The definition
Three things matter. The fee is in the numerator, not quietly excluded. The denominator is attended appointments, not leads, not calls, not form fills. And the count comes from the clinic’s own booking system, not ours.
The working
Between December 2025 and June 2026 we managed $14,811 of Meta spend across two Edmonton medical clinics. That produced 641 leads at a blended $23.11 each. Of those, 331 became appointments that were booked and attended — a rate of 52%. Adding our fees, the all-in cost was $59 per booked patient. One clinic came in at $53, the other at $70.
Why you will be quoted cheaper numbers
You will hear $13. You will hear $60 to $200. You will hear $150 to $300. None of those are measuring what we just measured.
A $13 figure is almost certainly cost per phone call, or per form fill. A $60 to $200 figure is usually cost per lead, with no visibility into how many became appointments. A $150 to $300 figure is often ad spend only, with the agency’s fee quietly left out. The one published Edmonton figure comparable to ours is $85 per new patient.
So ask every agency on your shortlist one question: what exactly is in your denominator? It is the fastest way to tell who is measuring and who is marketing.
What this number does not tell you
It is two clinics over six months, not a hundred over five years. Both are family practices in Edmonton, so it says nothing about what a dental implant patient or a law firm client costs. Booking counts come from each clinic’s own records, which means they are as good as that clinic’s front desk. And it will move — if it goes up next quarter, we will publish that too.
Ask us to count yours.
Thirty minutes, no deck. We will tell you what a booked patient should cost you, and how we would measure it.