BUILD VS. PARTNER

What would it take to build a between-visit program in-house?

Most clinics could assemble a between-visit lifestyle program themselves. Answer three questions and see what that realistically costs, first to build it, then to run it every year, next to a flat monthly partnership with Alterra Health.

Three questions

About 20 seconds
1

How many patients would you support at a time?

Your active weight management or GLP-1 panel, not your whole practice.

150 patients
2

How would you build the patient content?

Lessons, handouts, and videos. This is the biggest one-time cost, and the piece clinics most often underestimate.

Choose one

3

How much coaching would you offer?

Sessions and answers between visits. This drives the largest ongoing cost.

Choose one

Estimated cost, side by side

Building it in-house runs about $0 in the first year. Partnering with Alterra Health runs $0.

First year, building it in-house $0
First year, Alterra Health partnership$0
Every year after, in-house $0
Every year after, Alterra Health$0

What you save with Alterra Health

Savings, year one

$0

Savings, every year after

$0

Staff hours saved, per year

0 hrs

Based on the Alterra Health flat rate of $499 per month, all in. One fee covers the platform, the weekly patient emails, and dietitian support, however many patients you enroll.

Where we got the numbers

Every figure behind the estimate is a conservative, sourced default: about 350 hours to build a content library, $36 an hour for a registered dietitian, $60 an hour for outside design and video work. Open the panel to swap in your own market's rates or your own build estimate. The result updates as you type.

Adjust the numbers Hide the numbers 8 inputs

One-time build

Developing the lessons, writing handouts, and recording lectures, interviews, and slide decks.
hrs
Turning raw material into finished PDFs and edited videos. The InDesign and Premiere work.
hrs
Your own staff's loaded hourly cost for creation and upkeep work.
$/hr
Freelance designer or video editor. US market runs mid-$50s to low-$60s per hour in 2026.
$/hr

Every year after

Set by your panel size and the coaching level above. Type here to override it.
hrs
Auto from panel and level
Median registered dietitian pay runs about $36 per hour.
$/hr
Payroll taxes and benefits on the coach, as a percent of base pay.
%
Keeping guidance current and adding new pieces as recommendations change.
hrs
How this is calculated Hide the calculation The formulas

One-time build

  • Content creation: the hours to develop lessons, handouts, and videos, priced at your internal blended rate. This work stays in-house in every scenario, because it depends on your clinicians.
  • Layout and editing: production hours priced at the internal rate if you do it yourself, or the outsourced specialist rate if you don't.
  • Outsourcing shifts hours from your staff to paid specialists. It lowers the demand on your team and raises the cash cost.

Running costs, per year

  • Coaching and support: weekly hours × base pay × (1 + overhead) × 52. Weekly hours come from your panel size and the coaching level you chose. Overhead applies because this is an employee.
  • Content upkeep: monthly hours × internal rate × 12.

The coaching estimate

Light, standard, and high touch assume about 2, 4, and 7 minutes per patient per week, averaged across a panel. Override the resulting hours in the panel above at any time.

What we left out

Staff turnover and re-hiring, the supervision time a build consumes, software and hosting, and the hours your team spends evaluating tools. All real costs, all left out on purpose, so the in-house figure here is more likely understated than inflated.

These are illustrative estimates based on the numbers you enter and typical cost ranges. They are not a quote and do not reflect your clinic's actual costs, which vary by market and staffing. Use this to frame the decision, not to price it.

See the platform your patients would actually use.

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See It in Action or Start the Conversation

Whether you want a closer look first or are ready to talk, the next step should feel easy.

 

Alterra Health gives clinics a clear way to deliver structured support between visits, under their own brand, without building a lifestyle program from scratch.

For clinic owners, physicians, and practice managers.

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