Which marketing KPIs should a physician practice track?

Seven KPIs cover most of what an owner needs: new enquiries by source, speed to lead, missed-call rate, booking rate, show rate, new patients by source, and cost per new patient. Together they show where patients come from and where they drop out between the first call and the first visit.

If you can only start with one, start with new patients by source. Every other KPI explains why that number moved. Our glossary entries on speed to lead and show rate give fuller definitions.

Define each KPI once, in writing

Most reporting arguments come from loose definitions. Decide, in writing, what counts as a new patient: a first visit ever, or a first visit in three years? Decide whether a repeat caller counts as one enquiry or two. Decide whether a no-show who rebooks counts toward show rate. Then keep those rules fixed, so this quarter compares fairly with last quarter.

Use HIPAA-safe call tracking with a number per channel, tag every web form with its source, ask every new patient how they found you, and match enquiries to appointments in one log. Keep advertising pixels off patient portals, booking flows and intake forms, and sign a BAA with any vendor that handles patient data.

HHS guidance on online tracking technologies, issued in December 2022 and updated in March 2024, warns that tracking on authenticated pages such as patient portals can disclose protected health information. A federal court vacated part of that guidance in June 2024, the part covering some unauthenticated public pages. Tracking on portals and other authenticated pages is still covered. Confirm your setup with counsel.

A practical setup order

1. Call tracking numbers per channel, with recordings handled under a BAA.
2. Source fields on every form, carried into your enquiry log.
3. A required "how did you hear about us" field at intake.
4. A weekly match of enquiries to booked and kept visits.

See HIPAA-safe call tracking for what to ask vendors.

Keep the enquiry log simple. A shared spreadsheet or the practice's CRM works, as long as it records the date, the source, whether the person booked, and whether they came in. It should hold no clinical detail. The front desk updates it daily; the marketing lead checks it weekly.

KPIs are most useful when read together. A change in one number usually points to a specific stage of the funnel. Before changing channels or budgets, find the stage where patients drop out, because the fix there is often cheaper than buying more enquiries.

• Enquiries up, bookings flat: the front desk, scheduling access or call handling is the bottleneck.
• Bookings up, show rate down: reminders, confirmation calls or long waits for a first appointment need attention.
• Enquiries down across every channel: check for seasonality, a broken website form, or a listing change on Google.
• One channel's cost per new patient rising: competition or targeting has shifted; test changes before cutting.
• Strong new-patient numbers but a full schedule: marketing may be ahead of capacity; shift spend toward the services or physicians with open time.

Change one thing at a time where you can, and note the date in the log. Otherwise, next month you will not know which fix moved the number.

To turn these KPIs into a return figure, see how physicians measure marketing ROI.