Patient acquisition cost is marketing spend divided by new patients who complete intake, not leads and not platform-reported clicks. Use Catalyze Care’s published fees as inputs: referral $5,000/month (3-month minimum), SEO $799/month, paid ads $2,500/month management with media separate. The denominator is a booked field your front desk already records. We do not publish a specialty CAC or CPC range. How to read the monthly packet: how practices should read a monthly healthcare marketing report. First public date: August 26, 2026. Updated September 24, 2026.
In one sentenceUse published fees as inputs. Use your own intake as the denominator. Do not staff a channel from an unnamed benchmark.
Updated September 24, 2026: use published Catalyze retainers ($5,000 / $799 / $2,500) as budget anchors when you model channel mix. Catalyze Care does not publish a universal patient-acquisition cost.
The definitions first
Cost per lead: marketing spend divided by inquiries (calls, forms, messages) the front desk can count.
Cost per booked patient: spend divided by patients who scheduled a first visit.
Cost per active patient: spend divided by patients who completed a first visit and are in care.
The gap between those three is operational, not a published Catalyze figure. Improving intake (speed to first visit, live answer, a form someone actually follows) often moves the booked and active numbers more than adding spend. Budget frameworks: healthcare marketing budget allocation.
What you can put on the spreadsheet
Write the retainer you actually pay. For Catalyze Care that is $5,000 / $799 / $2,500 as above. If paid is live, add media as a separate line. Divide each channel’s spend by booked inquiries from your own intake for that month. Do not import a specialty average from a slide.
Referral marketing is front-loaded: the $5,000 line buys a quarter of list work and outreach, not a week-one patient count. Close-the-loop fields: close-the-loop referral reporting. Service: healthcare referral marketing.
SEO at $799/month compounds. Local pack and organic are different surfaces. Comparison: local pack vs organic SEO.
Paid ads at $2,500/month management plus media should convert to booked inquiries the front desk can confirm, without diagnosis-level pixels. Guide: paid ads for healthcare practices, explained.
What moves your number
- Insurance and who you take. The offer on the page has to match what intake will book.
- Speed to first visit. Days between inquiry and appointment change the booked denominator.
- Intake responsiveness. Live answer and same-day follow-up are cheaper than more media.
- Landing-page clarity. Who you see, where, how to start, above the fold.
How to know if yours are usable
Compare cost per active patient to revenue the practice already knows for that service line. Set a target from your own math, not from what an ad platform says a lead should cost. Channel contrast: referral marketing vs paid ads.
How Catalyze Care reports CAC
Monthly, by channel, reconciled against the practice's own intake rather than platform-reported conversions. If a number cannot be checked against intake, it does not belong on the slide. Process: how Catalyze Care works.
FAQ
What CAC numbers should a practice track?
Cost per lead (spend divided by inquiries), cost per booked patient (spend divided by first visits scheduled), and cost per active patient (spend divided by patients who completed a first visit and are in care). Use the practice's own intake as the denominator.
What CAC or CPC ranges does Catalyze Care publish?
Catalyze Care publishes fees as budget inputs: referral $5,000/month (3-month minimum), SEO $799/month, paid ads $2,500/month management with media separate. We do not publish a specialty CAC or CPC range. Measure your own booked-patient denominator. Frameworks: healthcare marketing budget allocation.
How does Catalyze Care report CAC?
Monthly, by channel, reconciled against the practice's own intake rather than platform-reported conversions. If a number cannot be checked against intake, it does not belong on the slide.