Buy pathway · Five documented dollar adjustments

Do not buy production you cannot ethically or operationally reproduce.

Seller collections are a historical result. Reconcile that history with five separately documented dollar adjustments, then keep first-year timing, restored costs, practice capital, and protected household cash in their proper places.

Open the workbench Download the guided Excel workbook Download the buyer mandate

Use this ifYou are evaluating an acquisition, modernization project, staged succession, broker package, asking price, or letter of intent.

DecisionProceed to deeper diligence, reprice, restructure, delay, compare a startup, or walk away.

Evidence neededProvider-coded results, procedure history, aggregate patient cohorts, referral patterns, exact payer products, expected allowed amounts, cash reconciliation, restored costs, lease, team, liabilities, and capital needs.

Work productA readable transfer summary showing steady-state buyer-repeatable collections, separate first-year timing, ownership cash, complete practice sources and uses, protected household reserve, and unresolved safety checks.

Method, stop-and-verify condition, and required review

Method: Apply five non-overlapping dollar adjustments in sequence; change timing only in the first-year view; then restore costs, clinical compensation, debt, practice capital, operating reserve, and household reserve separately.

Stop and verify: No cash result overrides unsupported care, nonportable payer economics, missing authority, unsafe staffing, nonassignable occupancy, concealed liabilities, or household reserve failure.

Human review: Independent dental CPA or valuation professional, dental transaction attorney, clinical reviewer, payer-contract reviewer, facility reviewer, lender, buyer, and household.

Last reviewed: July 24, 2026

Before you enter numbers

Know the question, gather the records, and choose how deep to go.

You are deciding how much of the seller’s reported performance you may be able to continue—and which missing records must be resolved before price or debt can be trusted.

First useful review: 30–45 minutes for a preliminary transfer case
What you receive: Seller starting collections, five visible dollar adjustments, steady-state and first-year collections, ownership cash, complete practice funding gap, and open safety checks

Gather these first

Seller collections by provider, procedure group, and a clear source period
Aggregate patient cohorts, referral history, buyer-specific payer terms, expected allowed amounts, and cleared-cash reconciliation
Lease, equipment, technology, staffing, benefits, maintenance, and recurring-capital records
Purchase terms, transaction and transition costs, debt, opening working capital, practice operating reserve, funding sources, and separate household reserve

Guided review

Start here if you are learning the decision or do not have every record yet.

Write the buyer’s care and household boundaries
Enter one documented dollar adjustment for each transfer category and state how overlap was prevented
Separate first-year collection timing from steady-state value, then fund every practice use without using protected household cash

Detailed review

Use this after the first result, or with advisers and stronger records.

Document every adjustment with its source period, reviewer, overlap control, limitation, and next request
Review lease, team, liability, readiness, liquidity, and independent-review checks separately
Carry the result into price, structure, and professional review

Your output order

Read and print the plain-language result on this page.
Download the Excel decision workbook when one is available.
Save a DenQAI project file if you want to reopen your inputs.
Use raw CSV only for advanced data work.

The transfer contract

Five dollar adjustments. No percentages multiplied together and no blended score.

Each adjustment needs its own period, supporting document, reviewer, overlap check, uncertainty, and condition that would change the result. A reduction already taken on one line cannot be taken again on another.

01Seller-only

Remove documented, nonrecurring collections and care that depends on a seller or provider who will not remain.

02Clinical model

Remove only the remaining collections tied to care this buyer would not independently diagnose, perform, or support.

03Patients and referrals

Adjust the remaining base for documented patient or referral loss—without repeating a provider or procedure reduction.

04Payer and fees

Reprice the remaining units using buyer-specific plan products, expected allowed amounts, and effective dates; do not apply another volume haircut.

05Collection loss

Apply only the separate loss between priced receivables and cleared cash that has not already been counted elsewhere.

Complete fictional example

A $1,600,000 history becomes $1,160,000 after five visible adjustments.

The fictional case removes seller-only care, buyer clinical exclusions, patient/referral loss, payer/fee effects, and separate collection loss in dollars. First-year timing is then shown separately; none of these entries is a benchmark.

Seller collections$1,600,000

Historical starting point

Buyer-repeatable collections$1,160,000

After five non-overlapping dollar adjustments

Ownership cash after debt$146,800

After restored costs and separate clinical pay

Open safety checks8

Including payer, patient, lease, team, liability, readiness, review, and liquidity

The loaded case does not say “buy” because cash remains positive. It asks for the missing payer, patient, site, team, liability, readiness, and independent-review records; reconciles every practice funding source and use; and leaves the household reserve outside the transaction.

Buyer-repeatable collections and capital workbench

Replace multiplied retention guesses with a visible dollar bridge.

Use aggregate, coded assumptions only. Each change is entered once, first-year timing stays separate from steady-state collections, and practice funding stays separate from household reserve.

Formulav2.0.0Five non-overlapping collection lines + timing + operating and capital bridges

Step 1 · Buyer mandate

Define the clinical practice before measuring the deal.

Coded target labelUse “Target A,” not a practice, seller, patient, employee, or location name.

Appointment, diagnosis, and consent philosophyProcedures or revenue not relied onPatient-access goalRequired clinical decision rightsGlobal pause, reprice, or walk conditionMaximum annual owner hourshrs

Step 2 · Seller snapshot

Begin with the reported amounts—but do not stop there.

Seller reported annual collections$Asking price$Shown for context; it does not control the transfer result.

Step 3 · Five collection adjustments

Enter each dollar once—and show what prevents overlap.

Start from completed historical collections. Remove seller-only or nonrecurring care, then buyer clinical exclusions, documented patient/referral loss, the buyer’s fee effect, and a separately defined collection loss. Do not apply a second percentage to dollars already removed.

Seller-only and nonrecurring care

$1,600,000 → $1,520,000

−$80,000

DirectionNon-overlapping adjustment$Source periodmonthsEvidence state

Evidence, reviewer, and condition that changes the decision

Supporting aggregate document or reportHow this avoids overlap with other linesRequired reviewer roleNext seller evidence requestPause, exclude, reprice, or walk condition

Adjustment has the minimum period, supporting document, reviewer role, overlap control, and reviewed-with-limits state.

Buyer clinical-model exclusion

$1,520,000 → $1,370,000

−$150,000

DirectionNon-overlapping adjustment$Source periodmonthsEvidence state

Evidence, reviewer, and condition that changes the decision

Supporting aggregate document or reportHow this avoids overlap with other linesRequired reviewer roleNext seller evidence requestPause, exclude, reprice, or walk condition

Adjustment has the minimum period, supporting document, reviewer role, overlap control, and reviewed-with-limits state.

Documented patient and referral loss

$1,370,000 → $1,260,000

−$110,000

DirectionNon-overlapping adjustment$Source periodmonthsEvidence state

Evidence, reviewer, and condition that changes the decision

Supporting aggregate document or reportHow this avoids overlap with other linesRequired reviewer roleNext seller evidence requestPause, exclude, reprice, or walk condition

Documented patient and referral loss: requires 24+ months, a reviewed-with-limits state, a supporting document, a named reviewer role, and a written overlap check.

Buyer payer and fee effect

$1,260,000 → $1,190,000

−$70,000

DirectionNon-overlapping adjustment$Source periodmonthsEvidence state

Evidence, reviewer, and condition that changes the decision

Supporting aggregate document or reportHow this avoids overlap with other linesRequired reviewer roleNext seller evidence requestPause, exclude, reprice, or walk condition

Buyer payer and fee effect: requires 24+ months, a reviewed-with-limits state, a supporting document, a named reviewer role, and a written overlap check.

Separate collection loss

$1,190,000 → $1,160,000

−$30,000

DirectionNon-overlapping adjustment$Source periodmonthsEvidence state

Evidence, reviewer, and condition that changes the decision

Supporting aggregate document or reportHow this avoids overlap with other linesRequired reviewer roleNext seller evidence requestPause, exclude, reprice, or walk condition

Separate collection loss: requires 24+ months, a reviewed-with-limits state, a supporting document, a named reviewer role, and a written overlap check.

Step 4 · First-year timing

Move cash between periods without shrinking the steady-state practice.

Credentialing, adjudication, patient payment, and transition can defer receipts beyond the first year. Prior-service receipts can move into it. Neither amount is a permanent retention factor.

First-year cash deferred beyond the modeled year$First-year receipts from prior service$Timing schedule and evidence

Step 5 · Operating and capital bridges

Separate operating return, practice funding, and household protection.

Ordinary operating costs exclude owner clinical compensation, debt service, and personal tax. Purchase funding, opening working capital, practice operating reserve, and household reserve answer different questions and stay on separate lines.

Ordinary operating costs% of repeatable collectionsRestored annual labor$Market wages, benefits, missing roles, or seller add-backs rejected.Restored annual nonlabor$Software, compliance, maintenance, occupancy, billing, and other durable costs.Annual capital reserve$Owner clinical compensation$Economic cost of the buyer’s clinical work—separate from ownership return.Annual debt service$Transaction costs$Immediate capital need$One-time transition reserve$Opening working capital$Practice operating reserve$Practice funding sources$Debt and owner cash committed to the practice; do not include protected household reserve.Minimum operating-reserve monthsmonthsHousehold reserve protected$Minimum household reserve$Minimum annual ownership cash after debt$Minimum debt coverage×

Decision Summary · Step 6

Follow every dollar from history to repeatable cash.

Seller history$1,600,000Reported annual collections

Seller-only and nonrecurring care$1,520,000Less $80,000

Buyer clinical-model exclusion$1,370,000Less $150,000

Documented patient and referral loss$1,260,000Less $110,000

Buyer payer and fee effect$1,190,000Less $70,000

Separate collection loss$1,160,000Less $30,000

Cost bridge$146,800Ownership cash after restored costs, clinical pay, and debt

Steady-state buyer-repeatable collections$1,160,000After five non-overlapping collection adjustments

First-year modeled collections$1,115,000Less $45,000 of timing only

Cash before owner clinical pay$466,800After ordinary costs, restored costs, and capital reserve

Ownership cash before debt$266,800Owner clinical compensation is treated as labor cost

Ownership cash after debt$146,800Separate from $200,000 clinical compensation

Total owner cash after debt$346,800Clinical compensation + ownership cash; before personal tax

Debt coverage2.22×Ownership cash before debt ÷ annual debt service

Practice sources and uses gap$0$1,685,000 sources versus $1,685,000 uses

Opening liquidity$300,000Opening working capital plus separate practice operating reserve

Operating-reserve months2.1Practice operating reserve only ÷ modeled monthly fixed cash need

Step 7 · Safety checks that cannot be averaged away

Strong cash cannot clear a weak lease, missing authority, or unsafe handoff.

“Reviewed with limits” only records the user’s current evidence state. It does not mean DenQAI verified the record or that a professional approved the transaction.

Lease and siteRequested