TL;DR
Audit the membership arrangement behind a vendor's growth example before treating its results as relevant. Separate new-to-practice acquisition from conversion of existing patients, employer agreements from individual enrollment, and fee receipts from contribution after costs. A story can illustrate a method without supplying your forecast.
Decide what the example must help you evaluate
A founder launching a practice from scratch has a different starting point from a physician inviting established patients into a retainer arrangement. If an agency combines these paths into “membership growth,” the owner cannot tell which work it performed or whether the example fits the proposed purchase.
GetPatients has a commercial interest in healthcare visibility services. Apply this audit equally to its examples. This article does not rank agencies or verify any named vendor's results.
For U.S. advertising under the FTC's remit, the FTC says objective claims need supporting evidence. A result presented in a marketing story should therefore be examined as a claim, not treated as an independent audit. FTC advertising guidance.
Reconstruct the membership unit
Ask what the case study counts. Is it an inquiry, agreement, effective membership, person, household or employer contract? Request the definition, period and source of the reported result. An employer agreement may concern a population without establishing how many individuals became active members.
Ask whether the example involves concierge billing alongside insurance, a DPC arrangement or another actual payment structure. The relevant distinction is the contract and work required, not a prestige label. Do not compare fee totals until the included scope, separate charges and recognition method are understood.
Use the source-to-claim check for the exact proposition, then apply the membership comparability audit below. A missing confidential detail can remain unavailable; it should also limit what you infer.
Complete the comparability audit
| Dimension | Evidence to request | What changes the relevance decision |
|---|---|---|
| Starting relationships | Existing patient base, physician recognition and prior inquiry routes | Migration of established relationships differs from acquisition from scratch |
| Enrollment origin | New-to-practice people, continuing patients, returning members and employer arrangements, separately | A combined total hides the actual acquisition task |
| Membership arrangement | Included scope, actual fee structure, additional billing and cancellation conditions | Similar fee labels can represent different obligations |
| Available panel | Capacity offered, named physicians and period of enrollment | A closed or constrained offer limits what could be acquired |
| Effective event | Contract-specific start conditions and recorded cutoff | Accepted interest differs from a functioning membership |
| Cost boundary | Media, agency, founder labor, setup and enrollment work included or omitted | A cheap lead story may omit the work that makes enrollment possible |
| Revenue meaning | Cash receipts, recognized revenue, refunds, costs and period | Annualized fee arithmetic does not establish observed contribution after costs |
| Other activity | Referral relationships, organizational deals and concurrent campaigns | Attribution may remain mixed |
| Evidence access | Appropriate redacted method record and reproducible definitions | Confidentiality can limit verification without proving the claim false |
For each row, mark comparable, materially different or unknown, then explain why. Do not average the labels into a precision score. A missing enrollment definition can defeat a membership-growth inference even when the creative work looks strong.
Ask for the narrower useful lesson
Suppose the example concerns an established physician's transition while your practice has no existing patient base. It may demonstrate how the agency organized approved terms and communications. It does not establish how quickly strangers will join your practice or what their acquisition cost will be.
If the example reports collected fees but omits delivery costs and continuing obligations, use it only for the claim actually supported. Ask your financial owner to build the budget from your records and explicit assumptions. Do not turn the story's membership fee into your allowable advertising spend.
If the agency cannot provide the underlying evidence appropriately, ask for a method demonstration using public or synthetic material. It can show how it would explain the offer, separate enrollment states and report unknown outcomes without disclosing another practice's private records.
Convert the audit into a procurement decision
Write a relevance note: proposed task ___; example's actual task ___; useful demonstrated method ___; material differences ___; unknown evidence ___; claim excluded from our forecast ___. Attach that note to the proposal comparison.
Then request acceptance evidence for your own project: approved membership explanation, working inquiry route, responsibility for questions and a report using the actual effective-membership definition. The agency selection guide addresses the wider agreement. This audit determines which membership claims deserve weight within that decision.
A provider can remain a candidate with a limited case example if its reasoning, proposed work and boundaries are sound. Conversely, a dramatic revenue story should not outweigh unresolved ownership, scope or measurement questions. Judge what can be demonstrated for the task you are buying.
Frequently asked questions
Must an agency have an identical practice example?
No. Identify the differences and use the example for the narrower method it demonstrates. Relevant experience is evidence to inspect, not a guarantee of repeatable results.
Is confidentiality a reason to reject every case study?
No. Ask for appropriately shareable definitions and method evidence. Mark inaccessible results unverified rather than demanding private member records or assuming the figures are false.
Can we use the example as our financial target?
Build targets from your own capacity, terms, records and explicit assumptions. Another practice's reported result does not establish your acquisition cost, retention or contribution.