Don Pelto, DPM - Podiatry Practice Mastery

What can you learn by breaking down an actual day in a high-production podiatry practice? In this episode of Podiatry Practice Mastery, Don walks through 19 patients from a Monday in his practice, including fractures, shockwave treatments, AFOs, plantar fasciitis, posterior tibial tendon dysfunction, ingrown nails, orthotics, ultrasound, and other common podiatry visits.Along the way, Don shares the thinking behind his treatment decisions, what makes certain visits more valuable, how urgent care referrals and online scheduling bring patients into the practice, and why consistency matters in a multi-doctor office. He also discusses choosing vendors based on quality rather than price and walks through his approach to posterior tibial tendon dysfunction.Keywords: podiatry practice management, podiatry patient workflow, podiatry practice production, posterior tibial tendon dysfunction, profitable podiatry practice

Two podiatrists can see a similar number of patients and generate very different amounts of cash-pay revenue. In this episode of Podiatry Practice Mastery, Don breaks down the actual monthly ancillary production of four doctors in the same practice and looks at what each doctor does differently.The numbers reveal that a few services—especially orthotics and shockwave—generate most of the cash-pay revenue. Don discusses why protocols, treatment conversations, timing, and consistently offering what you believe is the best option for the patient can make such a large difference. He also shares where his own numbers need improvement and what he’s learning from a colleague who consistently does more orthotics.Keywords: podiatry cash pay services, podiatry ancillary revenue, orthotics practice growth, shockwave therapy revenue, podiatry practice profitability

Once you’ve made the insurance side of your podiatry practice more profitable, how do you successfully add cash-pay services without buying expensive equipment that ends up sitting unused? In this episode of Podiatry Practice Mastery, Don explains his approach to incorporating cash-pay treatments and products, including shockwave, Swift, laser, orthotics, and other services.Don discusses why you should focus on services you’re confident and proud to offer, how introductory pricing can help you gain experience, why treatment packages and protocols matter, and the importance of having a plan when a treatment doesn’t produce the expected result. He also explains how calculating your actual cost per patient visit can change the way you think about pricing and low-value services.Keywords: cash pay services for podiatrists, podiatry practice profitability, shockwave therapy business, podiatry cash services, hybrid medical practice

Many podiatrists accept insurance and stay busy but still struggle to make their practice as profitable as it should be. In this episode of Podiatry Practice Mastery, Don breaks down why simply seeing more patients isn’t always the answer—and why seeing the right mix of patients and fully utilizing the services insurance reimburses can make a major difference.Don covers evaluating low-paying insurance plans, improving billing and coding, performing appropriate procedures, incorporating DME and custom bracing, improving imaging efficiency, and reducing unnecessary low-value appointments. He also explains why some practices don’t have a profitability problem at all—they simply need more patient demand.Keywords: profitable podiatry practice, podiatry insurance reimbursement, podiatry billing and coding, DME for podiatrists, podiatry practice profitability

Online reviews are important for a podiatry practice, but relying on yourself or your staff to remember to ask every patient can make it difficult to consistently generate them. In this episode of Podiatry Practice Mastery, Don shares how his practice automates Google review requests and a mistake he discovered in the way those requests were being sent.Don explains why he’s working to build reviews for individual doctors as well as the overall practice, how his two-location, four-doctor practice structures its Google presence, and why he focuses primarily on Google reviews. He also shares several ways practices can repurpose patient reviews in newsletters, waiting room content, websites, advertising, and other marketing.Keywords: Google reviews for podiatrists, podiatry practice marketing, online reviews for doctors, medical practice reviews, podiatry reputation management