Same-store growth

Editorial approval scope: The team checked current source fidelity, scope boundaries, dates, arithmetic, reader usefulness, practical workflow, and general-information limitations.

Lock the cohort before reading the result

Define how long a location must operate before inclusion, often a fixed number of full months or quarters. Specify whether eligibility is tested at the start of the comparison or for both periods.

List every site and its status. New, acquired, closed, relocated, merged, split, or materially redesigned sites need predeclared treatment. Keep excluded sites visible in a reconciliation so favorable cohort changes cannot be made after results are known.

State the formula and unit

For revenue, a simple formula is:

same-store growth = (current comparable-cohort revenue − prior comparable-cohort revenue) ÷ prior comparable-cohort revenue

The same structure can measure collections, service hours, visits, or clients. Each unit answers a different question. Collections depend on timing and prior-period receivables; revenue depends on accounting policy; service hours depend on delivery and documentation rules.

Use identical site and service cohorts in numerator and denominator. Explain reclassifications, late entries, refunds, recoupments, and acquisitions.

Build the operational bridge

Growth can come from rates, payer mix, more staffed capacity, schedule use, fewer cancellations, longer hours, new services, or documentation timing. Create a bridge that shows each contributor rather than calling the result “organic demand.”

Separate price and volume. A 10% revenue gain with 2% fewer service hours tells a different story from 10% more hours at unchanged rates. Also compare authorization coverage, qualified capacity, delivered care, submitted claims, adjudication, and cash.

Guard against denominator drift

If a site closes, removing it from both periods can make the remaining cohort look stronger. If a growing site relocates, treating the destination as a new site can hide continuity. Predeclare rules and provide a sensitivity view when judgment materially affects the result.

Partial periods need special handling. A site open for only part of a month should not enter a full-month comparison unless the cohort rule says how. Avoid annualizing a short period without clear seasonality and uncertainty disclosures.

Pair growth with care and workforce measures

More service volume can coincide with weaker supervision, staff turnover, longer waits, inaccessible schedules, documentation delays, incidents, denials, or family burden. Review growth beside:

• wait time and accessible offer fulfillment
• qualified staff and supervision capacity
• cancellation and missed-session patterns
• client goals, experience, assent, and continuity
• documentation, authorizations, denials, and refunds
• staff turnover, overtime, injuries, and training

No one financial measure establishes clinical quality.

A fictional five-site calculation

Oakbridge ABA has seven locations. Five meet its rule of operating for 18 full months before both comparison periods. Those five generated $4.0 million in the prior year and $4.4 million in the current year.

Same-store revenue growth is ($4.4m − $4.0m) ÷ $4.0m = 10%. The two newer sites appear separately and never enter either side of the calculation.

A bridge shows 6 percentage points from contracted rate changes, 3 from additional staffed hours, and 1 from lower cancellations. Clinical-plan timeliness fell at one site, so leadership holds further schedule expansion there until corrective action passes.

Distinguish same-store from total growth

Total-company growth includes acquisitions and de novo locations. The same-store view focuses on mature locations. A company can show strong total growth and flat same-store results when new sites drive expansion. It can also show positive same-store growth while total revenue falls after closures.

Report both when they answer relevant questions. Include the site-count bridge from opening cohort to closing cohort.

Show absolute values beside percentages. A 20% increase at a small site can add fewer dollars or hours than a 3% increase at a large site. Weighted and unweighted averages answer different questions, so label the aggregation method and preserve site-level results.

Segment by service and payer when mix changes materially. Center-based hours, home services, assessments, and caregiver training may have different staffing, rates, cancellation patterns, and clinical purposes. A blended result can move because the mix changed even when each service stayed flat.

Preserve source and approval history

Maintain site master data, accounting extracts, service records, cohort version, formula, preparer, reviewer, close date, and restatement policy. If a material error is corrected, keep the prior result and explain the change.

The SBA growth guide offers general expansion context. The CMS enrollment page illustrates why location and ownership records can be operationally significant in one federal program. Neither defines same-store growth.

Release the metric only when the cohort, periods, site changes, formula, absolute values, service mix, source extracts, and restatement rule are reproducible. Pair the result with access, quality, payer, and workforce measures. The operating decision should address the bridge driver rather than reward growth as one undifferentiated outcome.