Community Acupuncture Network 4th Annual Clinic Survey Results
Community Acupuncture Network
4th Annual Clinic
Survey
INTRODUCTION:In January of 2011, a survey was sent out to all the
clinics listed on the Community Acupuncture Network’s (CAN) Locate a Clinic
page, asking questions pertaining to their practices in the year 2010.The purpose of this survey was to see
how community acupuncture clinics are doing as a whole, and to determine if
there are any trends linked with greater chances of success or failure.102 of approximately 130 clinics
responded to the survey.All
questions were multiple choice, so some information reported is given in ranges
(i.e. a clinic’s gross income was $100,000-119,999) rather than specific
numbers.All monetary values were
reported in US dollars (international clinics were asked to convert to US
dollars before answering), and were rounded to the nearest dollar.
This report is broken down as follows:
•
Summarized data for all 102 clinics
•
Summarized data of clinic owners earning $35,001-70,000
•
Select clinics’ business data
•
Summarized data of clinic owners earning $20,000 or less
•
Discussion, Speculations and Conclusion
SummarIZED DATA FOR ALL 102 CLINICS:
YEARS OPENED:
1 clinic opened in 2002
1 opened in 2004
8 opened in 2006
13 opened in 2007
19 opened in 2008
27 opened in 2009
33 opened in 2010
CLINIC SIZES (in square feet pertaining to size of entire unit including treatment
room, reception, storage, etc.)
27 clinics are less than 700 square feet
28 clinics are 700-999 square feet
31 clinics are 1000-1499 square feet
12 clinics are 1500-1999 square feet
3 clinics are 2000-2499 square feet
1 clinic is over 4000 square feet
TOTAL COMBINED NUMBER OF CHAIRS AND TABLES:
17 clinics have 5 or less
61
clinics have 6 to 10
17
clinics have 11 to 15
5
clinics have 16 to 20
2
clinics have 21 or more
CLINIC
LOCATION:
59
clinics are urban
35
clinics are suburban
8
clinics are rural
OFFICE
BUILDING TYPE:
49
clinics are store front spaces
39
clinics are office spaces
4
clinics are industrial/warehouse spaces
1
clinic is a home office
9
clinics are “other”
SIGNAGE
OUTSIDE THE BUILDING:
81
clinics have a sign for their clinic posted outside the building
21
clinics don’t have a sign for their clinic posted outside the building
NUMBER
OF HOURS OPEN PER WEEK (Number of
hours is defined as hours in which appointments are booked/patients arrive,
i.e. if you book patients in a shift from 1-5 with the first patient arriving
at 1 and the last patient arriving at 5, then the shift is 4 hours, regardless
of how long the last patient stays):
1
clinic is open 9 hours or less per week
4
clinics are open 10-14 hours per week
11
clinics are open 15-19 hours per week
28
clinics are open 20-24 hours per week
16
clinics are open 25-29 hours per week
10
clinics are open 30-34 hours per week
9
clinics are open 35-39 hours per week
11
clinics are open 40-44 hours per week
3
clinics are open 45-49 hours per week
1
clinic is open 50-54 hours per week
5
clinics are open 55-59 hours per week
2
clinics are open 60-64 hours per week
1
clinic is open 80 or more hours per week
NUMBER OF DAYS OPEN PER WEEK:
5
clinics are open 3 days per week
17
clinics are open 4 days per week
36
clinics are open 5 days per week
33
clinics are open 6 days per week
11
clinics are open 7 days per week
WEEKEND HOURS:
13
clinics are open on both Saturdays and Sundays
62
clinics are open on Saturdays only
4
clinics are open on Sundays only
23
clinics are open on neither Saturday nor Sunday
Clinics are open an average
of 30.25 hours per week.
Average number of
treatments given per week:
1 clinic gave 440-459
1 clinic gave 280-299
1 clinic gave 230-239
2 clinics gave 200-219
1 clinic gave 180-189
3 clinics gave 170-179
1 clinic gave 140-149
4 clinics gave 130-139
1 clinic gave 120-129
2 clinics gave 110-119
2 clinics gave 100-109
7 clinics gave 80-89
4 clinics gave 70-79
8 clinics gave 60-69
8 clinics gave 50-59
9 clinics gave 40-49
15 clinics gave 30-39
20 clinics gave 20-29
8 clinics gave 10-19
4 less than 10
Clinics gave a total of
approximately 353,080 treatments for the year and an average of 66.5 treatments
per week in 2010.
GROSS INCOMES were reported in $20,000 increments as follows:
1 clinic reported gross income of $460,000-479,999
1 clinic reported gross income of $260,000-279,999
2 clinics reported gross incomes of $200,000-219,999
2 clinics reported gross incomes of $180,000-189,999
4 clinics reported gross incomes of $160,000-169,999
3 clinics reported gross incomes of $140,000-149,999
5 clinics reported gross incomes of $120,000-129,999
6 clinics reported gross incomes of $90,000-99,999
4 clinics reported gross incomes of $80,000-89,999
5 clinics reported gross incomes of $70,000-79,999
5 clinics reported gross incomes of $60,000-69,999
9 clinics reported gross incomes of $50,000-59,999
5 clinics reported gross incomes of $40,000-49,999
11 clinics reported gross incomes of $30,000-39,999
15 clinics reported gross incomes of $20,000-29,999
11 clinics reported gross incomes of $10,000-19,999
13 clinics reported gross incomes of $1-9,999
In 2010, community acupuncture was a $
6,040,013-7,099,898 ($6,569,655 average) industry!
TOTAL INCOME FROM
ACUPUNCTURE ONLY:
14
clinics made $1-9,999
14
clinics made $10,000-19,999
20
clinics made $20,000-29,999
5
clinics made $30,000-39,999
11
clinics made $40,000-49,999
5
clinics made $50,000-59,999
5
clinics made $60,000-69,999
5
clinics made $70,000-79,999
7
clinics made $80,000-89,999
1
clinic made $100,000-119,999
5
clinics made $120,000-139,999
3
clinics made $140,000-159,999
3
clinics made $160,000-179,999
1
clinic made $180,000-199,999
1
clinic made $200,000-219,999
1
clinic made $260,000-279,999
1
clinic made $400,000-419,999
NET income from herbs and other goods sold(revenue on sale of herbs/other goods sold minus the expense of
herbs/goods and sales tax; do not include herbal consult fees):
30
clinics earned $0
61
clinics earned $1-9999
9
clinics earned $10,000-19,999
2
clinics earned $20,000-29,999
TOTAL ANNUAL
EXPENSES (includes
rent, supplies, payroll, insurance and all taxes):
10
clinics spent less than $5,000
13
clinics spent $5,000-9,999
10
clinics spent $10,000-14,999
9
clinics spent $15,000-19,999
8
clinics spent $20,000-24,999
8
clinics spent $25,000-29,999
7
clinics spent $30,000-34,999
5
clinics spent $35,000-39,999
4
clinics spent $40,000-44,999
1
clinic spent $45,000-49,999
2
clinics spent $50,000-54,999
4
clinics spent $55,000-59,999
1
clinic spent $60,000-64,999
2
clinics spent $70,000-74,999
2
clinics spent $75,000-79,999
3
clinics spent $85,000-89,999
1
clinic spent $90,000-94,999
1
clinic spent $100,000-109,999
1
clinic spent $110,000-119,999
2
clinics spent $120,000-129,999
2
clinics spent $130,000-139,999
1
clinic spent $140,000-149,999
2
clinics spent $150,000-159,999
1
clinic spent $160,000-169,999
1
clinic spent $210,000-219,999
1
clinic spent over $400,000
ACUPUNCTURIST
EMPLOYEE HOURLY SALARIES:
82
clinics have no employees on payroll
2
clinics paid less than $15 per hour
1
clinic paid $15 per hour
2
clinics paid $17 per hour
2
clinics paid $18 per hour
4
clinics paid $20 per hour
1
clinic paid $22 per hour
1
clinic paid $23 per hour
3
clinics paid $25 per hour
1
clinic paid $26 per hour
1
clinic paid $27 per hour
1
clinic paid $28 per hour
1
clinic paid $30 or more per hour
RENT PRICE per month:
13
clinics paid less than $500
15
clinics paid $500-749
21
clinics paid $750-999
21
clinics paid $1000-1249
13
clinics paid $1250-1499
5
clinics paid $1500-1749
5
clinics paid $1750-1999
3
clinics paid $2000-2249
2
clinics paid $2500-2749
1
clinic paid $2750-2999
1
clinic paid $3000-3249
START-UP COSTS (includes all expenses such as
capital equipment, initial rent and security deposit, initial insurance
payment, furniture and supplies):
7
clinics did not know
6
clinics paid $0-1000
8
clinics paid $1001-2000
8
clinics paid $2001-3000
5
clinics paid $3001-4000
11
clinics paid $4001-5000
5
clinics paid $5001-6000
11
clinics paid $6001-7000
4
clinics paid $7001-8000
6
clinics paid $8001-9000
5
clinics paid $9001-10,000
7
clinics paid $10,001-11,000
4
clinics paid $11,001-12,000
2
clinics paid $12,001-13,000
2
clinics paid $13,001-14,000
1
clinic paid $14,001-15,000
2
clinics paid $15,001-16,000
1
clinic paid $18,001-19,000
2
clinics paid $19,001-20,000
1
clinic paid $23,001-24,000
4
clinics paid $25,000 or more
NUMBER OF FULL TIME
ACUPUNCTURISTS PER CLINIC (needling 20+ hours per week):
28
clinics have none
60
clinics have 1
8
clinics have 2
5
clinics have 3
1
clinic has 5
NUMBER OF PART-TIME
ACUPUNCTURISTS PER CLINIC (needling less than 20 hours per week):
51
clinics have none
27
clinics have 1
13
clinics have 2
7
clinics have 3
3
clinics have 4
1
clinic has 6
NUMBER OF HIRED
RECEPTIONISTS (not including
any office managers):
76
clinics have none
9
clinics have 1
8
clinics have 2
6
clinics have 3
1
clinic has 4
2
clinics have 5
HOURLY PAY FOR
RECEPTIONISTS:
76
clinics have no receptionist
2
clinics pay $8
5
clinics pay $9
11
clinics pay $10
3
clinics pay $11
1
clinic pays $12
2
clinics pay $13
2
clinics pay $14
TOTAL AMOUNT PAID
TO OFFICE MANAGERS IN 2010:
93
clinics have no office manager
4
clinics paid $1-5,000
1
clinic paid $5,001-10,000
1
clinic paid $10,001-15,000
1
clinic paid $15,001-20,000
1
clinic paid $20,001-25,000
1
clinic paid $25,001-30,000
Number of clinic owners
per clinic:
3 clinics have 3 clinic owners
21 clinics have 2 clinic owners
78 clinics have 1 clinic owner
Total
clinic owners: 129
CLINIC OWNER INCOME (amount of money is income after all taxes were
paid.For clinics with more than
one owner, clinics reported the average of the amounts made by each
acupuncturist):
1 clinic owner made $65,001-70,000
2 clinic owners made $50,001-55,000
2 clinic owners made $45,001-50,000
5 clinic owners made $40,001-45,000; 2 of these
clinics have 2 owners
9 clinic owners made $35,001-40,000; 1 of these
clinics have 2 owners
9 clinic owners made $30,001-35,000; 1 of these
clinics has 3 owners and 2 of these clinics have 2 owners
13 clinic owners made $25,001-30,000; 1 clinic has 3
owners
11 clinic owners made $20,001-25,000; 4 of these
clinics have 2 owners
11 clinic owners made $15,001-20,000; 3 of these
clinics have 2 owners
8 clinic owners made $10,001-15,000; 1 clinic has 2
owners
7 clinic owners made $5001-10,000
24 clinic owners made $1-5,000; 1 clinic
has 3 owners and 4 clinics have 2 owners
22 clinics had no income; 4 of these clinics have 2
owners
Clinic owners averaged $16,170 per year for income.
NUMBER
OF YEARS THE ACUPUNCTURIST/OWNER WAS PRACTICING BEFORE OPENING A COMMUNITY
ACUPUNCTURE CLINIC (For clinics with
more than one owner, the owner with the longest amount of time practicing gave
his/her number of years):
33
were practicing for less than 1 year
3
were practicing for 1 year
12
were practicing for 2 years
6
were practicing for 3 years
7
were practicing for 4 years
9
were practicing for 5 years
5
were practicing for 6 years
7
were practicing for 7 years
7
were practicing for 8 years
3
were practicing for 9 years
5
were practicing for 10 years
5
were practicing for more than 10 years
NUMBER OF YEARS THE
ACUPUNCTURIST/OWNER WAS PRACTICING IN HIS OR HER CURRENT CLINIC’S COMMUNITY (For clinics with more than one
owner, the owner with the longest amount of time practicing gave his/her number
of years):
49
were practicing for less than 1 year
5
were practicing for 1 year
10
were practicing for 2 years
10
were practicing for 3 years
6
were practicing for 4 years
5
were practicing for 5 years
3
were practicing for 6 years
4
were practicing for 7 years
2
were practicing for 8 years
2
were practicing for 9 years
2
were practicing for 10 years
4
were practicing for more than 10 years
Summarized
Data of Clinic Owners Earning $35,001-70,000: Because community acupuncture clinic owners are ultimately
interested in earning a living wage while treating a high volume of patients,
we have chosen to focus on this group of clinic owners and their clinics’
characteristics.A total of 17
clinics reported owners making $35,001 or more.In total, 20 clinic owners made $35,001 or more.
YEARS
OPENED:
3
of these clinics opened in 2006
5
of these clinics opened in 2007
6
of these clinics opened in 2008
1
of these clinics opened in 2009
2
of these clinics opened in 2010
CLINIC
SIZE:
2
of these clinics are less than 700 square feet
4
of these clinics are 700-999 square feet
2
of these clinics are 1000-1499 square feet
7
of these clinics are1500-1999 square feet
2
of these clinics are 2000-2499 square feet
COMBINED
NUMBER OF CHAIRS AND TABLES:
None
have less than 6 chairs and/or tables
10
clinics have 6-10 chairs and/or tables
3
clinics have 11-15 chairs and/or tables
3
clinics have 16-20 chairs and/or tables
1
clinic has 21 or more chairs and/or tables
CLINIC
LOCATION:
10
of these clinics are in an urban area
7
of these clinics are in a suburban area
none
are rural
OFFICE
BUILDING TYPE:
7
are store fronts
7
are office spaces
2
are industrial/warehouse spaces
1
describes itself as “other”
none
are home offices
SIGNAGE:
11
of these clinics have signs outside the building
6
of these clinics don’t have signs
NUMBER OF HOURS IN WHICH
APPOINTMENTS ARE BOOKED EACH WEEK:
1
clinic books 15-19 hours per week
3
clinics book 20-24
2
clinics book 25-29
3
clinics book 35-39
4
clinics book 40-44
3
clinics book 55-59
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A GREAT BIG THANK YOU !
A GREAT BIG THANK YOU ! again Justine (and any other survey elves) for all the time and effort put into compiling and analyzing this data!
Going to have to download this one
and read it later, a lot of stuff here. Some of the conclusions seem to fall into the realm of common sense though; the bigger the clinic, the busier it is, absolutely shocking.
It’s certainly a concrete look at the makeup of some of the CAN members and I fit into the mix. Not that I look at the list for comparison and gaze enviously at the larger numbers, but it reminds me of the direction I’m going. Like the jocks always say, “hard work pays off”.
Thanks to everyone who did the boring job of looking at all these numbers; I would love to see some follow-up/profiles of success. I know that the big names have already written a lot on the subject already (https://www.communityacupuncturenetwork.org/blog/one-jedis-approach-busy-clinic) but it would be cool to have something a bit more organised.
I’m sure I’ll pick up some good stuff in April too… see yous in a couple weeks!
yay for young needlers
Thanks! Just what what us students need for writing a biz plan.
Encouraging to hear of the success of many new practitioners with the CAN model–quite a few young folks in the 35k-70k range:
24% just started needling
59% have just been needling 3 yrs
Most clinics started out with 7k or less.
Considering 32% are complete newbies, an avg of $16k for income–not bad.
I’m not a statistician, don’t know if these could be tracked, but here are some suggestions for future CAN surveys, to help newbies like me in planning:
–What do the profit/loss margins look like after the first year? And what are the trends over time?
–How long it takes to break even for brand new CAN clinics? (I’ve been advised by my acu school biz teacher to not expect to break even before 18 mos–Does CAN’s model demonstrate any promise/advantage for new acupuncturists/small business owners starting out in general? Should we expect to not break even for 1.5 yrs? Would be great to have data like this to share with our schools)
–And ever more important, but probably near impossible: Comparisons of data with non-CAN clinics/acupuncturists.
–Demographics of patients–difficult to get I’m sure.
Awesome!
Thank you Justine and everyone who participated. OK, I love to look at data and I see great progress in collecting and presenting useful information. Great job! And to the 102 clinics reporting over 350,000 treatments last year at an average cost per treatment to your patients of less than $19, well your communities are very fortunate to have you.
Is acupuncture becoming more affordable and more accessible?………..YES!!!
Steve Kingsbury
Ashland Community Acupuncture, LLC
WOW! Thanks Justine!
So much work, but how cool to be tracking the state of community acupuncture this way.
Thank YOU!
To all of you who took the time to complete this survey, and especially to those of you who helped call the clinics who needed reminders- your efforts are greatly appreciated!
Justine Deutsch, Acupuncture Together of Cambridge, MA
Great timing
As I write a biz plan – thanks Justine for all your work in this. And yes, also thanks to Cris who left me the nicest reminder message ever!
Thank you!
Thank you so very much for doing this, Justine! It is amazing to see the numbers and to be able to set goals as a clinic based on actual data.
Also, 350,000 treatments! That is so awesome. Go CAN!
Little Bird Community Acupuncture
Washington, DC
http://www.littlebirddc.com
Thank you.
So much work went into this. Thanks to all involved for their efforts!
Nancy
Graphs please
Great stuff, very informative. However, it would be awesome to see these plotted on bar graphs, so one can get a better idea of where the solid middle lies. Is the data in a spreadsheet? It would be easy to make graphs if it was.
Wow!
I just want to say how awesome I feel to be entering the acupuncture field as a CAN professional – due largely to the time and energy such an undertaking as this assessment requires and that it was done! I feel very confident knowing I’ll be among those who know this kind of information is important and necessary and who take the time and spend the effort to pull it all together. Very little means more to me than this kind of professionalism. You have my heartfelt gratitude and I commend any and all who were involved in getting it done.
.
thanks ya’ll. lots of hard work here, and very much appreciated. with all this talk of numbers, i think we should also survey how many high fives are going to be shared at the CANference! and yes, maverick/goose top gun high fives count double.
Justine,
Thank you so much for going above and beyond information collection.
Besides the information being a treasure trove, you yourself are a treasure to CAN. This must have taken many hours though I imagine it was actually kind of fun being the first to see it.
Perhaps next year questions about marketing can be added…find out if any trends exist in that arena as well.
Tess Bois
One World Community Acupuncture
Fitchburg, MA
Graphs Available in Forums –
Graphs are now available here: https://www.pocacoop.com/forums/viewthread/985/
Justine Deutsch, Acupuncture Together of Cambridge, MA
Wow! Thank you so much for
Wow! Thank you so much for the info gathering. This is exciting and clarifying data for our profession. Thanks also to all the volunteer callers. You guys rock!
Thank you! Thank you!
The amount of time and effort to put this together (along with supplying the great visual of graphs) is much appreciated. Karen in Eugene
Thanks
Thanks Justine, but I let my CAN membership lapse when I moved out of the country. I couldn’t resist though and stayed up last night doing a little number crunching of my own. I posted a few thoughts on the survey here: https://acupuncturecarl.blogspot.com/2011/03/riffing-on-can-survey.html.
Professionalism
Holy crap youre right Kim! CAN has professional integrity! Take that alphabet soups of the acu world!
😀
Nick Kurtz
Ad Astra Acu
Lawrence, CANsas
Double
High-Five Justine.
(Is that the same as bump?)
And quadruple thanks for doing all that serious number crunching.
Nice Work!
Thanks so much for taking on this large task Justine & team. High fives all around for your data gathering efforts.
Chaitime, you can ride my
Chaitime, you can ride my tail anytime!
Satisfaction info?
Wow- what great info! Thanks for all the hard work on this.
Question: I noticed in snapshots of individual clinics, the practitioners rated their satisfaction with their current income (“Somewhat”, “Very”, etc.). Are there stats available on how satisfied CA clinic owners as a whole are with their income?
thanks again!
thank you Carl
Carl,
Thanks for you analysis. It is a bit daunting to look over all this material and make sence of it. You make some very good points and raise good questions. I hope that you get involved in the next survey. I would be happy to help.
Lets make more money !!!
Baba