What should I check before buying an acupuncture clinic?

An acupuncture clinic is built on relationships. Patients return to a person they trust, and the treatment rooms are quiet and simple. That makes the usual financial review only half the job. A buyer also needs to understand who the patients belong to and what holds the practice together once the owner steps back.

Do patients follow the owner?

Ask the seller to describe the patient base without names. How many are regulars, how many came by referral, and how many see someone other than the owner? If most book with the owner alone, plan for a long, careful introduction. Ask the seller what transition period they are willing to offer, and put it in writing.

Practitioners and their arrangements

Find out how each practitioner is engaged, whether as an employee or on their own account, and ask to see the written terms. Talk to them, with the seller’s permission, about whether they intend to stay. Ask your lawyer whether any ownership or registration rules apply to you.

Fees, packages and billing

Ask for the current fee schedule and how it has changed. If patients prepay for a series of treatments, find out how many are unused and ask your lawyer how those visits are handled at closing. Ask how much revenue comes through extended health plans and how claims are handled, and compare it with cash-paying patients over several months.

Referrals, lease and rooms

List the referral sources, such as doctors, other therapists and community groups, and ask whether those relationships belong to the owner personally. Read the lease for its remaining term and renewal rights. Walk the treatment rooms and confirm what fit-out is owned and what must be replaced. Our page on massage therapy clinic due diligence covers similar ground.