The Three Levers of Clinical Revenue: Capacity, Volume, Price—Pick One (for Now)

Doctors CFO
Oct 7
2 min read

Stop Chasing Everything: How One Lever at a Time Grows a Practice Faster

Why You Need to Think in Levers

Most practices chase growth by doing “more of everything”—more hours, more patients, more services. It feels busy but rarely produces sustained results.

Instead, think of your practice as a dashboard with three levers of revenue. If you learn to separate them—and pull one at a time—you’ll grow faster, with less stress and greater clarity.

Those levers are:

Capacity – Open Days: How many days you make yourself available.
Volume – Visits per Open Day: How full and productive those days are.
Price – Average Patient Charge (APC): How much value you capture from each visit.

Lever 1: Capacity (Open Days)

Capacity is the access lever. Reduce open days, and you’ll cut costs—but also shrink patient access, risk defection, and lose staff hours.

Before trimming capacity, calculate the tradeoff: the short-term savings versus the long-term lifetime value of lost patients. Protect a minimum level of open days before making cuts.

Lever 2: Volume (Visits per Open Day)

Volume is the productivity lever.

When visits per day rise, that usually signals system gains: smarter templates, reduced no-shows, and tighter handoffs. Capture those gains, make them repeatable, and amplify them with reputation.

Remember: reviews are compounding “free marketing.” If competitors are collecting them faster, adjust your cadence and scripting.

Lever 3: Price (APC)

APC is the margin lever. It’s not about jacking up sticker prices—it’s about:

Correct, compliant coding
Smart pairing of codes
Staying ahead of payer rule changes

Run periodic audits, refresh cheat sheets quarterly, and join coding communities. Small tweaks here protect margin without burning out your schedule.

The Discipline of One Lever at a Time

The most common mistake? Trying to pull all three levers at once.

That creates confusion, fatigue, and stalled momentum. Instead:

Choose one primary lever for the next 90 days.
Pick one supporting lever for light focus.
Park the third lever until later.

Example: Focus on Volume with improved templates and recall, support with small APC coding refreshers, and hold Capacity constant. Review your revenue bridge monthly to reassess.

Making Gains Stick

Micro-learning: Replace long training with weekly quizzes and short debriefs to keep coding and scheduling skills sharp.
Protect demand: Plan coverage for peak weeks so you don’t lose ground to competitors.
Delegate levers: Assign leads to each lever, define decision rights, and measure results.