Which number should a doctor's percentage come from?

Many clinics in the region pay some or all of their doctors a percentage of revenue. The agreement looks simple when it is written down: "30% of revenue". Then the end of the month arrives, and it turns out each side meant a different number by "revenue".

The disagreement is rarely about the percentage. It is about the base it is applied to: what the doctor billed, what patients actually paid, or the value of the work with the tax taken out? This guide explains the difference, works one example through every method, and suggests the clauses that settle the argument before it starts. It pairs with the KPIs every clinic manager should track.

Three numbers that all look like "the doctor's revenue"

There is no right base and wrong base. There is a written base both sides understand, and one each side discovers the meaning of when they see the amount.

Take VAT out first, every time

The VAT on an invoice is not the clinic's revenue. It is collected on behalf of the tax authority and paid over to it. If a doctor's percentage is worked out on the amount including VAT, the clinic pays part of that doctor's share out of the tax.

A simple example: a 1,000 riyal consultation with 15% VAT makes an invoice of 1,150. Thirty per cent of 1,150 is 345; of 1,000 it is 300. That is 45 riyals in every thousand, paid out of money that is not the clinic's. So the contract should say the percentage is taken before VAT and after discounts. For the tax invoice itself, see the guide to ZATCA e-invoicing for clinics.

Billed or collected: who carries the unpaid invoice?

On a billed base, the clinic pays the doctor for money it may never see: a patient who never settled, an insurance claim that was rejected. On a collected base, the two share the risk of non-payment, but a doctor whose patients pay in instalments waits months for their share. That is why many clinics settle on a middle way:

• Collected, excluding VAT, net of refunds is the base, because it is the money that actually arrived.
• Instalments count when each one is paid, not when the invoice is issued.
• Insurance claims count when they are paid, so a rejected claim never enters.
• A refund comes off in the month it was paid back, even if the visit was in an earlier month.

The invoice nobody is credited with

The hardest disputes are not about the rate or the base but about an invoice with no doctor on it. It happens when the desk raises a bill straight from the billing screen instead of from the appointment, or for a procedure added after the visit. A report that drops that invoice shows the doctor's production lower than it was, and the doctor knows it from their own notes.

A sensible rule: credit the invoice to the appointment's doctor if there is one; failing that, to the doctor who documented the patient's visit that day; failing that, to the patient's treating doctor. Whatever cannot be credited to anyone appears on its own line with the reason, and never silently drops out of the total. It is the same kind of gap a revenue leakage dashboard exists to surface.

A worked month: one doctor, one month

In one month a doctor issued invoices worth 40,000 riyals before VAT (46,000 with 15% VAT), one patient was refunded 1,000 before VAT, and by month end patients had paid 32,000 before VAT, with the rest still owed. Their contract says 30%:

The same doctor, the same month, the same percentage: 4,200 riyals between the first line and the last. The collection rate here is 32,000 of 39,000, about 82% — a figure worth watching per doctor, because when it falls for one doctor in particular it usually points to a pricing problem or to collection at the desk.

Write the rule down before the first payslip

1. 1The base: billed, collected, or production.
2. 2VAT: always excluded, with the percentage taken after discounts.
3. 3Refunds and cancellations: which month they come off.
4. 4Instalments and insurance: on issue or on payment.
5. 5Attribution: how an invoice raised outside the appointment is credited.
6. 6The cut-off date: the day the month's numbers are taken.
7. 7Who sees the report: whether each doctor sees their own figures.

How 3yadtk shows these numbers

Reports has a Money by doctor section: for each doctor what they billed, what came in, what was refunded, what patients still owe, the collection rate, and production excluding VAT, for a preset period or any two dates you choose. Open a doctor's row for all their invoices, paid and unpaid, with the balance due on each. A bill is credited to its doctor whichever screen raised it, and anything that cannot be credited appears on its own line with the reason. The system does not work out the payout for you — your contract sets the base and the rate — but every number you need to calculate it is on one screen. The details are on the features page.