The Joint Chiropractic has no appointment scheduling. No insurance billing. No receptionist taking copays. And yet, it operates nearly 970 clinics across 40 states, handling over 14 million patient visits per year — making it the largest chiropractic chain in the world.
The engine behind all of this is a single product decision: make chiropractic feel like a gym membership. Pay $69/month, walk in whenever, get adjusted. No friction. No paperwork. No surprise bills.
Over 85% of The Joint's revenue now comes from these memberships (The Joint Chiropractic franchise data, 2025). And independent chiropractors feel it. Patients who used to come for four visits in January are now going to The Joint every week — because the price and the process are invisible.
The good news: you don't need a franchise to replicate this model. You need a wellness membership plan, a way to deliver it without a separate app, and a push notification strategy that turns occasional patients into weekly regulars.
Key Takeaways
- The Joint Chiropractic generates over 85% of revenue from memberships, not per-visit billing (The Joint franchise data, 2025)
- Chiropractic maintenance care patients have 5–10× higher lifetime value than acute-only patients
- Wallet passes deliver push notifications at 50–70% open rates — vs. 15–20% for email (Perkstar, 2025)
- Independent clinics can launch a digital membership loyalty card in under 10 minutes using Apple Wallet and Google Wallet passes
How The Joint Built $70M on Memberships — Not Treatments
The Joint's adult membership starts at $69/month for unlimited adjustments — roughly $17 per visit for a regular patient (The Joint Chiropractic, 2025). Compare that to the $45–$80 per-visit rate at most independent clinics, and the value proposition is immediate.
But the price alone doesn't explain The Joint's growth. The real insight is what the membership model removes: the decision to book. Once a patient is on a monthly plan, they don't weigh cost-versus-benefit every time their back aches. They just go. The friction of the traditional chiropractic visit — book in advance, deal with insurance, pay at the desk — disappears.
The chiropractic market is worth $87.35 billion globally as of 2024, projected to reach $147.87 billion by 2032 (Grand View Research, 2024). Over 35 million Americans seek chiropractic care annually. And yet, over 95% of chiropractic practices are independent — meaning most of that market belongs to clinics without a structured membership model competing against the one chain that's built its entire business on it.
The window to implement a membership-style loyalty program before your local patients are fully converted to The Joint is closing. But the implementation — for an independent clinic — is simpler than you might expect.
[INTERNAL-LINK: how digital punch cards compare to app-based loyalty → article on wallet passes vs apps vs physical cards]
Why Maintenance Care Patients Are Your Most Valuable Asset
A California practice saw a 20% rise in lifetime patient value after launching a subscription-based wellness model (ChiroSpring case data, 2024). That number understates the real gap between a maintenance care patient and an acute-only patient.
An acute-care patient comes in when they're in pain, gets better, and stops. Maybe they return in six months when the pain comes back. The LTV on this patient is $200–$600 over two to three years.
A maintenance care patient — someone on a monthly wellness plan — visits two to four times per month. At $69/month, that's $828/year. Over three years, that's $2,484 in predictable, insurance-free revenue from a single patient. Multiply that by 50 members and you have $124,200 in annual recurring revenue before you see a single new patient.
The math independent chiropractors are missing: A practice with 50 wellness members at $69/month generates $3,450/month — $41,400/year — purely in membership fees, before any additional services. That's the equivalent of adding a significant new revenue stream without adding a single new patient.
The shift from episodic to membership-based care is also a psychological one for the patient. Once someone is on a monthly plan, they start thinking of chiropractic maintenance the same way they think about going to the gym: a fixed cost that's already accounted for in their budget. They schedule, they show up, and they refer friends.
[INTERNAL-LINK: how to calculate loyalty program ROI → loyalty program ROI calculator article]
What a Wellness Membership Plan Actually Looks Like
A chiropractic wellness membership plan typically has three tiers:
Tier 1 — Maintenance Plan (~$59–$69/month)
- 2 adjustments per month included
- Additional visits at a reduced per-visit rate ($25–$35)
- No insurance required
Tier 2 — Active Care Plan (~$89–$109/month)
- 4 adjustments per month included
- Priority scheduling
- Access to add-on services (decompression, massage) at member pricing
Tier 3 — Family Wellness (~$149–$189/month for 2 adults)
- Combined plan for couples or family units
- Shared monthly adjustment pool
The key structure detail: the included adjustments don't roll over. Unused visits expire at month-end. This is intentional — it creates the same behavioral incentive as a gym membership. Patients with two unused visits on the 28th of the month will book rather than waste them.
Most independent clinics that fail with membership plans price them too low out of fear of undervaluing their service, and then either don't promote them or cancel them within six months when "nobody signed up." The real failure point isn't pricing — it's the absence of a membership card that patients can carry, feel, and reference. A digital wallet pass makes the membership tangible.
[INTERNAL-LINK: loyalty program pricing guide for small businesses → loyalty program cost article]
How Digital Wallet Passes Replace The Joint's App
The Joint has a mobile app. Most patients don't use it — they don't need to, because the walk-in model removes the reason to check the app (no appointments to manage). But The Joint's app does one thing independent clinics underestimate: it keeps The Joint top of mind. Patients see it on their phone. It pushes them notifications.
Independent clinics can achieve the same visibility without building an app. Wallet passes — the cards that live inside Apple Wallet and Google Wallet — are already installed on every iPhone and Android phone. They sit in the same place as boarding passes and payment cards. They send push notifications to the lock screen.
Wallet passes achieve 4–5× higher adoption than standalone loyalty apps and deliver push notifications at 50–70% open rates — compared to 15–20% for email (Perkstar, 2025). That's the difference between a "re-engagement" email that nobody reads and a lock-screen reminder that actually gets a patient to book.
Here's what the patient experience looks like with a wallet-based membership card:
- Patient signs up at the front desk or via a QR code you print and leave on your counter
- They tap the link — the LoyaltyPass membership card is added to their Apple Wallet or Google Wallet in under 3 seconds
- At each visit, your staff opens the LoyaltyPass merchant app and scans the patient's phone — no hardware required
- The patient's visit count updates, and they receive an automatic push notification: "Visit logged. 1 of 2 this month used. Book your second adjustment at [clinic name]."
The card never gets lost. It transfers automatically when they upgrade their phone. And it keeps your clinic's branding in front of them every time they open their wallet.
[INTERNAL-LINK: Apple Wallet loyalty cards explained → apple wallet loyalty card guide]
Setting Up Your Chiropractic Membership Program in 10 Minutes
Independent chiropractors routinely assume that building a structured loyalty program requires software integrations, IT support, or months of planning. The actual setup is closer to ten minutes.
Step 1: Choose your program type (2 minutes) Decide on your tier structure. For most chiropractic clinics, a simple two-tier model works best to start: a 2-visit/month plan and a 4-visit/month plan. Resist the urge to add complexity — The Joint has one core membership.
Step 2: Design your branded wallet pass (5 minutes) In LoyaltyPass, upload your clinic logo, set your brand colors, and configure your stamp/visit rules. Your pass will be generated for both Apple Wallet and Google Wallet simultaneously. No developer needed.
Step 3: Generate your QR code and share it (2 minutes) Print your QR code for the front desk, add the sign-up link to your email footer, and text it to your existing patient list. Current patients convert fastest — they already trust you, they just need a reason to commit to a monthly plan.
Step 4: Train your staff on the merchant app (1 minute) The LoyaltyPass merchant app is a single-screen scan-and-confirm interface. Staff tap "scan," point the camera at the patient's phone, and tap "add visit." That's the entire training.
What works in practice: The fastest conversion method for existing patients is a simple sign-up incentive at the desk: "If you sign up for our wellness membership today, your next adjustment is included." One adjustment as a conversion cost is worth significantly less than the $828/year in recurring revenue from a member patient.
Using Push Notifications to Drive Care Plan Compliance
The single biggest failure mode in chiropractic membership programs is patients who sign up, use their first visit, and then don't come back until month-end (or lapse entirely). Push notifications solve this.
With wallet pass push notifications, you can send targeted messages directly to the patient's lock screen. No email open required. No app install. Just a notification that appears the same way a text message does.
Notification sequences that work for chiropractic:
At sign-up: "Welcome to [Clinic Name]'s wellness plan. Your first adjustment is waiting — book at [link]."
Mid-month (if no second visit yet): "You still have 1 adjustment left this month. Unused visits expire [date] — book now."
3 days before month-end: "Your [month] membership resets in 3 days. Don't leave an adjustment on the table — [link]."
Reactivation (patient hasn't visited in 6 weeks): "We miss you at [Clinic Name]. Your spine doesn't take breaks — neither should your care. Book this week."
Anniversary: "1 year as a [Clinic Name] wellness member. Thank you — here's a complimentary adjustment on us."
Wallet push notifications get 50–70% open rates. A mid-month "you have an unused visit" push notification sent to 50 members will prompt 25–35 of them to book. At $35 per additional visit, that's $875–$1,225 in revenue from a single automated message.
[INTERNAL-LINK: push notification strategy for small business loyalty → wallet pass push notification guide]
The Joint Chiropractic didn't disrupt independent chiropractors by offering better adjustments. It disrupted the industry by removing every barrier between a patient and their next visit: no insurance, no appointments, no surprises. A flat monthly card in their pocket.
Independent clinics can replicate every element of that model — the membership structure, the wallet-native card, the push notification reminders — without a franchise or a development budget. The only thing required is committing to the model.
[INTERNAL-LINK: start a loyalty program for your clinic → how to set up a digital loyalty program guide]
LoyaltyPass lets chiropractic clinics launch a branded digital membership card for Apple Wallet and Google Wallet in under 10 minutes. Start your free 14-day trial →
