What is the average revenue per provider?
Average revenue per provider ranges from $400,000 to $1.2M annually depending on specialty, with primary care typically $500K to $750K, specialty care $700K to $1.5M, and procedural specialties exceeding $2M.
Definition
Revenue per provider is total practice collections divided by full-time-equivalent (FTE) revenue-generating providers (physicians, NPs, PAs, dentists, PTs).
The detail
Revenue per provider is the cleanest single benchmark of provider productivity, but the right comparison depends on specialty. MGMA Provider Compensation and Production Survey reports median collections per FTE physician of approximately: family medicine $650K, internal medicine $700K, pediatrics $580K, OB/GYN $1.1M, orthopedics $1.7M, dermatology $1.2M, cardiology $1.3M, gastroenterology $1.6M. Mid-level providers typically generate 50 to 75 percent of physician revenue at lower compensation, which is why well-utilized NPs and PAs can lift practice profitability. Dental: general dentistry $700K to $1.1M per dentist, orthodontics $900K to $1.4M, oral surgery $1.2M to $2M. PT: $200K to $350K per FTE clinician. The biggest drivers of revenue per provider are schedule density, no-show rate, and complete billing of every encounter, not provider speed.
MGMA Provider Compensation and Production Survey is the industry standard source for specialty-specific productivity benchmarks.
Source: MGMA Compensation Data
Mid-level providers (NPs, PAs) typically generate 50 to 75 percent of physician revenue at significantly lower cost.
Source: MGMA Provider Productivity
Schedule density (booked vs available slots) typically explains more variance in provider revenue than appointment length.
Source: MGMA Practice Operations
What this means for clinic owners
From Sorso
Revenue per provider is a productivity metric, not an effort metric. Providers who appear less busy often generate more revenue because their schedules are tighter and their billing capture is cleaner. Measure outcomes, not hours.
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What is the average cost per patient encounter?
Average cost per patient encounter ranges from $80 to $250 for primary care, $150 to $400 for specialty care, and $30 to $90 for physical therapy visits, depending on payer mix and overhead structure.
How much should I pay my practice manager?
Practice manager salaries typically range from $65,000 to $130,000 annually, with the median around $85,000 for single-location outpatient practices and $115,000+ for multi-location administrators.
What is a good profit margin for a dental practice?
A healthy general dental practice runs 35 to 45 percent owner profit margin (pre-tax, including owner comp). Normalized EBITDA margin runs 18 to 28 percent after market-rate clinical and management compensation. Below 30 percent owner margin signals a problem worth investigating.
What is a good overhead ratio for medical practices?
A good overhead ratio is 55 to 65 percent of collections for primary care, 50 to 60 percent for most specialties, and 60 to 72 percent for general dentistry, per MGMA Cost Survey data.
What is a good staff-to-provider ratio?
A good staff-to-provider ratio is 3.5 to 5.5 FTE staff per FTE provider for most outpatient specialties, with primary care typically 4 to 5, specialty care 3.5 to 4.5, and procedural specialties 5 to 7.
When should I add a second clinic location?
You should add a second location when your first location is at 80 percent or more capacity utilization, has 25 percent or higher EBITDA margins, and you have 6 to 12 months of operating cash plus dedicated growth capital.
What financial KPIs should I track for my clinic?
The core 8 financial KPIs every clinic should track monthly are revenue, EBITDA, net collection rate, days in AR, denial rate, revenue per provider, overhead ratio, and rolling 13-week cash forecast.
What is a reasonable patient no-show rate for an outpatient clinic?
A reasonable no-show rate for most outpatient clinics is in the 5% to 10% range, with primary care and behavioral health often running higher (10% to 20%) and elective specialty and cash-pay practices typically lower (under 5%). Above 15% is a structural problem that erodes provider productivity, schedule integrity, and revenue per available hour. The fix is rarely a single tactic; it is a stacked system of reminders, deposits, overbooking discipline, and patient selection.
What is a fair productivity bonus structure for outpatient clinic providers?
A fair productivity bonus for outpatient providers ties incremental pay to a measurable production metric (personal collections, wRVUs, or net visit revenue) above a defined threshold, with the threshold and rate calibrated so total compensation lands within MGMA benchmarks for the specialty at expected production. Common structures pay 30 to 45 percent of collections or a per-wRVU rate above threshold, often capped or tiered to protect practice margin.
What does switching EHR systems actually cost in lost clinical productivity?
Beyond software fees and implementation, an EHR switch typically costs an outpatient practice 4 to 12 weeks of reduced provider productivity, with the steepest drop in the first 30 days and a gradual return to baseline over a quarter or two. The actual revenue impact varies by specialty, provider tenure, and how much of the legacy workflow has to be relearned, and it is consistently the largest hidden cost of an EHR transition.
How many patients does an average primary care physician see per day?
Most primary care physicians see roughly 18 to 25 patients per day in a full clinical schedule, with family medicine and internal medicine typically clustering around 20 to 22, and high-volume practices pushing into the high-20s. Volume alone is a misleading metric; payer mix, visit complexity, panel size, support staff, and documentation burden drive whether a given schedule is sustainable or a path to burnout.
How do work RVU productivity targets compare across medical specialties?
Work RVU (wRVU) productivity benchmarks vary widely by specialty, with primary care typically targeting roughly 4,500 to 5,500 wRVUs per FTE physician per year and many procedural specialties running meaningfully higher. The benchmarks that matter for compensation and capacity planning come from specialty-specific MGMA, AMGA, or SullivanCotter survey data, not generic averages.
Founder of Sorso. 19 years in corporate finance. Managed a $450M loan portfolio before building a fractional CFO firm exclusively for healthcare clinics.
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