Patient acquisition cost is the amount a practice spends to gain one new patient. It can include advertising, software, and the staff time used to handle inquiries.
Patient acquisition cost (PAC) is the healthcare-specific version of customer acquisition cost. It measures how much a practice spends to bring in each new patient, including advertising, referral programs, front-desk staff time, and technology costs.
The national average for patient acquisition cost ranges from $150 to $400 depending on specialty. Dental practices average $200 to $350 per new patient. Med spas and cosmetic practices range from $250 to $500. Primary care practices are typically lower at $100 to $200 due to insurance-driven referrals.
The calculation should include all costs: Google Ads spend, website maintenance, review management software, call tracking, front-desk labor allocated to handling new patient inquiries, and any referral incentives.
The metric matters most when compared to patient lifetime value. A dental patient worth $3,000 over 3 years can justify a $300 PAC. But if your PAC is $400 and patients average only $800 in lifetime value, your growth is unprofitable.
Healthcare practices that do not track PAC cannot determine which marketing channels are profitable. A practice spending $5,000/month on Google Ads needs to know if those ads produce 15 patients ($333 PAC) or 50 patients ($100 PAC). The difference determines whether to scale or cut.
PAC = Total Marketing & Acquisition Costs / Number of New PatientsCustomer acquisition cost is how much a business spends to win one new customer. Divide total sales and marketing costs by the number of new customers.
Cost per acquisition benchmarks compare the cost of winning a customer with relevant peers. Your own trend and customer economics matter more than a broad industry average.
Missed-call revenue impact is a modeled estimate of the business opportunity tied to unanswered calls. It is not measured lost revenue unless the business verifies what happened after each call.
A practice valuation multiple is one input used to estimate what a healthcare practice may be worth. The right multiple depends on verified financials, risk, specialty, size, and market conditions.
Industries We Serve
Dental practices spend $200 to $350 per new patient on average. This includes Google Ads ($150-250 per new patient), website and SEO costs, review management, and front-desk time. Practices with strong organic presence and referral programs achieve PAC under $150.
Improve Google Business Profile (free local visibility), implement a patient referral program, optimize website conversion rates, use AI receptionists to capture every call, and invest in SEO for long-term organic traffic. The biggest quick win is usually capturing missed calls.
Tell us what is costing revenue or staff time. We will help you decide whether the problem is measurable and worth fixing.
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