How to use this calculator
- Enter or choose fixed costs per month.
- Enter or choose collected revenue per visit.
- Enter or choose variable cost per visit.
- Enter or choose clinic days per month.
- Enter or choose no-show rate.
- The break-even visits per month updates as you type. Use Copy result or Share to keep it.
Method
Contribution = Revenue per visit − Variable cost per visit; Break-even visits = ⌈Fixed costs ÷ Contribution⌉; Bookings per day = Visits per day ÷ (1 − No-show rate)
- Fixed costs
- monthly costs that do not vary with visits
- Revenue per visit
- average collected payment per visit
- Variable cost per visit
- costs incurred for each visit
- No-show rate
- share of bookings not attended
Worked example
- Contribution per visit = 120 − 40 = $80.
- Break-even visits = 60,000 ÷ 80 = 750 a month, or 750 ÷ 20 = 37.5 a day.
- With 10% no-shows, book 37.5 ÷ 0.9 = 41.7 appointments a day.
The clinic needs 750 visits a month, about 37.5 a day, which means booking around 42 appointments a day if 10% do not attend.
What the result means
Visits above break-even contribute the full margin to profit. Raising collections per visit, cutting per-visit costs or reducing no-shows all lower the number of visits needed.
Assumptions and limits
- Revenue and variable cost per visit are averages across the case mix.
- Fixed costs stay fixed within the range of visits considered.
- No-shows add no variable cost.
- Capacity limits (rooms, clinician hours) are not checked.
- Cash timing from payers and seasonal demand are ignored.
Questions
Should I use billed charges or collections?
Collections. Billed charges are usually much higher than what payers actually pay, which would understate the visits you need.
Is a clinician’s salary fixed or variable?
A salaried clinician is a fixed cost; a clinician paid per visit or per session is variable.