Professional services
Medical Practice Lead Conversion Calculator
Measures conversion from enquiry to visit, where the phone is usually where it fails.
Result
Practice administration arithmetic, not clinical or billing advice. Payer contracts, coding rules and the regulations governing patient communication and cancellation policies all vary and change. Nothing here bears on clinical decisions or on how any individual patient should be cared for. Unanswered enquiries are usually the largest single loss and the cheapest to fix, because they are a staffing and telephony problem rather than a clinical or marketing one.
Get a Free Business AuditHow the calculation works
Each stage divided by the one before: enquiries answered, answered to appointment booked, booked to arrived. Multiplying through gives the enquiry-to-visit rate with the value of what fell out. Separating the stages matters because the final stage, booked to arrived, is the no-show problem rather than a conversion one.
What moves the number
- Answer rate and hold times at the front desk.
- Whether new patient appointments are available soon.
- Insurance verification friction at booking.
- No-show rate on first appointments, which is higher than on repeats.
Where this one goes wrong
A long wait for a new patient appointment loses the enquiry to another practice, so availability for new patients is a conversion variable rather than only a scheduling one. First appointments also no-show at a higher rate than established ones, which makes reminders on them disproportionately valuable. On any system handling enquiries, patient information is protected health information once it exists, so call recording, messaging and intake forms have HIPAA implications that belong in the choice of tools.
Before you quote
- Measure the answer rate and hold times, not just bookings.
- Keep new patient availability short.
- Confirm any intake or messaging tool handles PHI appropriately.
Where the rules come from
Questions
About this calculator
Where do new patient enquiries get lost?
At the phone and at availability. Unanswered calls and long hold times send people elsewhere, and so does a long wait for the first appointment. Availability for new patients is a conversion variable rather than only a scheduling one.
Why measure booked to arrived separately?
Because that stage is the no-show problem rather than a conversion one, and it needs different handling. First appointments no-show at a higher rate than established ones, which makes reminders on them disproportionately valuable.
Do intake tools have compliance implications?
Yes. Patient information is protected health information once it exists, so call recording, messaging platforms and online intake forms all carry HIPAA obligations. That belongs in the tool selection rather than being discovered afterwards.
The formula
each rate = that stage divided by the stage before it
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How to use this calculator
- Enquiries per month. Enter your own figure; the page starts at 180.
- Answered or returned. Enter your own figure; the page starts at 142.
- Booked an appointment. Enter your own figure; the page starts at 96.
- Attended. Enter your own figure; the page starts at 78.
- Returned for a second visit. Enter your own figure; the page starts at 52.
- First year value of a patient ($). Enter your own figure; the page starts at $410.
The result updates as you type, so you can try a figure, see what it does to enquiry to attending patient, and change it back. Nothing you enter is sent anywhere or saved.
A worked example
These are the figures the calculator opens with. Every number in the results column below is produced by the same calculation the page runs, so you can follow it through before putting your own figures in.
What goes in
| Input | Value |
|---|---|
| Enquiries per month | 180 |
| Answered or returned | 142 |
| Booked an appointment | 96 |
| Attended | 78 |
| Returned for a second visit | 52 |
| First year value of a patient | $410 |
What comes out
| Result | Value |
|---|---|
| Enquiry to attending patient main result | 43.33% |
| Enquiries answered | 78.89% |
| Answered to booked | 67.61% |
| Booked to attended | 81.25% |
| Attended to returning | 66.67% |
| Value lost to drop-off | $41,820 |
43.33% of enquiries become attending patients. 78.89% get answered, 67.61% of those book and 81.25% attend. The enquiries that fell away were worth $41,820 in first year value.
How sensitive the answer is
Holding everything else steady and changing only first year value of a patient, this is what happens to enquiry to attending patient. It is worth knowing which of your inputs the answer actually hinges on, and which barely move it.
| First year value of a patient ($) | Enquiry to attending patient |
|---|---|
| $205 | 43.33% |
| $308 | 43.33% |
| $410 example above | 43.33% |
| $615 | 43.33% |
| $820 | 43.33% |
Every other input is held at the example value while this one changes, which is not how a real job behaves. Treat it as a guide to which number matters most, not as five separate quotes.
What each figure means
- Enquiries per month
- A number, between 0 and 100000, starting at 180.
- Answered or returned
- A number, between 0 and 100000, starting at 142.
- Booked an appointment
- A number, between 0 and 100000, starting at 96.
- Attended
- A number, between 0 and 100000, starting at 78.
- Returned for a second visit
- A number, between 0 and 100000, starting at 52.
- First year value of a patient ($)
- A money amount, starting at $410.
What the results tell you
| Result | What it is |
|---|---|
| Enquiry to attending patient | The headline result. A percentage. |
| Enquiries answered | A percentage. |
| Answered to booked | A percentage. |
| Booked to attended | A percentage. |
| Attended to returning | A percentage. |
| Value lost to drop-off | A money figure. |
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