Own a lucrative acupuncture practice in California's Gold Country

• Grass Valley is located in California’s Sierra foothills between Sacramento and Lake Tahoe, 2 ½ hours from the San Francisco Bay Area.
• It has a population of just under 15,000, with tens of thousands more who come through town to enjoy the history, culture, and surrounding environment of both this town and its famous neighbor, Nevada City—California’s best-preserved Gold Rush town.
• Nestled in a basin on the Western Slope of the Sierra Nevada, it is framed and protected by ridgetops and promontories and surrounded by forest.
• Grass Valley is drawing more visitors every year to wine tasting rooms that represent eight Sierra Foothills and Gold Country wineries, and in Nevada City you’ll see impeccable 19th-century buildings with wooden balconies that now house restaurants, gift shops, wine-tasting rooms, and antiques shops.
• Since Covid, the area has become one of California’s top draws for high-tech telecommuters.
• Dharma Acupuncture has two offices: one a private practice and the other a community practice.
• The private practice is located in the center of Grass Valley’s historic downtown and consists of a large reception area, four treatment rooms, and a bathroom shared with two other businesses in the building.
• The community clinic is a block away and is a large open space that could be divided into two treatment rooms. Both offices have an abundance of nearby parking and are also near bus lines.

• Dharma Acupuncture 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 has spanned from infants to great grandparents and everyone in between. That said, the majority of the current patient load consists of women between the ages of 25 and 60 and most patients come in for issues related to pain and women’s health.
• The clinic currently averages about 40 patients per week in the private practice, and 12-15 in the community practice.
• About half of patients in the private practice have insurance that covers acupuncture while the other half pay in full at the time of service.
• Seventy-five to eighty percent of the community clinic patients have insurance.
• The majority of patients continue to come in for maintenance on a consistent basis.
• Most patients are from communities within 25 miles of the office. Given the clinic’s notoriety, most all patients are referred by word-of-mouth, including from other local healthcare practitioners, and a good number also come through the practice’s online presence.

While trained in standard acupuncture and traditional Chinese medical techniques, the current owner has studied and practices the Richard Tan Balance Method and Master Tung points. She mostly treats patients with acupuncture, and does some moxibustion and cupping. She prescribes herbal medicine and supplements to about 10-15% of her patients.

The following income and expense summaries are derived from an average of income and adjusted* expenses from 2018-2020. Note that the current owner works 15-20 hours per week.

Income

Average gross yearly revenue (3 years): $145,114 ($12,093/month)

Expenses

Average adjusted* expenses: $66,191 yearly ($5,516/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

Net Profit:

Average $78,922 per year (~$6,577/month) 

• The price is based on a conservative professional valuation of over $100,000, with an average yearly gross of $145,000 for the past several years.
• The owner’s motivation to sell in a timely fashion has allowed her to generously factor in a discount off of the valued price for potential attrition and start-up costs on change of ownership. She expects the right person will retain her 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 seller may also be willing to hold a loan for the right buyer.
• The practice currently employs three people to assist in the practice. One is the primary receptionist who comes in two days a week and has been with the practice for a few years. A second receptionist fills in as needed. An associate acupuncturist sees up to 20 patients per week from the owner’s patient load. All may be willing to stay on with a new owner at the new owner’s discretion.
• 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 and Facebook pages, JaneApp and Schedulicity applications, and billing system and clinic-related financials.
• 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 in 2021. She would be willing to stay on for a limited time to train a new owner in her 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 – The current owner works no more than 20 hours per week, leaving plenty of room to work more hours in the clinic, which 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.
  
  
• Consolidate employees - The associate acupuncturist is currently taking on 15-20 patient visits per week. An industrious new owner could take on those patients and reduce the number of employees, increasing net profit.

• Do some marketing - The practice does very little marketing outside of its web presence. There is a database full of patient information that could be used for marketing directly to current and former patients, but the clinic has been busy enough that these resources have not been leveraged. In addition, 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.
  
  
• Sell more supplements - Only about 10-15% of patients currently take a limited smattering of herbal medicine. Giving a greater percentage of patients the option of supplements offers another opportunity for increased revenue percentage of patients the option of supplements offers another opportunity for increased revenue.