How much is too much churn in the medical sector? The average healthcare entity has a churn rate between 40-50%, but that doesn’t tell you the whole story.
Most of that churn happens with new patients. When an existing patient leaves your building, there is a 60-70% chance you will see them again for another appointment. However, when it comes to new patients, there is only a 5-20% chance you will see them again for a second appointment.
Why is there such a stark difference? Why is it so difficult to retain first-time patients?
We recently had the chance to take part in an amazing webinar with Jeremy Malecha, CEO and Founder of Biocanic. During that webinar, we explored why first-time patients often become former patients. And we discussed how integrating Cerbo+Biocanic can help you solve this problem.
Yes, of course, you’re earning “some” money on a patient who only comes to see you once. However, that amount is unsustainably low when you factor in patient acquisition costs (PAC).
“If we look at your marketing costs, let’s say it's $150.00 to bring that patient in. Let’s say you're on an a la carte business model where you're doing $175 a session, and maybe you get some supplement commissions on top of that,” said Malecha.
“When you actually do the math, you're only earning about $34 an hour, based upon all of the upfront time that you're having to invest to look through the intake forms, review the labs, order the labs, and create your report of findings.”
This is why repeat patients are so much more profitable and why building ongoing relationships needs to be the backbone of your business. And the best way to build customer loyalty is to make it as easy as possible for the patient to keep coming back.
According to one study, only 40% of patients who left their doctor did so because of clinical experience/expertise reasons. On the other hand, nearly twice as many (78%) said they left because of problems during that patient navigation journey. This includes:
❌ Difficulties in doing business
❌ Bad experiences with administrative staff
❌Inadequate digital solutions
This means that most patients leave their doctor because of friction somewhere in the process, often before they start any sort of treatment plan.
Malecha is a self-described “Super Data Geek.” This led him to his journey to co-founding Biocanic, a medical technology platform that enables practices to take on and manage more clients, and it’s the only solution to bring all of your health data together in the exact way you want to use it. Through his experiences, he has worked with a number of clients who were struggling with early churn.
“With one of our early practitioners, we took a deep dive into where things were going. They were running an a la carte business and they were losing 75% of those patients after the first or the second visit,” said Malecha.
“And you know why? It was because they were basically giving patients an 8-page Word document of 25 things that they needed to do and it became overwhelming… And so when you have 25 things to do tomorrow, you end up doing zero.”
The lesson here is clear: When the experience is overwhelming, patients disengage. But when their plan feels doable and personalized, they’re more likely to stick around and actually follow through.
Simplicity and accessibility lead to patient participation. And patient participation leads to patient retention.
We’re proud to say that Cerbo has been integrating with Biocanic since 2020, which has allowed our clients to do things they never would have imagined possible.
This integration creates a smoother, more engaging patient experience. When patients can clearly see their progress, understand their lab data, and feel supported every step of the way, they’re far more likely to keep coming back.
You’re now combating the most common reasons that patients churn by offering:
✅ A simplified patient experience
✅ Top-notch customer service, with less burden on admin staff
✅ The cutting-edge digital solutions patients want
“The most important thing is really simplifying that patient experience. That’s what's going to be critical to building your successful practice. We're an add-on that helps you efficiently manage client data and labs. We help you discover the insights for that individual,” said Malecha.
“Our system can help keep your individual patients on track and accountable in their program automatically without you having to do all of the outreach.”
Biocanic+ Cerbo also helps you enhance and simplify your client experience through advanced lab data processing, turnkey educational content, diet and meal planning, and over 10 wearable device integrations.
Simply put, you can get patients actively engaged in every step of their health journey, instead of simply sending them home with a stack of papers to read and a list of steps to follow.
If you want to see what Biocanic+Cerbo integration can do for your practice, we highly recommend clicking here to request a free demo.
We provide a do-it-all EHR, practice management, and patient portal solution that helps you slash the time spent on administrative tasks, freeing up your time to work ON your business instead of being trapped by tasks IN your business.
“While it takes a while to customize Cerbo to fit your practice, it is well worth the investment and ultimately saves time and money. The best part is that this translates into successful patient outcomes while minimizing the burden of charting, educating, and day-to-day administrative tasks on the practice team.”
— Dr. Kristann Heinz, MD, RD, Red Hill Medical + Wellness, Pennsylvania.
