# Patient lifetime value Short answer: Patient lifetime value, often shortened to LTV, is the total revenue a typical patient brings a clinic over the whole time they stay a patient. It helps a clinic judge what a new patient is worth and how much effort keeping one deserves. ## Why does patient lifetime value matter? A first visit rarely tells the whole story. A new hygiene patient may later need a crown, refer a partner and stay for years. A med spa client who starts with one treatment may join a membership. Lifetime value rolls that whole relationship into one number, which makes it far easier to decide what a new patient is worth chasing and what keeping one is worth. ## How do you calculate patient lifetime value? The simple version multiplies three averages: what a patient spends per visit, how many visits they make a year, and how many years they stay. Some clinics use gross profit in place of revenue, which gives a more honest number. > Example > > Average revenue per visit: $180 > > Average visits per year: 3 > > Average years as a patient: 5 > > Lifetime value = $180 × 3 × 5 = $2,700 > > Using a 40% gross margin instead: $2,700 × 0.40 = $1,080 Hairdressers understand this without a spreadsheet. A regular who books a cut every six weeks for a decade is the business; the one-off wedding updo is a nice day. ## How is lifetime value different from acquisition cost? [Patient acquisition cost](https://agentblue.io/glossary/patient-acquisition-cost) is what you spend to win a new patient. Lifetime value is what that patient is worth once won. Putting the two side by side shows whether a channel makes sense: one that costs a lot per patient can still be worth it if those patients stay for years. The honest catch: averages hide a lot. A few long-standing, high-spending patients can lift the average far above what most patients are worth, so look at the middle of the range too, and never let the number decide who deserves good care. ## Frequently asked questions ### What data do I need to calculate lifetime value? Revenue per patient, visit dates, and each patient's first and last visit. Most practice management software can export these, and a spreadsheet does the rest. ### Should lifetime value use revenue or profit? Profit gives the more honest number for marketing decisions, since revenue ignores the cost of providing care. Revenue is easier to get, so many clinics start there and refine it later. [See patient referrals for clinics](https://agentblue.io/solutions/patient-referrals) ## Related terms - [Patient acquisition cost](https://agentblue.io/glossary/patient-acquisition-cost): Patient acquisition cost is the total a clinic spends on marketing and sales in a period, divided by the number of new patients who had a first visit in that period. It answers one plain question: what does a new patient cost us? - [Patient retention rate](https://agentblue.io/glossary/patient-retention-rate): Patient retention rate is the share of patients seen in one period who come back for another visit in the next period of the same length. It shows how many people stay with a clinic, as opposed to how many new ones arrive. - [Case acceptance rate in dentistry](https://agentblue.io/glossary/case-acceptance-rate): Case acceptance in dentistry is the share of recommended treatment that patients agree to go ahead with, measured by the number of treatment plans or by their value. Practices usually track it as a rate over a month or a quarter. - [Closed-loop attribution](https://agentblue.io/glossary/closed-loop-attribution): Closed-loop attribution connects a booked and attended appointment back to the marketing source that started it, such as an ad, a search listing or a referral, and reports that outcome by source. The loop is closed when the real visit, and ideally its revenue, is matched to the first touch. Source page: