We're a small team of clinicians, operators and technologists building the kind of clinic we'd want our own families to attend. We own the clinic and the pharmaceutical line, work hand-in-hand with a trusted pharmacy partner, and have a clear, costed plan to grow from one prescriber to four, without ever compromising clinical quality or patient dignity.
Read the Plan ↓Golden Ratio Clinics is a telehealth-first medicinal cannabis clinic designed around compliance, patient outcomes, and sustainable unit economics. We're not chasing volume, we're building reputation.
We own the clinic and the pharmaceutical product. The pharmacy is the only link we don't own outright, and we have rock-solid relationships there. Every link in the patient journey, from intake to dispense, runs through infrastructure we control. That's the moat: margin compounds at every stage instead of leaking out to third parties.
Initial consultations are free of charge, we never want a patient to weigh up whether they can afford to ask for help. The clinic is sustained by the wholesale margin on the pharmaceutical line we own, which averages around $214 per dispensed script. That alignment is deliberate: we're paid when a patient is genuinely receiving the medication their clinician believes is right for them, not for the act of holding an appointment.
The clinic runs on a suite of applications we've built in-house: a parent Golden Ratio Clinic site, themed sister clinics, Neko, Casa, Lickies, Wealthmonday, Quiet Hours, each serving a distinct patient community, and a shared Pharmabackend handling admin, inventory and pharmacy coordination. All of it integrates with Best Practice as the clinical EMR backbone. The technology serves the clinical team and the patient, never the other way around.
Many of the patients who benefit most from medicinal cannabis are people in chronic pain, navigating anxiety, or simply too unwell to easily attend a physical clinic. Telehealth lets us meet them where they actually are, at home, comfortable, without the cost or fatigue of travel. In-person presence remains on the roadmap for later phases, in the right city, for the right reasons.
From first click to ongoing care, here's exactly what the patient journey looks like and how our team is structured to deliver it.
| Role | Arrangement | Estimated Cost | Responsibilities |
|---|---|---|---|
| Authorised Prescriber (Doctor) | Sessional / hourly | $220-250/hr | Clinical consultations (free to patient), prescribing, TGA notifications, follow-ups, clinical governance oversight. Doctor compensation is a cost line, not a revenue line, the script is. |
| Registered Nurse | Part-time → full-time | $6,000-8,000/mo | Patient intake, pre-screening, medical history, scheduling, follow-up coordination, adverse event documentation. The nurse is the patient relationship. |
| Practice Manager | Stage 2 onwards (~600 active book) | $5,000-7,000/mo | Operations, compliance monitoring, staff coordination, reporting, app-ecosystem oversight. |
We operate within the TGA's Authorised Prescriber pathway as our primary route, with SAS-B available for patients who fall outside AP categories. Here's how it all works.
Our doctors apply for AP status through the TGA, endorsed by an HREC or specialist college. Once approved, they can prescribe to defined classes of patients without per-patient TGA approval. This is faster, more scalable, and the recommended pathway for any clinic planning beyond a handful of patients.
Turnaround: 2-4 weeks for endorsement and TGA approval.
For patients who fall outside the AP class definition, we use SAS-B, a per-patient notification to the TGA. The prescriber submits a clinical justification, and the patient can be treated while the notification is processed. We maintain clinical justification templates for efficient documentation.
Process: Notification submitted within 28 days of first prescription.
28-day notification obligations, 6-monthly AP reports, adverse event reporting, and real-time prescription monitoring registration (SafeScript, ERRCD, QScript depending on patient state).
The #1 mistake new clinics make is forgetting state-level permits on top of TGA. We secure S8 permits in every state we treat patients, critical for cross-border telehealth compliance.
Minimum consultation times, maximum daily patient load caps, mandatory follow-up schedules, quarterly clinical audits, and a clear list of conditions we will and won't treat. We build the framework the TGA wants to see if they audit.
We've built our pricing around a simple commitment: a patient should never have to choose between asking for help and paying their bills. Every clinical touchpoint, from first contact to long-term follow-up, is provided at no cost. The clinic is sustained by the medication itself, prescribed only when our doctors believe it's clinically appropriate.
| Touchpoint | Duration | Patient Pays | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Eligibility Quiz | 2 minutes | FREE | Self-serve, automated. Patient gets an instant indication of whether they're a candidate. |
| Nurse Pre-Screen | 10-15 minutes | FREE | Intake, history, eligibility confirmation. The nurse is the relationship. |
| Initial Doctor Consult | 20-30 minutes | FREE | No barrier to entry. Real patients shouldn't pay $130 to find out if treatment is right for them. |
| Follow-Ups | 10-15 minutes | FREE | Outcome tracking, dose adjustment, retention. Free follow-ups = compliance + retention. |
| Prescription Dispense | , | $214 avg | The price the patient pays the pharmacy for our own pharmaceutical product. This is the entire revenue line. |
Medicinal cannabis is an ongoing therapy. Patients are typically with us for months or years as their clinician fine-tunes their treatment, monitors outcomes, and adjusts dose. That continuity is the heart of doing this properly, and it also gives the clinic a stable, predictable footing without ever needing to charge a sick patient for a follow-up phone call.
Many medicinal cannabis clinics charge $80-$150 just to be seen. The patients turned away by that fee are often the ones who need help most, pensioners, casual workers, parents juggling cost-of-living pressures. We've designed the clinic so finances are never the gatekeeper to a clinical conversation. Every patient gets the same time, the same care, and the same clinical pathway.
Every dollar of clinic revenue flows from a single mechanic: the wholesale margin on a pharmaceutical product we own, dispensed by our pharmacy partner under a properly-justified script. Here's the full per-product, per-script and per-patient picture, at the granularity that diligence deserves.
Floor is the entry-level 2-line script for a brand-new patient titrating cautiously upward. Ceiling is the 6-line full-coverage script written under specialist oversight for complex, well-documented presentations.
Patient-pay prices vary by product line and brand. The figures below are the realistic clinic-revenue range per dispensed unit, drawn from prevailing Australian wholesale economics, minimum, maximum, and the working average we use for projections.
A patient's script grows or shrinks with their clinical needs. Most stabilise around the 4-line standard script. The 6-line ceiling is reserved for complex presentations under specialist oversight, and only ever written within state-level THC dose thresholds.
For partners doing diligence on us, here's the rule-set our prescribing operates under, in plain language. None of this is theoretical, it's the day-to-day grammar of how every script leaves the clinic.
Our doctors operate primarily under the Authorised Prescriber (AP) scheme, once a clinician holds AP approval (valid up to 5 years) for a defined patient class and product category, no per-patient TGA notification is required. Categories 1, 2 and 3 (CBD-led, CBD-dominant, balanced) are covered under the streamlined "established history of use" pathway. For patients who fall outside an AP's class definition, we use SAS-B: per-patient notification to the TGA with a written clinical justification, lodged within 28 days of the first prescription.
Each line on a script must explicitly identify: exact product name, exact strength, exact dosage form, and exact quantity. Ranges are not permitted, "CBD-dominant product" is not a valid line. The prescriber sets a monthly quantity limit per product and an interval period between refills (typically 28 days), both of which are policed by the dispensing pharmacy. When multiple products appear on one script, the prescriber must track total daily THC across the whole script, that's the figure that determines whether additional state-level authorisation is triggered.
TGA approval is necessary but not sufficient. Schedule 8 prescribing also requires state-level authorisations: NSW Health for unregistered S8 in NSW, WA Department of Health for daily-THC thresholds (>40mg oral / >300mg inhaled, or patients under 18, with prior substance use, or significant psychiatric history), QLD's Monitored Medicines framework, and equivalents in VIC, SA and TAS. We secure each S8 permit before treating a patient in that state, not after. This is the single biggest compliance gap we see in less-mature clinics.
Dispensing happens at our partner pharmacy under full S8 conditions: locked steel safe affixed to the building, daily drug-register entries (separate register per brand/strength), pharmacist verification of TGA AP/SAS approval before any handover, and mandatory patient counselling covering dose, side effects, drug interactions and driving restrictions. There is no emergency-supply provision for unregistered S8 medicines under any state framework, every dispense follows the prescription, exactly as written.
We've structured our dispensing model around convenience, compliance, and security, with a pharmacy partner that meets every regulatory requirement for Schedule 8 handling.
We work with a registered pharmacy that holds all required S8 permits, has a compliant vault installation, and maintains a rigorous drug register. E-prescriptions are sent directly via HealthLink, seamless for the patient and the pharmacist.
Patients can collect in person or opt for tracked, signature-required delivery. All shipping complies with Schedule 8 transportation requirements. Most patients receive their medication within 2-3 business days of their consultation.
Every dispensing includes pharmacist counseling covering administration, dosage, side effects, drug interactions, driving restrictions, and storage. It's not just a legal requirement, it's the right thing to do for patient safety.
We market the clinic, not the cannabis. Our strategy is built around education, trust, and compliance, because the clinics that grow sustainably are the ones that never cross the TGA advertising line.
Monthly budget: $3,000-$5,000
Goal: 80%+ follow-up rate
Growth in a clinical setting has to be earned, not forced. Our plan adds a new prescriber only once the previous one is at a properly-managed patient load, and only once the operational, compliance and clinical-governance scaffolding is in place to support them. The numbers below are conservative, ungamed, and built on the unit economics of providing real care to real patients.
| Stage | Doctors | Active Patients | Scripts / Month | Monthly Revenue | Timing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stage 1, Launch | 1 (sessional AP) | ~215 | ~215 @ $214 | ~$46,000 | Months 1-4 |
| Stage 2, Validate | 1 → 2 | ~600 | ~600 @ $214 | ~$128,000 | Months 5-8 |
| Stage 3, Expand | 2 → 3 | ~1,800 | ~1,800 @ $214 | ~$385,000 | Months 9-14 |
| Stage 4, Mature | 3 → 4 | ~3,600 | ~3,600 @ $214 | ~$770,000 | Months 15-20 |
| Stage 5, Steady State | 4 (full roster) | ~5,600 | ~5,600 @ $214 | ~$1,200,000 | Month 24+ |
Stage 5's monthly figure isn't 5,600 first-time visits, it's a stable book of patients we've genuinely helped, returning each month to refill the medication that's working for them. That continuity is the clinical aim. The financial outcome is a consequence of doing it well.
Our nurse-led intake and in-house app ecosystem mean each doctor's time is spent on the clinical work that legally and ethically requires a doctor, diagnosis, prescribing, complex follow-up, rather than admin. A well-supported AP can responsibly care for around 1,200-1,500 active patients while keeping appointment times unhurried.
Because the clinic and the pharmaceutical line are owned together, the margin on each script flows back into the practice rather than out to a third-party platform. That's what funds longer consultation slots, free follow-ups, the nursing team, and outcomes tracking, the parts of clinical care that go first when a clinic is squeezed.
We're building in phases, each one funded by the revenue from the last. No burn rate, no runway anxiety. Just methodical, sustainable growth.
1 AP doctor (sessional), 1 registered nurse. Telehealth via phone/video, Best Practice EMR live, in-house app ecosystem in production, partner pharmacy dispensing. FREE initial consults from day one. Target: ~215 active patients producing ~$46K/month in script revenue. Marketing: Google Ads on condition keywords + GP referral outreach.
Add second AP doctor. Hire practice manager. HealthEngine integration. Active book grows to ~600 patients. Outcome data collection formalised (VAS, PHQ-9, sleep). Formulary expanded to 15-20 products through our pharmaceutical pipeline. First evidence that the closed-loop model works at scale.
Third doctor onboarded. Interstate S8 permits secured for national telehealth. Active book grows to ~1,800. Investigate in-person presence (Sydney pilot). Research partnerships with universities for outcome studies. Pharmaceutical product range broadens with formulations driven by our own demand data.
Fourth doctor brings the prescriber roster to full strength. Active book ~3,600. In-person clinic operational. Outcomes data published, building reference-clinic reputation. Closed-loop margin clearly visible in P&L.
~5,600 active patients refilling monthly. Reference operator status with regulators. Vertical integration well-established. Positioned for strategic partnership, capital event, or organic capture of a third tier of growth (5-8 doctors, multi-state in-person, adjacent therapeutic categories).
Self-funded at launch with a lean cost structure designed to reach break-even within the first 8-12 weeks. The closed-loop revenue model means we don't need runway to "find product-market fit", we already own the product, the clinic, and the supply chain. We're open to strategic investment from partners who bring more than capital: industry knowledge, supply-chain leverage, or technology capability. That's where Green Grocer fits naturally.
At Stage 1: ~215 active patients × $214/script ≈ $46K/mo. Doctor cost (sessional, ~$15K), nursing (~$7K), platform/Best Practice (~$2K), overheads (~$3K) ≈ $27K. Net ~$19K/mo from one prescriber. Every additional doctor at full book contributes a multiple of their cost, by Stage 5, the contribution margin is dominated by the pharmaceutical we already own.
We see this as a genuine strategic alignment, not a transactional arrangement. Here's what we bring to each other and what we're ready to commit to.