What one patient is actually worth
Patient lifetime value is what a single patient contributes over the whole relationship — after the cost of delivering care. Drag your numbers to see the figure, and why one more year of retention usually beats a price rise. Your numbers stay on your device.
How lifetime value is calculated
Multiply average revenue per visit by visits per year, years retained, and your contribution margin. The margin step is what separates this from a vanity number: revenue per patient ignores the cost of delivering care, and what compounds is what you keep, not what you bill.
Why retention beats price
Drag the two sliders and watch. A single extra year of retention usually moves lifetime value more than a meaningful price increase — and keeping an existing patient costs a fraction of acquiring a new one. Most practices push price because it's visible; the quieter win is the recall that brings someone back for a fourth and fifth year.
What actually moves it
Reliable recall and recare systems, membership plans that create a reason to return, a first visit that earns the second, and margin discipline on the service mix. Retention and margin are the levers — more on the first in how to measure and improve patient retention, and the full method in patient lifetime value explained.
More free calculators
Part of a small set for running a practice on the numbers — see them all on the tools page, or read the five numbers worth a weekly look.