Running a therapy practice is about providing excellent care, but in order to ensure the practice remains sustainable over time, it’s also essential to build a profitable, thriving business. To create and sustain a thriving practice, tracking the right metrics can make all the difference. Metrics help you identify what’s working, spot opportunities for growth, and address areas for improvement before they become problems. Here are 10 key metrics every therapy practice should monitor and how tracking these key metrics will help your practice thrive.
Definition: The percentage of clients who stay with a therapist for 8 or more therapy sessions. Note, retention is a metric that requires a longer time frame to calculate, as it takes time to see whether a client will continue to return. For this reason, retention has a grace period of 8 weeks. Clients who had an intake in the past 8 weeks would not have had time to complete 8 sessions, and so they are excluded from retention calculations.
Client retention is critical to practice stability and growth. High retention rates often indicate satisfied clients and effective therapeutic relationships. Tracking this metric can help you understand how well your clinicians are performing clinically and the likelihood that clients at your practice will achieve their treatment goals.
2. Clinician Utilization
Definition: The percentage of completed sessions out of the clinician’s session goal for that time frame. This percentage gives you a sense for how much a clinician is being utilized compared to their target. You can also think of this as the clinician’s average number of weekly sessions compared to their goal. So if they average 18 sessions per week out of their goal fo 20 sessions per week, their utilization rate would be 18/20 = 90%.
This metric is a strong indicator of clinician productivity and overall practice efficiency. If you have 20 therapists but each are only 50% utilized, you are likely paying a lot more in expenses and have a narrower profit margin than a practice with 10 therapists who are all 100% utilized. Low utilization rates may signal a need for better marketing or scheduling practices, while high rates can point to burnout risks or opportunities to hire additional staff.
3. Overdue Notes
Definition: The number of clinical notes that are incomplete past your practice’s due date.
Overdue notes can pose both compliance and operational challenges for your practice. Keeping clinical documentation up to date ensures accurate client records, maintains legal and ethical standards, and supports timely billing. By tracking this metric, you can identify clinicians who may need additional support or accountability to stay on top of their documentation.
4. Churn Rate
Definition: The percentage of clients that stay for only one to three sessions. Note, churn is a metric that requires a longer time frame to calculate, as it takes time to see whether a client will continue to return. For this reason, churn has a grace period of 8 weeks to exclude clients with a recent intake. These clients may still return for more sessions.
High churn rates can be a red flag, indicating client dissatisfaction or a mismatch between the clinician’s specialty areas or clinical strengths and the client’s needs. By monitoring churn rates, you can take proactive steps to improve client engagement and outcomes.
5. Active Clients
Definition: The number of clients that have had a counted session within the last two months. Clients are considered active in the current caseload based on appointments in the calendar rather than based on the list of active clients in the EHR.
This metric offers a snapshot of each clinician’s current caseload and helps you to know whether or not additional referrals are needed. Tracking active clients by clinician can also help you ensure an even distribution of caseloads and ensure each clinician has enough clients to meet their utilization goals.
6. No-Show and Cancellation Rates
Definition: The percentage of scheduled appointments that clients miss or cancel.
Missed appointments can significantly impact your practice’s revenue and efficiency and interfere with continuity of care for clients which is vital for clients to meet their treatment goals. Tracking this metric helps you identify patterns and implement strategies like appointment reminders or cancellation policies to minimize disruptions.
7. Rebooking Rate
Definition: The percentage of active clients who are booked for an upcoming appointment.
Rebooking rates are a strong indicator of client engagement and can help ensure that therapists meet their utilization goals. Encouraging clients to rebook before they leave can help optimize clinicians’ schedules, reduce gaps, and foster continuity in therapeutic relationships. Monitoring this metric can also identify areas where clinicians may need support in fostering ongoing client commitment.
8. Bookings per Week
Definition: The total number of sessions booked across the practice each week and for each individual therapist.
This metric highlights the demand for your services and helps you plan for growth. Evaluating your weekly bookings against a pre-determined weekly session goal can help keep the whole practice on track towards revenue goals and growth. On a clinician by clinician basis, tracking number of bookings helps clinicians meet their goals. The number of sessions booked per week should be a combination of the weekly session goal plus the anticipated number of cancellations based on the cancellation rate.
9. Average Revenue Per Session and Overall Revenue Trends
Definition: The average amount of revenue collected for a session by a clinician.
Tracking these metrics provides a comprehensive view of your practice’s financial health. Tracking revenue per session highlights the financial efficiency of your services and helps you establish an optimal compensation model. Monitoring revenue trends for your practice overall and by clinician allows you to assess progress toward your profit goals and identify which services are contributing most to your growth and success.
10. Average Number of Sessions Per Client
Definition: The average number of sessions a client remains with each therapist in your practice and the average number of sessions that clients stay with your practice as a whole.
This metric provides insight into the effectiveness of your therapeutic services. Longer client engagements can indicate successful therapeutic outcomes, while shorter engagements may point to areas for improvement in client retention or satisfaction.
PracticeVital Makes Tracking Metrics as Easy as Possible
Manually keeping track of metrics is time consuming and can feel overwhelming which can lead practice owners to give up on them. PracticeVital is designed to provide therapy practice owners and their teams with real-time insights into their business and clinical performance. From monitoring clinician utilization rates to tracking revenue trends, PracticeVital gives you everything you need to make data-driven decisions with confidence– and it does so without any manual data entry on your part.
By focusing on key metrics, you can build a thriving, efficient therapy practice that delivers exceptional care– while growing sustainably. Let PracticeVital make your job easier and be your partner in helping you grow a thriving practice.