products and recommends against processing ePHI in other products.  

• Its CRM is designed for general sales and marketing workflows rather than healthcare-specific processes such as referral management or patient intake.  

• The Tebra connection requires a third-party integration platform such as Keragon, adding another layer to the technology stack.  

Pricing 

• Free: $0 for up to 3 users  

• Growth: $9/user/month, billed annually  

• Pro: $39/user/month, billed annually  

• Enterprise: $59/user/month, billed annually  

Ideal for 

Tebra practices looking for an affordable CRM to manage non-PHI acquisition and sales workflows, particularly if they want strong lead management and automation without a large CRM investment. Practices intending to store or process PHI in the CRM should look for a healthcare-ready alternative instead, given Freshworks’ current HIPAA position. 

5. HighLevel 

HighLevel combines CRM, marketing automation, communications, appointment booking, and workflow automation in one platform. For a Tebra user, its strongest role is coordinating acquisition and engagement workflows around the EHR, from capturing a new inquiry to automated follow-up and re-engagement. It can connect with Tebra through Keragon, rather than through a native Tebra connector.  

HighLevel pros 

• Combines CRM pipelines with email, SMS, calling, forms, funnels, booking calendars, and automated workflows, giving practices one platform for managing acquisition and engagement activity.  

• Supports workflow automation based on events and conditions, allowing teams to trigger different actions as a prospect moves through a pipeline or responds to outreach.  

• Connects Tebra patient records and appointment activities with HighLevel workflows through Keragon. Available triggers include new or updated patients and appointments, as well as transactions, charges, and encounters.  

• Provides customizable pipelines, dashboards, forms, surveys, and reporting tools for tracking prospects and measuring marketing and engagement activity.  

• Supports ongoing patient engagement through automated email and SMS campaigns, two-way conversations, appointment workflows, and reputation-management tools.  

• Offers an optional HIPAA package with a BAA, ePHI encryption, audit logging, and MFA enforcement for organizations that need to use HighLevel with PHI.  

HighLevel cons 

• HighLevel is designed as a broad CRM and marketing platform rather than a healthcare-specific system, so practices may need to configure their own healthcare workflows.  

• HIPAA compliance is not included by default. The HIPAA package costs an additional $297/month, and it must be enabled and configured for the relevant sub-accounts.  

• The Tebra integration requires a third-party platform such as Keragon, adding another system to configure and maintain.  

Pricing 

• Starter: $97/month  

• Unlimited: $297/month  

• Agency Pro: $497/month  

• Enterprise: Custom pricing  

• HIPAA Compliance: Additional $297/month  

Ideal for 

Tebra practices that want to combine CRM, marketing, communication, appointment booking, and automated engagement in one platform. HighLevel is particularly suited to practices that actively invest in digital acquisition and need extensive automated follow-up across the patient journey. 

Final thoughts 

Tebra already gives practices a strong foundation for managing clinical and day-to-day practice operations. A CRM becomes useful when a practice needs more structure around the workflows that happen before, between, and after those core activities, such as managing inquiries, nurturing prospects, coordinating referrals, automating follow-ups, and connecting acquisition efforts to patient outcomes. 

The five CRMs in this guide approach that additional layer differently. Keap and HighLevel lean heavily into marketing automation, monday CRM gives practices more flexibility to build their own workflows, while LeadSquared brings healthcare-specific acquisition, referral, intake, and engagement workflows together.  

The useful question isn’t which platform has the longest feature list, but which one fits the work your team manages outside Tebra. 

If you’re looking for a healthcare-focused CRM that can complement Tebra, LeadSquared is worth exploring. It brings patient acquisition, referral management, intake, engagement, automation, and reporting into a dedicated CRM layer designed for healthcare workflows. 

Want to see how LeadSquared could fit alongside Tebra for your practice? Request a demo to explore the platform. 

FAQs