Functional Medicine Membership Pricing: Models That Work

Functional medicine membership pricing usually follows one of four models: an ongoing monthly membership, a fixed-term program paid over several months, a prepaid annual plan, or a visit package. The right one depends on how long your care arc runs and whether labs and supplements sit inside the fee. Ona bills all four through your own Stripe account.

Quick answer:

Match the model to the care arc. A practice that works in defined 3 to 6 month programs fits a fixed-term plan; a practice that keeps patients for years fits an ongoing monthly or annual membership.
Keep variable costs out of the fixed fee. Labs and supplements vary from patient to patient, so most practices price them separately or include a defined allowance, not "all labs included".
Write the rules before you launch: what is included, whether unused visits roll over, what happens when a card fails, and how cancellation works. On Ona, plans bill monthly or yearly, can end after 2 to 120 payments, and unused included visits do not carry over.

Why Functional Practices Move to Memberships

Functional medicine has a long, uneven care arc. The first month is heavy: a long intake, a first consult, a lab round, a results review. Then visits thin out into follow-ups and periodic retesting. Pay-per-visit pricing makes that arc look expensive at the start and fragmented later, and it gives the patient a reason to stop after the first results review.

A membership or program changes the conversation from "what does this visit cost" to "what does the next six months cost". For the practice it turns lumpy visit revenue into predictable recurring revenue, and it makes the follow-ups that actually produce the result part of what the patient already paid for.

The trade-off is commitment on both sides. A membership has to deliver visible value every billing period, or it becomes the first thing a patient cancels.

The Four Models

1. Ongoing Monthly Membership

A fixed monthly fee for as long as the patient stays, covering a set number of visits per period plus access (messaging, portal, priority booking). Best for practices that see patients long term, such as integrative primary care style practices.

Watch for: churn after the first few months, when the heavy work is done and the patient wonders what they are paying for. Build in something recurring each period, such as a check-in visit, so the value is visible.

2. Fixed-Term Program

A program priced as a whole (for example, the first six months of care) and paid in monthly installments that stop on their own. Best for practices that run a defined arc: intake, labs, plan, follow-ups, retest.

Watch for: what happens at the end. Have a plan for graduation into an ongoing membership, a maintenance package, or pay-per-visit, and tell the patient in month one.

3. Prepaid Annual Plan

One payment for twelve months, usually priced below twelve monthly payments. Best for established patients who already trust the practice.

Watch for: refund rules. Decide in advance what a patient gets back if they leave in month four, and put it in writing.

4. Visit Package

A set number of visits for one price, used up as they are booked, with no recurring charge. Best as an entry point or a maintenance option after a program.

Watch for: expiry and unused visits. Decide whether packages expire and say so at purchase.

Comparing the Models

Model	Cash flow	Churn risk	Best fit	How it runs in Ona
Ongoing monthly membership	Steady, recurring	Highest after the first heavy months	Long-term relationships	Plan billed monthly, ends when cancelled; included visits refill each period
Fixed-term program	Steady for the term, then stops	Low during the term, high at the end	Defined 3 to 12 month arcs	Plan ends after a set number of payments (2 to 120); visits included once in total
Prepaid annual plan	All up front	Low for the year	Established, committed patients	Plan billed yearly
Visit package	Up front per package	Medium; no auto-renewal	Entry offers and maintenance	Package of services at one price, can require payment to book
Pay-per-visit	Lumpy	n/a	Patients who will not commit	Invoice drafted from each visit's services

Ona's memberships page describes the fixed-term case directly: a plan that ends after six payments and includes the program's visits once in total, so the course is paid over time without an installment plan on an invoice. That matters, because Ona does not offer installment plans on a single invoice; the fixed-term membership is the way to spread a program's cost.

What Goes Inside the Fee

The fee should cover what is predictable and leave out what is not.

Usually inside:

A defined number of visits, by type: for example, one new-patient consult, one results review and a set number of follow-ups.
Access between visits, such as portal messaging.
Program materials and the care plan.

Usually outside, or capped:

Labs. Test choice and cost vary widely between patients, and specialty tests can cost more than a month's fee. Most practices price labs separately at cost or with a stated fee, or include a defined basic panel only. If you include labs, list exactly which ones.
Supplements. Also variable. Common approaches are a separate dispensary, or a defined monthly item listed on the plan.
Extra visits beyond the included number, at a member rate.

In Ona, a plan can include services, packages and custom items. Ona's own example of a custom item is a supplement box, listed on the plan next to the visits so the member and your team see what is included. Services and packages are counted down as they are used; custom items are listed but not counted. Each included item refills every period or is available once in total.

For supplements outside the fee, Ona's Supplements feature charts protocols on the patient record, with Fullscript as an optional dispensary.

Pricing the Plan: A Method, Not a Number

There is no correct market price to copy, and numbers posted online rarely match your costs, location or patients. Build the price from your own inputs:

List the deliverables for one billing period or one program: visits by type and length, expected messaging time, and any included items.
Cost the clinician time. Total minutes multiplied by what an hour of that clinician costs the practice, including the time spent reviewing labs and writing plans.
Add overhead per member: staff time, software, payment processing, space.
Add the margin the practice needs to be sustainable.
Sanity-check against pay-per-visit. If the membership costs the patient more than the same visits bought one by one, it needs a reason (access, priority, included items); if it costs much less, check you are covering your time.

Then decide on a launch offer separately from the list price. In Ona, promo codes can discount a membership's first payment or every payment, with an expiry date and a usage limit, which lets you run a founding-member offer without changing the plan everyone else joins later.

Billing Mechanics That Decide Churn

Most involuntary churn in memberships is billing, not dissatisfaction: a card expires, a payment fails, and nobody notices until the patient tries to book. Set these up deliberately.

Card on file at enrollment. In Ona a patient needs a card on file before enrollment, and the first payment is taken when they join. Patients can join from your booking page while booking their first visit, from the patient portal, or be enrolled by staff from their chart. See Enrolling a patient in a membership.

Visible usage. Patients cancel what they cannot see. In Ona's patient portal, members see their plan's status, what it includes, how many included visits are left for the period, and the next payment date or end date.

Failed payments. In Ona a membership behind on payment shows Past due on the patient's record and in the plan's member list, and it does not cover new bookings until it is settled. Decide who on your team watches that list and how quickly they call.

Price changes. When you raise prices, existing members in Ona keep the rate they joined at; a new price applies to new members only. That makes grandfathering automatic, which is fair, but plan for it: a price rise does not touch revenue from existing members.

Cancellation. Staff or the patient can cancel at the end of the current period or right away. Write your cancellation policy down and show it at sign-up.

Retiring a plan. Archiving a plan in Ona stops new sign-ups, and current members keep their membership and continue to be billed until cancelled.

All of this runs through your own Stripe account, with each payment recorded as a paid invoice on the patient's record, labelled with the plan and payment number, in the same billing records as visit invoices. Ona takes no cut of what you collect. Setup is in Setting up memberships and recurring billing.

Limits to Plan Around

Every billing system has edges, and it is better to know them before you design the offer. In Ona:

Plans bill monthly or yearly only, not weekly or quarterly. A quarterly program can be built as a monthly fixed-term plan.
A fixed term is 2 to 120 payments. A one-payment charge is not a membership; use a package or an invoice.
Unused included visits do not carry over to the next period.
A plan can appear on the booking page only if it includes at least one bookable service or package.
Plans are priced in US dollars.

Self-Pay Rules Still Apply

A membership is self-pay, and self-pay patients have rights. Per CMS, providers usually must give patients who are not using insurance a good faith estimate of expected charges when they schedule at least 3 business days ahead or ask for one. Build the estimate into your sign-up flow rather than treating it as an afterthought.

Patients will also ask about HSA and FSA. Eligibility is decided by their plan administrator; IRS Publication 502 is the reference for what counts as a medical expense. Ona has no HSA/FSA-specific features, so do not promise eligibility.

Tying the Plan to the Care

A membership only retains patients if the care inside it is visible. The practices that keep members do three things: they schedule the next included visit before the patient leaves, they share the plan in writing, and they review results with the patient rather than sending a PDF. In Ona, memberships, the care plan, lab results your team has reviewed and messages all sit in the same patient portal, and the clinician sees the plan's remaining visits on the visit itself.

Membership pricing works for practices of any size, from a solo clinician to multi-location groups running several plans with separate billing profiles. See how Ona fits cash-pay and membership practices on the integrative medicine page, or read the full Memberships feature.

Frequently asked questions

How do functional medicine practices price memberships?

Most use one of four models: an ongoing monthly membership, a fixed-term program paid over several months, a prepaid annual plan, or a visit package. Price is built from the practice's own costs: clinician time for the included visits and between-visit work, overhead per member, and margin, then checked against what the same visits would cost pay-per-visit. Copying another practice's price rarely fits your costs.

Should labs be included in a functional medicine membership?

Usually not without limits. Lab choice and cost vary widely between patients, and specialty tests can exceed a month's fee. Most practices price labs separately or include a defined basic panel and list it by name. If labs are inside the fee, say exactly which tests are covered and how often, so neither side is surprised.

What is the difference between a membership and a package?

A membership bills on a schedule, monthly or yearly, and can include services, packages and extras that refill each period. A package is a one-time purchase of a set of visits at one price, used up as they are booked. In Ona, both are set up on the Services page and both can be offered on the booking page.

Can a functional medicine program be paid in installments?

Yes, as a fixed-term membership. In Ona, a plan can end after a set number of payments, from 2 to 120, with the program's visits included once in total, so the patient pays monthly and the charges stop on their own. Ona does not offer installment plans on a single invoice, so the membership is the way to spread a program's cost.

What happens when a member's payment fails?

In Ona, the membership shows Past due on the patient's record and in the plan's member list, and it does not cover new bookings until the payment is settled. Once the card is updated and the payment settles, the membership covers bookings again. Assign someone to review past-due members weekly, because most involuntary churn is an expired or declined card.

Can I change membership prices for existing members?

In Ona, a new price or billing interval applies to new members only, and existing members keep the rate they joined at. To move everyone to a new price, create a new plan, archive the old one to stop new sign-ups, and handle existing members individually with notice. Archiving does not end current memberships.

Next step

Bring your program structure to a 15-minute demo and we will build the plan, its included visits and a launch promo code live. Or start the 14-day free trial from the pricing page, no card required.