Low-Maintenance, High-Net Acupuncture Practice for Sale in Portland

The city of Portland has close to 650,000 residents, with about 2.5 million people residing within the greater Portland Metropolitan Area.
U.S. News & World Report ranks Portland within its top-10 “Best Places to Live” in the United States owing to its exceptional public schools, safety, local entertainment, employment opportunities, and incredible natural beauty.
It is also a top culinary destination, ranked as one of the country’s top 10 “foodie cities,” with amazing food carts, creative cuisine, and a thriving craft beer and wine community.
Portland has the country’s largest city park, and the surrounding rivers and mountains offer walking, hiking, biking trails, greenways, camping, fishing, lakes, and waterfalls.
The clinic sits in the epicenter of the city: A short walk from famous Powell’s Bookstore and Blue Star Donuts, as well as the Living Room Theater, the central library, and the city’s biggest and most popular farmer’s market.
The Portland Streetcar and Max Line are nearby, and parking is ample and close.
The building also has a covered, locked bicycle room that available and a shower facility for those who would like to use it after riding in.
The recently-remodeled office consists of a beautiful reception area, two treatment rooms with high-end adjustable electric tables, and an herbal dispensary area with a sink and a complete granule and patent herbal pharmacy.
The space is exquisitely decorated, has been a medical office for over fifty years, and has amazing views of the city and the mountains, including Mt. St. Helens.

ACP is a non-specialty practice, seeing everything from subclinical and acute orthopedic conditions to chronic issues that have not responded to other medical interventions.
The patient population spans from teens to great grandparents, and most everyone between.
The practice currently averages about 25 patients per week, evenly split between insurance and cash.
Most patients come from communities within 15 miles of the office.
Given the long history of this practice (about 40 years), most patients are referred by word-of-mouth and allied practitioners.
About 20% come through the practice’s online presence, and 10% through in-network insurance.

The basis of the practice has been Zang-Fu and channel theory diagnosis and treatment methodologies in addition to a smattering of Japanese techniques.
Dr. Stephens has been certified in Sports Medicine Acupuncture® for many years, and frequently uses those insights and techniques when treating musculoskeletal complaints, along with the kinesiology directives of Neurokinetic Therapy®.
His decades of clinical experience have led to some of his own unique ways of establishing diagnoses and developing treatment strategies, which could be taught to an aspiring buyer of the practice.
Moxa and cupping are used infrequently, gua sha and manual therapies occasionally, and only about 20% of patients receive herbal formulas.

The following income and expense summaries are derived from an average of income and expenses from YE2015-2018. Note that Dr. Stephens works a maximum of 3½ days per week, with up to 9 weeks off per year.

Income

Average gross yearly revenue (4 years): $114,005 ($9,500/month)

Expenses

Average adjusted* expenses: $31,664 yearly ($2,638/month)

*Adjusted expenses are the net expenses that a new owner would have to take on in order to run the business at the same level of revenue as the current owner. Thus, elective variable expenses such as continuing education, transportation, licenses and fees, etc. are removed from gross expenses to calculate adjusted expenses. Take-home pay for the owner is included in adjusted expenses at the same level the current owner is paid.

Net Profit:

Average $82,341/year (~$6,862/month) – Over 70% of revenue is profit after expenses.

$124,950 OBO. The sale price is based on a conservative professional valuation of just over $131,000, with an average yearly gross of $114,000 for the past several years.
The owner’s motivation to sell in a timely fashion has allowed him to generously factor in a discount off of the valuated price for potential attrition and start-up costs on change of ownership. He expects the right person will retain his patients and transition smoothly, making this a great opportunity for the buyer.
The purchase will be structured as an asset purchase agreement and may be drawn up between buyer and seller (preferred) or by attorneys, at the discretion and by agreement of both parties.
Approval of the buyer is subject to a credit check, and loans from medical practice brokers, banks, or the Small Business Administration (SBA) may be available to finance the transaction depending on the buyer’s creditworthiness. .
The current owner may also be willing to finance part of the purchase for the right buyer.
Upon purchase, the new owner will receive all patient records and equipment in addition to any supplement inventory.
The current owner will also transfer to the new owner all clinic-related intellectual property, including the clinic phone number, website, claimed Yelp page, ClientTracker EHR software, TimeTap online scheduling software, and clinic-related financials. (Note that some of the intellectual property is maintained with monthly or yearly payments. Thus, the transfer refers to the transfer of existing data, not including ongoing payments after the sale.)
The landlord is willing to transfer and extend the lease and the current owner will facilitate interaction with the landlord in order to secure favorable lease terms.
The current owner’s goal is to surrender the practice by the end of 2019. He would be willing to stay on for a mutually-agreed-to length of time to train a new owner in his techniques and to assist in the transition, if so desired by the new owner, at no additional cost.

While the current practice nets a healthy return, a motivated buyer could significantly increase their income upon acquisition through a number of simple changes.

Work more hours. Given that the current owner only works the equivalent of 3½ days per week and takes up to two months off per year, working more days would obviously increase revenue.
Add additional practitioners. In addition to or in lieu of working more hours, the practice could easily support at least one more provider during the times when the office is unoccupied.
Improve online presence. The current owner has been successful without putting too much effort into creating an online presence. Blogging, improving the website, paid online marketing, and doing some email marketing all hold great potential to improve awareness of the clinic in order to generate more revenue.
Do some marketing. The business has been successful for so long that it has been self-perpetuating for years without any additional marketing. The practice has a database full of patient information that could be used for marketing directly to current and former patients. Doing any kind of additional marketing would create more opportunities for an increase in new patients and a return of pre-existing patients. Further blogging, improving the website, paid online marketing, and email marketing all hold great potential to improve awareness of the clinic in order to generate more revenue.
Sell products. Only about 20% of patients receive herbal medicines. Giving more patients the option of herbal medicine or allied products offers another opportunity for significantly increased revenue.