What Is Patient Visit Average (PVA)? Definition and Formula
Patient visit average (PVA) is the average number of visits each new patient attends, calculated as total patient visits divided by new patients over the same period.
Patient visit average, or PVA, tells you how many visits a typical new patient ends up attending before they stop coming. If a chiropractic office logged 600 visits last quarter and saw 40 new patients in that quarter, its PVA is 15. It is one of the fastest ways to see whether patients are finishing care or quietly disappearing after visit three.
How do you calculate patient visit average?
PVA = total patient visits / new patients, over the same period. Use the same window for both numbers, and make it long enough to smooth out timing, at least a quarter. A month is too short: patients who started at the end of the month have not had time to come back, so PVA looks low, and the next month it looks high.
| Quarter | Total visits | New patients | PVA |
|---|---|---|---|
| Q1 | 600 | 40 | 15.0 |
| Q2 | 560 | 45 | 12.4 |
| Q3 | 630 | 42 | 15.0 |
In this example, Q2 brought in more new patients but fewer visits each. That is worth a look: a new ad, a cheaper offer, or a new provider can all pull PVA down.
What does a low patient visit average tell you?
A low PVA usually means patients are leaving before their plan of care is done, and the cause is almost always one of three things. The plan was never clearly sold in the report of findings, the patient pays per visit and decides each time whether to come back, or the front desk is not booking ahead. Check your case acceptance rate first; if most patients say yes and still drop off, the problem is follow-through, not the pitch. For what good looks like, see our patient visit average benchmarks.
Why does PVA matter for marketing?
PVA multiplied by collections per visit gives you the value of a new patient, and that sets how much you can spend on ads. A clinic with a PVA of 12 at $90 a visit has about $1,080 in each new patient (our arithmetic). Raise PVA to 15 and the same patient is worth $1,350, without spending another dollar on ads. That is why we look at visit numbers before ad budgets. The clinic benchmarks hub puts PVA next to the other numbers worth tracking.
Questions owners ask
What period should I use to calculate PVA?
Use at least a quarter, and a rolling 12 months if you can. A single month mixes patients at the start and end of their care, so the number swings around.
Should reactivated patients count as new patients in PVA?
Pick one rule and keep it. Many clinics count a returning patient starting a new episode of care as a new patient for PVA, but whatever you choose, use it every month so trends mean something.
How do I raise my patient visit average?
Look at where patients drop off. Usually the fix is a clearer report of findings, a plan of care sold as one package, and a front desk that books the next visits before the patient leaves.