Last Updated: December 2025
Chiropractic practices have distinct financial characteristics driven by the treatment plan model, high patient visit frequency, and the balance between initial intensive care and ongoing wellness visits. Understanding these dynamics lets you optimise your practice for both patient outcomes and financial sustainability.
The chiropractic market has become more competitive, with increasing practitioner numbers and patient access to information. Practices that understand their numbers can make strategic decisions about pricing, marketing investment, and service offerings. Those operating blind often compete on price, eroding margins industry-wide.
Chiropractic practices typically follow a structured care model: initial consultation and examination, intensive corrective care (frequent visits over weeks to months), rehabilitative care (reducing frequency), and wellness or maintenance care (ongoing periodic visits).
This creates a distinctive revenue pattern. New patients generate significant early revenue through intensive care phases, which tapers to lower but recurring maintenance revenue. Practice growth requires continuously adding new patients while retaining existing patients in maintenance programs.
Revenue sources include private fees, health fund claiming, DVA, workers compensation, and motor vehicle accident schemes. Unlike physiotherapy, Medicare rebates for chiropractic are limited to specific chronic disease management scenarios.
Revenue categories:
Direct costs:
Operating expenses:
Revenue analysis:
Track revenue per practitioner. Established chiropractors typically generate $250,000 to $400,000 annually. New associates may take 12 to 24 months to reach full productivity.
Understand your revenue mix between new patient intensive phases and maintenance care. Heavy reliance on new patients suggests retention issues. Very high maintenance percentage may indicate insufficient new patient marketing.
Break down revenue by visit type. Initial consultations should represent 3 to 5 percent of total visits but generate higher per-visit revenue. Standard adjustments are your volume driver.
Gross margin:
If you employ associates on wages, calculate gross margin after associate costs. Target 60 to 70 percent.
If associates work on percentage arrangements (common in chiropractic), their payment is a direct cost tied to their revenue. Track each associate's revenue against their percentage payment to ensure viability.
Operating costs:
Reception costs at 6 to 10 percent of revenue is typical. Rent at 6 to 10 percent. Total overhead at 25 to 35 percent.
Marketing investment varies by growth stage. Established practices might spend 2 to 4 percent on marketing. Growing practices may invest 5 to 10 percent.
Net profit:
Owner-operator practices should target 25 to 40 percent net margin (including owner's clinical earnings). Practices with employed principal chiropractors target 15 to 25 percent after paying the principal a market salary.
Practice management software:
Use chiropractic-specific software (like Cliniko, which serves many Australian chiropractors, or specialised options). Ensure it tracks:
Accounting integration:
Connect PMS to accounting software. Code revenue by type. Reconcile daily.
Package revenue treatment:
When patients prepay for packages, record the payment as a liability (unearned revenue). As each visit occurs, recognise revenue and reduce the liability. This gives accurate monthly revenue figures.
Weekly:
Monthly:
Practice management: Cliniko from $49 per practitioner monthly handles scheduling, notes, billing, and basic reporting. Some practices use chiropractic-specific software like ChiroTouch (pricing varies).
Accounting: Xero Business at $78 monthly. Set up integration with PMS.
Online booking: Usually built into PMS. Essential for patient convenience.
Patient communication: Automated recall and reminder systems, often included in PMS or available as add-ons.
Example costs for 3-practitioner clinic:
What is a good patient visit average (PVA)?
PVA varies by practice philosophy and patient demographics. Practices emphasising wellness care might see PVA of 20 to 40 visits. Practices focused on corrective care without maintenance emphasis might see 10 to 15. Track your PVA trend rather than comparing to arbitrary benchmarks.
How should we recognise prepaid package revenue?
Recognise revenue as services are delivered, not when payment is received. If a patient pays $500 for 10 visits, record $500 as unearned revenue (liability). Each visit, recognise $50 as revenue and reduce the liability by $50. This provides accurate monthly performance data.
What is an appropriate associate percentage split?
Common arrangements range from 35 to 50 percent of collections to the associate. The appropriate rate depends on whether the practice provides patients, whether the associate handles their own marketing, lease arrangements, and local market conditions.
How do we improve care plan acceptance?
Care plan acceptance is primarily a communication and trust issue rather than financial. Track acceptance rates by practitioner to identify training needs. Ensure examination findings are clearly explained and treatment recommendations are logically connected to patient goals.
What marketing spend is appropriate?
Established practices typically spend 2 to 4 percent of revenue on marketing. Practices seeking growth or in competitive markets may spend 5 to 10 percent. Track new patients by source to evaluate return on marketing investment.
Scale Suite provides financial management services for Australian chiropractic practices. We understand the treatment plan revenue model, health fund claiming, and practitioner productivity metrics unique to chiropractic.
Our team handles practice accounting, payroll (including percentage-based associate calculations), revenue reconciliation, and monthly reporting with the KPIs that matter for your practice.
Scale Suite delivers embedded finance and human resource services for ambitious Australian businesses. Our Sydney-based team integrates with your daily operations, working like part of your internal staff but with senior-level expertise.
Disclaimer: This guide provides general information only and does not constitute tax, legal, or financial advice. Practice structures, employment arrangements, and accounting treatments require professional advice specific to your circumstances.
Scale Suite delivers embedded finance and human resource services for ambitious Australian businesses.Our Sydney-based team integrates with your daily operations through a shared platform, working like part of your internal staff but with senior-level expertise. From complete bookkeeping to strategic CFO insights, we deliver better outcomes than a single hire - without the recruitment risk, training time, or full-time salary commitment.
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