Build your Elf
Menu

FREE CASH-PLANNING TOOL

Plan the cash behind your opening.

Your opening costs are only part of the story. Explore the first 12 months of a new practice, from your first visits to the money that actually reaches your account.

No login. Nothing is sent or saved. All amounts are in USD.

Start with an example. Make it yours.

Illustrative inputs, not specialty benchmarks or PPS historical averages.

Showing the mixed-pay example. Review all four groups before relying on the result.

01Patients & paymentsReview these assumptions

When can you see patients, how many will come, and when will the money arrive?

Month 1 is when recurring costs start. Allow time for your space, setup, and enrollment before billable visits.

Total completed visits across all clinicians, not appointment slots.

Use a volume your capacity and patient demand can support.

Count from your first patient month. We spread the increase evenly; you can edit each month instead.

Expected dollars after contractual adjustments and write-offs, before operating costs. This is not your billed charge.

Cash or direct pay collected promptly. The rest follows the insurance delay below. This does not reduce your expenses.

A delay of 2 puts payment for Month 1 visits in Month 3. Assume services are billable; enrollment is not a payment guarantee.

Useful for a slower opening, seasonality, or a hiring plan. These replace the four ramp inputs above.

02Monthly cash going outReview these assumptions

Include the practice and the income you need from it. These fixed costs begin in Month 1, even before visits start.

Include payroll taxes and benefits. Keep your own draw in the separate field below.

Rent, EHR, insurance, marketing, utilities, and other recurring costs. Exclude staff, draws, debt, taxes, and per-visit costs entered separately.

Supplies or other costs that rise with completed visits. Do not repeat costs already in overhead.

What you need to take from the practice for living costs and personal health coverage. Avoid counting your pay twice.

Principal and interest paid monthly. Enter new funding in the next group.

Your planned tax payment, not a calculated tax bill.

03Setup, funding & your reserveReview these assumptions

Separate one-time spending from monthly costs, and money you already have from new funding.

Build-out, equipment, deposits, licenses, advisers, and other costs paid before Month 1. Exclude recurring expenses and tail entered elsewhere.

Use an actual quote or your own allowance if applicable. Enter 0 if none is owed by you; we do not infer it from your profession or policy type.

Only money available for this plan. Keep emergency funds you cannot use outside this figure.

Funds separate from cash above. Do not count the same loan twice or include funds that arrive later.

The additional-cash estimate includes keeping this balance. Use 0 to examine only the shortfall below zero.

04A slower-start comparisonReview these assumptions

Change these assumptions to see a second scenario. This is a comparison you choose, not a confidence interval or a prediction.

Reduces each month’s visit count, including per-visit revenue and costs.

Adds to the main delay, up to 6 months total. Same-month receipts keep their timing.

Applies to staff and other practice overhead. Setup costs, draws, debt, taxes, and per-visit costs stay as entered.

All example buttons replace the entire plan. Use your own quotes, capacity, costs, and payer terms. Your entries stay in this page until you leave or reload.

Estimate based on your inputs and typical timelines, not a promise. We refine it as we learn more. Your real number depends on your payer mix, practice state, and actual overhead. This calculator uses the timings you enter, not a payer approval forecast. A positive month does not mean you have recovered your startup costs.

See every month and the calculation ↓

FOLLOW THE MONEY

The numbers behind the curve.

Setup is paid before Month 1. Fixed costs begin in Month 1. Cash receipts follow completed visits and the collection timing you entered.

Additional cash = your minimum reserve minus the lowest balance, including setup, with a minimum of $0. Cash paid out includes fixed practice costs, per-visit costs, personal draws, debt payments, and the tax amount you enter. The displayed range compares your two scenarios; it is not a statistical confidence range.

MAKE THE ASSUMPTIONS FIT

A useful plan starts with the right questions.

Bring your quotes and operating plan to the numbers. PPS can help you examine the assumptions behind your practice launch.

Discuss your practice plan →

What this version still holds constant

  • The same net revenue per visit and payment mix each month. Cash or direct pay is collected in the visit month; the rest follows one insurance delay.
  • The monthly staff, overhead, draw, debt, and tax amounts you enter. All begin in Month 1. It does not schedule different hiring dates, rent steps, or later loan draws.
  • No opening receivables or payables, tax-rate calculation, interest accrual, or loan approval. It models a new practice, not an existing practice’s books.
  • Month-end balances can miss shortfalls within a month. Memberships, capitation, procedures with very different payment rates, and payer-by-payer enrollment need a more detailed plan.

There is no specialty or state adjustment hidden in the math, and no assumption that claims-made coverage means you personally owe tail. Read the cash-planning guide →

PracticeElf provides business and educational guidance and administrative services, not legal, medical, tax, or financial advice. We are not attorneys. For legal decisions we connect you with independent, licensed counsel. This calculator uses embedded planning assumptions, not a current payer quote or a validated prediction. Results vary by specialty, state, payer mix, and practice circumstances.