One-time costs before you treat a patient
- Build-out and furnishings: modest for a clean shell, significant if you are adding plumbing, private rooms or a prep area
- Clinical equipment: chairs, pumps, refrigeration with logging, emergency kit and oxygen
- Legal and entity work: formation, management agreement, medical director agreement, consent and privacy documents
- Licensing and inspections, plus medical waste setup
- Brand and website: identity, photography, a site that takes bookings rather than a brochure
- Opening inventory of fluids, vitamins, injectables and consumables
The lines people underestimate
Three costs consistently blow past the first draft of a budget: software, medical oversight and the ramp period.
- Software stack: scheduling, intake and consent, records, payments, marketing tools and the labor to keep them connected
- Medical direction: a retainer plus per-protocol review, not a one-time signature
- Ramp: two to four months of payroll and rent before referrals carry the schedule
- Compliance and documentation upkeep as protocols and state guidance change
Monthly operating costs
- Rent, utilities and insurance (general liability plus malpractice)
- Clinical payroll — usually your largest recurring line
- Inventory replenishment, which scales directly with visits
- Software subscriptions and payment processing
- Medical director retainer and chart review
- Marketing, referral rewards and community events
Building it yourself vs. running on a platform
A do-it-yourself version of the systems side requires a substantial build, plus ongoing hosting, maintenance and support, before anyone answers a compliance question for you.
Peak Shift replaces that line with a platform that's already built, staffed and maintained. Ask us how the economics work in your market.
How the revenue side has to work
Model average revenue per visit, visits per treatment chair per day, and repeat rate. A clinic that earns strong single-visit revenue but has no membership or maintenance path stays dependent on new patient acquisition, which is the most expensive way to grow.
Price protocols on clinical value and chair time, not on what the cheapest mobile competitor charges. Discounting a medical service reads as a warning sign to the patients most worth keeping.
The short version
Build-out is visible and easy to budget. Software, medical oversight and the ramp period are where clinics run short — which is exactly the part a platform replaces.