How to price treatment packages: sessions, discounts, deposits and revenue
In most clinics the package price is the session price times the number of sessions minus a discount chosen by instinct. That works until the owner is asked at year end: are the packages profitable? And nobody can answer. Here is a method that makes the answer possible.
Start from the cost of a session, not its price
Every session has 4 cost components: the doctor's or therapist's time, consumables, device and room time, and the doctor's share if it is on revenue.
A 20-minute laser session on a device costing 12,000 SAR a month and running 120 hours a month carries 33 SAR of device cost before anything else. Add consumables and the therapist's time, and that is the floor the price never goes below.
Anything priced without knowing this number is priced on hope.
The discount buys commitment, not volume
The patient buys the package to get a lower price. The clinic sells it to get something more valuable: a patient committed to 6 prepaid visits instead of 6 separate decisions.
So the discount is sized by what the commitment saves: guaranteed slots, collection up front, zero marketing cost for the next five sessions. A discount of 10% to 15% off single-session prices usually achieves that without eating the margin.
Anything beyond that needs a written reason: a time-limited campaign, filling empty device hours, or an introductory package that leads to a larger one.
Small, medium and full
3 options sell better than one. 3 sessions with almost no discount, 6 at the standard discount, and 10 at a slightly higher discount plus what makes it complete: a follow-up consultation or a maintenance session.
The rule is that the middle package is the one you want to sell. And the price per session steps down gradually, not in one jump.
Deposit and payment schedule
A package paid in full up front is easier to account for and harder to sell. What works in most markets: a deposit at purchase that covers at least the cost of the first session, and the rest in instalments tied to sessions, not dates.
"Before session 4" is clearer to the patient and to the receptionist than "after 30 days". And the system blocks the booking if the instalment is unpaid.
Deferred revenue: money that is not profit yet
A 6-session package for 3,000 SAR paid in January. If you record it as January revenue, January's profit is inflated, the doctor share calculated from it is wrong, and February and March look like losses.
The right way is to record 500 SAR at each delivered session. What has not been delivered yet is an obligation of the clinic, not revenue. A system that knows this is a package does that on its own.
That total, deferred revenue, deserves to be read every month. It is the amount of work you owe.
The doctor share on a package
Calculated on the delivered session, not on the sold package. For the same reason: a doctor who sold a package and left the clinic after two sessions does not earn the share of six.
If the discount was the clinic's decision it comes out of the clinic's side. If it was the doctor's decision it comes out of both at the same ratio. An agreement written once and applied automatically, not negotiated every month.
What happens when the patient stops
An unfinished package has 3 possible outcomes, each with a rule written in advance: refund of remaining sessions at the single price not the package price, transfer of the balance to another service, or freezing the package with a return date.
The rule is written in the quotation the patient signed at purchase. That is what makes the quotation a document rather than a piece of paper.
How to know whether a package is profitable
3 numbers per package type: margin per session after cost and share, completion rate, and what the patient buys next on average.
A package with good margin and 50% completion is badly designed. A package with thin margin after which 7 in 10 patients buy a larger one is a successful introductory package, even if it looks like a loss on its own.
Questions
Do I price by session or by outcome?
By session in the calculation, by outcome in the offer. The patient buys "clear skin in 6 sessions"; the clinic costs 6 sessions.
What is a reasonable discount?
What the commitment pays for: usually 10% to 15% off the single price. Above that needs a specific reason and a specific end date.
Should I accept instalments?
Yes, tied to sessions rather than dates. The system blocks the next session if the instalment is late.
How do I record package revenue?
At each delivered session. What was paid and not yet delivered is deferred revenue, an obligation rather than profit.
What if the consumables supplier raises prices mid-way through sold packages?
Sold packages are delivered at their price. New packages are repriced, which is why cost per session is reviewed quarterly rather than yearly.
Do packages suit every specialty?
They suit every treatment that repeats: dermatology, aesthetics, physiotherapy, nutrition, speech therapy, psychiatric follow-up. They do not suit the single visit, and it does not need them.
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