You check the bank account to see if there’s a little extra sitting there so you can take a draw for yourself. But then you quietly hope there’s enough left to cover the rest of the month. In order to make sure there’s plenty to go around, we need to figure out how many patients you actually need to be profitable.

You don’t need to become an accountant, and you don’t need a big fancy financial statement to figure this out. All it takes is knowing three numbers and using one simple math calculation. Once you have them all, you’ll be on your way to having a profitable practice.

Every practice is different. Overhead, staff costs, student loans, business debt – each of these impacts the financial load your business is carrying. The secret is to determine exactly how many patients you need to see every week to pay yourself well and cover your overhead. Your financials shouldn’t be a mystery, and your paycheck shouldn’t depend on a wing and a prayer. Grab a pen, watch the full episode below, and let’s do the math together.

 

 

If you’ve ever wondered how many patients you actually need to be profitable and then quickly changed the subject in your mind, you are not alone. Most of us avoid all things having to do with business finances. We determine our fees based on our perception of the value we bring and what we think the market will bear. I did it too.

If you don’t take the business part seriously, you only have an expensive hobby. This is what distinguishes a successful wellness practice from one that just hopes there will be a little left over at the end.

So let’s turn this financial conversation around and figure out how to get you paid. It won’t be as painful as you might think.

 

How Much Should My Practice Pay Me Every Month?

 

Your practice should pay you a realistic monthly amount that is equal to what you would pay an employee to do the same job, not what you think you deserve. That’s the sign of a healthy practice. Knowing what your time and effort is worth is the first number you need to know. In fact, it’s the most important of all three.  

But you have to be reasonable about it. You can’t say you want 20K per month in take-home pay if you’re just starting out – that’s just not realistic.

On the flip side, you don’t need to wait until the practice is wildly successful to get paid. You should always be compensated for the work you do. I don’t want you to think, “well, the business can only pay me $500 a week.” That’s not nearly enough. Start by figuring out what you need the practice to pay you every month.

Decide what your practice needs to pay you first and then work backwards to figure out how to get it.

 

What Should I Include in My Practice Overhead?

 

Your practice overhead is the second number we need. This is the total monthly cost of running your business including rent, utilities, office expenses, etc. This is where most practitioners feel overwhelmed. When you start looking at what it takes to keep the business up and running, it can feel heavy and overwhelming. So we avoid it altogether. 

But if you don’t look at it, it only gets worse. Expenses pile up, subscriptions you aren’t using continue hitting your credit card, and you got double billed for something you shouldn’t. Avoidance isn’t working anymore. So how about we start right now?

Take a minute and write down the most obvious expenses – rent (if you have a virtual practice, you won’t have this one), insurance, software costs, subscriptions, payroll, website, and marketing.

Add anyone you pay regularly like a virtual assistant, bookkeeper, or a maintenance contract. Then add utilities, office expenses, and your student loan if you have one.

You don’t need exact figures. Just a general idea. If you think utilities run about $100 per month, write down $100 and keep going.

A general number for every expense beats an exact number for half of them.

Now that you know your monthly expenses (or at least close), it’s time to add in the amount you need to get paid. This represents the total expenses the business incurs every month, including your pay. Or said a different way, this is the amount of revenue your practice needs to bring in every month to keep the business open and pay you.

 

How Do I Find My Average Collection per Patient Visit?

 

To find your average collection per patient visit, divide what you actually collected over a full year, not what you billed, by the number of patient visits that year.

Think about every person you see. Maybe a follow-up visit is $80, maybe it’s $150, and your new patient appointment is $300.

Most of the time, you’ll land somewhere around $180 to $220 per visit. Yours might be higher or lower, depending on your fees. If you don’t have the exact numbers in front of you, a guess is totally fine to start.

If you can pull a collections report from your practice software, use that instead. Here’s how it works.

Let’s say you have 75 patients included on your report for the last 12 months, and they had a total of 900 visits during the year. That’s 12 visits per patient, or about one a month.

You collected $210,000 from those 75 patients. Of that, $150,000 came from visits and programs, and $60,000 came from supplements.

• Revenue per patient: $210,000 ÷ 75 patients = $2,800 a year
• Total collected per visit: $210,000 ÷ 900 visits = $233.33

But that supplement money is not all yours. Roughly half of it goes to the vendor, so of the $60,000, you keep about $30,000.

• What you keep: $150,000 from visits and programs + $30,000 from supplements = $180,000
• Average collection per visit (what you keep): $180,000 ÷ 900 visits = $200

The final step is to find how many patients you need to see each week to pay yourself and cover your business overhead. This is where it gets good.

Now, let’s figure out the patient math so we’ll know how many people you need to see to actually get paid.

 

How Many Patients Do I Need to See Each Week to Be Profitable?

 

You know how much it takes to keep your practice afloat. And you know how much you should be paid based on the work you are doing. So the next logical step is to determine how many patients you need to see in a week to ensure you are profitable.

For this final calculation, add your monthly expenses and your pay together. Divide that number by your average collection per visit, then divide by four weeks.

Here’s the example:

Say your monthly expenses are $4,000 and you want to pay yourself $8,000. That’s $12,000 a month in expenses plus your pay. Divide $12,000 by a $200 average visit, and you get 60 patients per month.

Divide that (60 patients per month) by 4 weeks and you’ll quickly discover that you only need to see 15 patients per week to pay yourself an acceptable wage.

And even better, if you are working 5 days per week, this works out to only three patients per day.

Three patients per day is very doable. This makes growing a profitable practice feel within reach.

Did you catch yourself thinking, “Oh, that’s not bad, I can do that!”? That’s exactly the point. Once you know the numbers, the outcome is clear and it stops feeling impossible to achieve.

 

What If I Can’t See That Many Patients Right Now?

 

If the number of patients you need to see in order to meet your monthly overhead feels too high right now, there are a few things to examine. Take a look at your fee schedule, your monthly expenses, and your network of business referral relationships. Each of those can make your monthly revenue number easier to hit.

Start with your fees. Is it time for a little bit of an increase? Could you add 5% to each supplement you sell?

You’ll also want to look at your expenses. Ask yourself, “If I was going to increase the profitability of my practice, could I live without this expense for six months?” I’m not saying cancel your practice management software but look honestly at what you’re paying for. But if you’re not using it, cancel it. If it adds value and helps you provide better care for your patients, then keep it. This isn’t the chopping block – it’s an opportunity to be realistic.

And if you’re paying a third-party vendor big money every month for marketing that isn’t bringing in new patients, you might want to reconsider. This is a common area where practitioners are taken advantage of with no results to show for the dollars invested.

A subscription you could live without for six months is money you could be paying yourself instead.

Lastly, look at possible referral partners in your community. One practitioner in Clinical Business Academy recently developed a relationship with a cardiovascular specialist in her town, and now he sends patients to her for nutritional work, and she sends patients to him for testing and medical evaluation. A perfect fit.

Another practitioner I work with is doing the same thing with a massage therapist and breast thermographer – all three of them are happy to cross refer to each other which is a win-win for everyone.

 

Should I Offer a Program Instead of One-Off Visits?

 

If you can’t see enough patients to make fee-for-service work, consider a six-week, outcome-based program instead of relying on the fee-for-service model. This is a core concept I teach inside Clinical Business Academy, and almost every CBA practitioner has some version of the same.

Choose a problem that most of your patients are dealing with. It might be sleep, stress, fatigue, bloating, or even brain fog. Create a 6-week program that provides the solution to that specific problem. You can include supplements, basic blood labs and other resources that help them get results even faster.

A patient who pays one fee for a structured program is buying a result, not a visit, and that’s what keeps her from dropping off.

These types of programs have a higher retention rate than just one-off visits. Patients are less likely to drop off which ultimately impacts your income. With a structured program, you charge one fee up front which keeps the patient committed for the duration. They get better results and that means more referrals, more consistent income, and happier patients.

 

Call-to-Action

 

Watch the full episode on YouTube, where I walk through all three numbers and the most important equation step by step.

If you know your practice is struggling but you’re not sure what to do first, take the Practice Vitals Checkup.

 

Author Bio

 

Ronda Nelson, PhD, MH, is the founder of Clinical Business Academy and Clinical Academy, and host of The Clinical Entrepreneur Show. Drawing from more than 20 years of experience as a practitioner, educator, and business owner, and having trained more than 4,000 wellness practitioners, she helps them identify the operational, financial, and leadership problems that keep their practices from growing. Her work focuses on patient retention, follow-up, communication, systems, profitability, and the business structure required to build a practice that supports both excellent patient care and long-term sustainability.

 

Related Content

 

• Clinical Business Academy – my one-year program for helping serious wellness practitioners build strong, healthy, and profitable practices. If this sounds like you, schedule a Practice Strategy Call with me and we’ll chat about what’s happening in your business. If I can help you, I’ll tell you, and if I can’t, you’ll still leave with clear next steps.
• The Practice Vitals Checkup – my 10-question assessment to find the weak spot costing your practice patients, revenue, or momentum.
• My recent episode on CKM syndrome (Cardiovascular-Kidney-Metabolic) and the new medical guidelines that were delightful surprising.

 

Frequently Asked Questions About How Many Patients You Need to Be Profitable

 

How do I calculate how many patients I need to see each week?

 

Add your monthly expenses to what you want to pay yourself, then divide that number by your average collection per visit. That gives you your monthly visits. Divide by four for your weekly number. With $4,000 in expenses, $8,000 in pay, and a $200 average visit, that’s 60 visits a month, or 15 a week.

 

What is a typical average collection per patient visit?

 

The average collection per patient visit depends on the area, cost of living, and your fee schedule. For most functional medicine practitioners, the number lands somewhere around $180 to $220 per visit but yours may be higher or lower. An estimate is enough to determine the number of patients you need to see each week.

 

What should I count as practice overhead?

 

Your practice overhead includes everything it costs to keep your practice running every month, including rent if you have a physical space, insurance, software, subscriptions, your website, utilities, contractors like a part-time assistant or bookkeeper, and any loans. A rough estimate for each one is fine when getting started.

 

What if I need to see more patients than I can handle?

 

Start with your fees and your expenses. You may need to raise your prices, and you’ll likely find expenses you could live without for six months. If fee-for-service still doesn’t add up, create a six-week, outcome-based program that includes supplements, so your patient pays up front for everything and gets a result at the end.

 

When should I decide how much my practice pays me?

 

You should decide how much you need to take home from your practice starting today. It should match what you would pay an associate to do the same thing. You can still take a draw from your business as the owner, but those draws are over and above what is considered a normal salary for the work you do.

 

Call-to-Action

 

You know how to calculate the math but if you’re still feeling unsure about where else your practice might be leaking money, patients, or time, take the Practice Vitals Checkup. It’s my 10-question assessment that will help you find it.

Take the Practice Vitals Checkup

 

Disclaimer/Disclosure

 

This content is for educational purposes only and is intended for wellness practitioners working within the functional medicine and integrative health space. This episode reflects Ronda Nelson’s personal experience and professional perspective as a practitioner, business owner, and mentor. It is not medical, mental health, legal, or financial advice. Practitioners are responsible for applying this information within their legal and professional scope. Ronda Nelson is the founder and owner of Clinical Business Academy and Clinical Academy. Clinical Business Academy is mentioned in this episode. No sponsorship or outside compensation was received for these mentions.