What does a dental practice’s patient base add to its value?

One way to ask this is what a single dental patient is worth. The sources behind this page do not support a per-patient price. BDC describes earnings-based methods as a review of forecasted earnings or cash flow and past results, and market-based methods as applying a multiple that varies with factors such as industry and comparable sales. A patient base therefore matters to the extent it supports those earnings. This page covers the narrower question of the patient base. For the practice as a whole, see what a dental practice is worth.

Do patients stay after the owner leaves?

BDC’s due diligence guidance suggests a buyer ask who holds the key customer relationships, and when the vendor leaves, whether the customers leave too. Applied to a practice, ask how many patients see the owner and how many see an associate or hygienist, and how regular their visits are. Ask for revenue by patient or by payer if the practice tracks it. Those answers show how dependent the earnings are on the person selling.

Patient records are not the same as value

In Ontario, records are held by a health information custodian. The Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario says a custodian’s obligations to protect records and let patients exercise access and correction rights do not end until a legally authorized successor has custody and control of the records. Its fact sheet recommends a succession plan naming a person responsible during the transfer for tasks including notifying patients of the transfer. That is the Ontario regime under PHIPA.

Provincial dental regulators set their own rules

Other provinces and their dental regulators run their own rules. New Brunswick’s dental society, in its Rule 5, says records are only transferred on the written request of the patient or the patient’s legal guardian. That rule does not mention a practice sale, so a buyer should not assume the records come with the sale; confirm with your provincial dental regulator how a practice sale and record transfer are meant to work.