I raise fees once a year, in the month following the anniversary of the treatment. I announce the increase a month before. Typically, I raise fees by something on the order of 5-10%, and often default to a number ending in 25, 50, 75, or 00.
That said, I think a lot about the individual patient – their financial situation, their relationship to money, the treatment as a whole. While I articulated a “general” principle above, I would say I deviate from that general principle about half the time. Sometimes delaying an increase; in some instances, reducing fees; sometimes never increasing (or at least, not doing so for a number of years). And once in a great while, I increase the fee more frequently than once a year – particularly if I learn something material that I hadn’t known about a patient’s finances (and I was seeing them at less than full fee), or if something materially changes in their lives.
