6 reasons patients leave a practice (and how to keep them)

Most physicians go into medicine to take care of patients, not to worry about whether those patients will stay with the practice for the next year. But the math of running a practice makes retention impossible to ignore.

According to MGMA, acquiring a new patient costs six to seven times more than keeping a current one, and an estimated 80% of a practice’s future profits come from just 20% of its existing patient base. Yet industry benchmarks show the average health care organization sees a churn rate of about 48%, meaning it loses patients faster than it brings them in. Industry analyses have found that the average five-year new patient retention rate sits at just 43% and that physicians lose roughly half their patient database over that same span.

The financial stakes are significant. Research compiled by MGMA has shown that even a modest 5% improvement in retention rates can boost profits by 25% to 95%. According to a WebMD Ignite analysis, every 1% gain in retention translates to a 4% improvement in projected patient lifetime value, a figure that compounds quickly across a panel of thousands.

Despite all of this, many practices still do not have a firm handle on why patients leave. Industry data suggests that about 20% of health care organizations do not know where or why patient leakage happens, and only about a third say they manage it well. The result is a steady, often invisible drain on revenue and continuity of care.

The reasons patients walk away are rarely mysterious. They tend to fall into a handful of operational and experiential categories that are well within a practice’s control. Here are six of the most common, along with practical strategies to prevent each one.