I am frequently asked at what level of activity a practice will be profitable. Bruce Sanders, Executive Director of the ACP and I had this conversation at the AVF just recently. While this is a bit of a loaded question because I typically have no idea what a practice’s expenses are, I do have a general rule of thumb.
Most practices start to feel financially comfortable at around the forty ablations per month mark. On the lower end, forty ablations per month represents approximately $50k in income just for the ablations as it shows on the paystub generator free printable slip.
If you calculate the other services performed at thirty-five percent of that (actually a low percentage), the monthly gross income is now $70,000 per month. This should, hopefully, allow the good doctor to draw a salary of $300k or so, following this advises you can learn how to show proof of income.
Forty ablations per month sounds like a lot but, broken down, it really is not that many. Time wise, it represents two ablations per day, freeing up the rest of the day for new patients, follow up ultrasounds and other services. You could stagger your days with four or five ablations performed on two different days with some time still left over on those days for other services.
In terms of marketing, it is still not that extreme. My other rule of thumb is that it takes one patient to be seen at the practice per ablation. Here’s my math: If forty patients are screened at the office, 25% do not have any medical needs that you can treat, 25% will elect to not be treated or cannot afford treatment. This leaves 50% or 20 patients. If you figure two ablations on average per patient, you are now at forty ablations in a clinically sound way.
Like everything, it is all a bit of a numbers game. You need a certain amount of input to achieve a desired output. Microeconomics, a class generally best left forgotten, still applies.
No comments yet.