Setting a cash price
A method, from what the practice costs to run to a price per visit or per member. The numbers below are hypothetical and only show the arithmetic. Members don't share or agree on what to charge: prices are discussed as method, never as agreement.
The method
- Annual cost. Everything the practice spends in a year, including rent, staff, malpractice, the EHR, supplies and your own salary.
- Clinical hours. Weeks you see patients times clinical hours per week.
- Cost per clinical hour. Annual cost divided by clinical hours.
- Visit price. Cost per hour times the visit length, plus a margin for reinvestment and slack.
- Membership fee. If you run a panel, the panel size times the fee has to cover the annual cost; check the expected visits per patient against your clinical hours.
- Publish it. Post the price, tell the patient before the visit, and give a good faith estimate where one applies.
Hypothetical example
| Step | Hypothetical figure |
|---|---|
| Annual cost, including salary | $420,000 |
| Clinical hours: 46 weeks × 28 hours | 1,288 hours |
| Cost per clinical hour: $420,000 ÷ 1,288 | $326 |
| 60-minute complex new visit at cost | $326 |
| With a 15% margin | $375 |
| Membership: 300 patients × $1,400 a year | $420,000 |
These figures are invented for the arithmetic. Set your own from your own costs.
Colorado Care Network. Setting a cash price. Version 2026-10-30.