Let’s talk chiropractic algebra for a moment. Don’t be scared; math can be fun and using basic metrics with the right equations can help ensure that your success is not accidental.

Revenue = NP x OVA x PVA
NP – The number of patients that receive a first adjustment.
RPV – Return Patient Visits
OVA = Revenue/RPV
(Office Visit Average) How much people spend, on average, on each visit in your office.
PVA = RPV/NP
(Patient Visit Average) A measure of retention indicating the average number of times a patient returns to your office.

To grow your revenue you can increase new patients, your prices, or your patient retention.  I recommend that you have at least one defined practice-building strategy for each area, but at the very least monitor these numbers and share them with your team regularly.

Have fun while you build your practice, increase your profits, and enjoy your life!
​Dr. Jeff Scholten

How much is a patient worth? Putting a monetary value on each patient is very important in the event that a practitioner leaves the practice and takes some patients with them.
 
The calculation itself is quite straight forward:
(Revenue in a time period) / (# of individual patients in a time period) = Average value of a patient
 
Example (for a one year time period):
($1 million revenue) / (2500 individual patients) = $400 spent per patient on average
 
This number is important to keep in mind...
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A main reason to hire a chiropractic assistant, or add an additional chiropractor, is to increase the capacity of your business. When you choose to bring on a new team member, it is very important that you have some long term plans mapped out in advance to avoid confusion and hard feelings should the relationship not work out.
 
The first step in building a successful business relationship is to have a clear and fair basic entry level compensation structure pre-determined. Next, because the majority of associateships do end at some point, you need to discuss how you will theoretically end the business relationship should the situation arise. This may seem awkward, but no detail is too small to talk about.

Case in point, my associate agreement even details who pays the postage on the patient letters that we will both sign in the event the contract is cancelled. The less you have to negotiate down the road, the better. Remember, agreeing in advance on all details can go a long way to maintaining a civil relationship throughout this possible process.
 
Now that you’ve figured out the steps involved with a potential associate leaving, let’s consider what the future would look like if your new hire stayed long term. When an associate comes into my practice, there are a few options for the future that I consider:
 
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To gain access to weekly PIQ's, Level 3 Membership is required. The weekly PIQ is just one of the many benefits of membership. View membership opportunities HERE.