Plan reduced-fee spaces with a clear view of accessibility, average session income, and practice sustainability.
Enter the standard figures for a typical working year.
Choose one reduced fee and how many weekly spaces you want to offer.
Reduced-fee spaces can widen access to therapy and coaching, but an undefined sliding scale can gradually pull the whole practice below the income required to operate. A planned number of spaces makes the commitment visible and easier to review.
This calculator treats the difference between the standard and reduced fees as an affordability contribution. It shows how that contribution affects average session income while respecting the weekly capacity you can deliver safely.
Your standard fee is what a full-fee client pays. Your minimum sustainable average is the amount your practice needs to receive per paid session across the entire caseload. Keeping these figures separate allows individual reduced fees while protecting the overall average.
Each reduced-fee appointment represents an affordability contribution equal to the difference between the standard and reduced prices. Full-fee sessions, group income, grants, or a dedicated annual budget can fund that contribution.
A defined number of places makes the policy predictable. When those places are full, a waitlist, referral list, lower-cost service, group option, or periodic review may be more sustainable than adding another open-ended concession.
Expenses, demand, capacity, and client circumstances change. Set review dates for the policy and individual arrangements, communicate respectfully, and avoid sudden changes that could disrupt care.
Understand the numbers before applying them to your practice.
A sliding-scale fee is a reduced session price offered to some clients based on a clear affordability policy. The practitioner receives less than their standard fee for those appointments. It is different from changing the standard fee for every client.
This is the minimum average amount each paid session needs to produce for your overall practice plan to work. It is not necessarily the lowest individual fee you can ever offer. Use the result from the Rose Pixel Therapist & Coach Fee Calculator, before any optional business safety buffer, as a useful starting point.
A mixed caseload can contain full-fee and reduced-fee clients. The average collected fee shows what the practice receives per paid session across that entire mix. A reduced-fee place can be workable when enough other sessions are paid at the standard rate.
It is the difference between the revenue you would receive if every appointment were paid at the standard fee and the revenue expected from your chosen sliding-scale mix. It helps make the financial value of reduced-fee access visible without describing it as a loss caused by a client.
The calculator finds the largest weekly number of reduced-fee appointments that keeps the weighted average session fee at or above your minimum sustainable average. It assumes the same cancellation rate applies across full-fee and reduced-fee appointments.
You can choose a different model, but the average session fee would fall below the minimum you entered. You may need another funding source, lower expenses, more full-fee work, group income, grants, or a consciously planned affordability budget to support additional places.
Not necessarily. Some practices use several tiers. For a quick estimate, enter the average fee you expect to collect across all reduced-fee places. Keep eligibility, review dates, availability, and boundaries clear in your written policy.
No. It is a planning estimate. Consider professional ethics, anti-discrimination requirements, payer agreements, local law, and advice from qualified financial or legal professionals before adopting or changing a sliding-scale policy.