A Closer Look at Incorporating New Technology Into Your Practice

Dr. McDannald shares insights and tips to consider before adding more technology or equipment into your practice.

Key Takeaways

• Equipment ROI (podiatry practice): Evaluate patient volume and revenue before purchasing technology. A $50,000 device requires approximately 33 treatments at $1,500 or 100 at $500 to recover equipment costs; target profitability within 9–10 months.
• Patient acquisition: Identify existing patients with chronic plantar fasciitis or Achilles tendinopathy; begin outreach 30–60 days before installation, targeting 15–20 consultations. Market the treated condition rather than the device.
• Implementation: Train staff on treatment options, pricing, and consultations; develop condition-specific website content and referral networks. Track cost per consultation, consultation-to-treatment conversion, and months to equipment payback.

Please note: This content is a direct transcript, capturing the authentic conversation without edits. Some language may reflect the flow of live discussion rather than polished text. 

Transcript

Jennifer Spector, DPM: Welcome again to Podiatry Today Podcasts, where we bring you the latest in foot and ankle medicine and surgery from leaders in the field. I'm Dr. Jennifer Spector, the Associate Editorial Director for Podiatry Today. And today we are concluding our three-part series with Dr. Jim McDannald. This time we're talking about looking at the return on investment when adding new tech to your practice. Welcome Dr. McDannald, and let's get started. As we've discussed before, ancillary services are an increasingly important part of a modern practice revenue plan. Are there any calculations financially that you can think of that a practice should make before they say invest in a new piece of equipment like shockwave or laser therapy? 

Jim McDannald, DPM: Absolutely. I think most podiatrists ask, "Can I afford this?" That's the wrong question. The better one is what's the marketing plan that pays this off in 12 months or faster? The equipment doesn't pay for itself, patients do, and they don't show up unless you have a plan for them. So run the math backward before you sign the lease for any new piece of equipment. Take the equipment cost and divide it up by your average revenue per treatment cycle. That gives you a kind of a 12-month patient target. A $50,000 device for a $1,500 treatment is 33 cash payments in a year just to break even. At $500 a treatment, it's 99. Write down that number before you sign anything to see if that's a realistic target. And don't just aim for break even. Plan to be in profit by month nine or month 10, because reality is always messier than the spreadsheet. 

If you can't see a realistic marketing plan that fits the target, the timing is probably wrong. So that's a far more useful answer than anything the rep's spreadsheet is going to tell you. 

Jennifer Spector, DPM: That's a great point. And I think so many docs make an investment like this thinking that they're really excited to be able to bring this service to their patient, but it sometimes just doesn't always work out. What are some of the biggest mistakes that you've seen that practices make after purchasing new equipment that prevent them from seeing that return? 

Jim McDannald, DPM: Yeah, there's definitely a handful of mistakes that I see and I'll give you them in a rough order how I see them. They sign the lease and then they hope marketing figures it out by itself. Patients aren't searching for the latest and greatest modalities because they don't know the names of those things. It's not like they're searching for foot doctor. This is not the way they search for things. So no budget, no plan attached to the purchase is a big mistake. The device is going to arrive there and sit. Another issue is they don't mind their own database first. The best candidates for laser or shockwave unit are already in the system. The chronic plantar fasciitis or the Achilles cases from the last three years who never fully resolved, reaching out to 30 to 60 days before the equipment lands so you can book maybe 15 to 20 consults before it's even installed can be a really helpful thing. 

When you're skipping that, it leaves the easiest wins on the table. People will sometimes market the device instead of the condition. Patients, like I said, don't search for shockwave therapy by near me. At least I don't think they do yet. Maybe in the future they will, but for now they're going to search for things like what does my heel hurts till after a year, year-long heel pain. They're going to be searching for things like that. So if you lead with the device name, you're kind of talking to yourself in a way because patients aren't searching for those things. They also never train. The biggest mistake too is not training your team. A patient calls interested. The front desk has no script, no idea how to describe this thing, no pricing as far as what that's available or what the consult is like. And then you're not going to get that patient to come in the door because you haven't educated your team about the new modality you're treating for plantar fasciitis and letting patients know upfront what potential costs could be for that. 

That's a really important component. You don't have to give everything away on the phone, but if your staff doesn't know, that's a possibility for you. Maybe someone calls back and said, "I've had heel pain for a year. I saw Dr. Smith six months ago, but it's still not better. Has anything changed that he might be able to help me?" I think that's an important component. Also, I'd say they skip the local referral network because it feels kind of old school and everything should be done online. As much as I think online marketing is helpful, getting out to let other healthcare providers that maybe treat your ideal patients, whether it be physical therapists or primary care physicians or pediatric specialists, you're letting them know that you have some of these newer modalities that could be helpful for their patients. But most clinics won't do that or can't find the time to do that, but it can be a very powerful way to help educate fellow providers and other people that treat your patients to get more of those referrals into the practice. 

Jennifer Spector, DPM: So you spoke a little bit about this, but I'm curious, once that technology is in the office, what are some strategies that could help drive patient awareness and utilization? 

Jim McDannald, DPM: Yeah, so there's five moves that I would recommend and I would say the order matters. First and foremost, I would go with your internal marketing first. You have your existing database, it's kind of the fastest and cheapest source. There's different ways of running some multi-touch kind of sequences. You can either do a physical letter, an email newsletter, if you have ability to text your patients in a HIPAA compliant fashion, maybe it's just only to the people who have had chronic cases 30 to 60 days out from receiving that piece of equipment, that can be a good first step. The second thing is to make sure that it's visible on your website, building a landing page around the specific condition that modality is treating. It addresses the patient's frustration and maybe it's inpatient language. We get used to saying a lot of medical terminology and jargon, but as long as it's written more in a patient facing way, I think it's important. 

It shouldn't be about the device. It should be about the condition it treats. Like I said, you want to name the condition, acknowledge what they've already tried, explain why this is different, show how it works, maybe add some testimonials or proof either you've had or maybe from the vendor, and then give some clear next steps so they can take action there. Also, it can be helpful to run things like Google search ads or local search ads on condition keywords, like I said, not device keywords. The traffic is usually bigger, cheaper with higher intent, then it's going to be faster than just regular SEO. So saving the kind of device name keywords is something that you have to be aware of there. Also activating the local referral network, like I mentioned, if you can't physically get out and do a lunch and learn with a local pediatrician or a primary care doctor or a physical therapy clinic, writing a brief letter, maybe it's a one pager drop off. 

Like I said, if you do have time, maybe a 20 minute lunch and learn with the PCP, the athletic trainers down the street, that can be really helpful. And then also I would say track three numbers from day one. What is the cost per consult? The consult to treatment kind of conversion. If someone comes in for the consult, were they willing to undergo the laser or the shockwave and understand what the months to pay back is as you're going along. Most practices will do one or two of these things, but really the ones that pay equipment off the fastest are generally doing all five and staying on top of it. Like I said, steps one and two start before the device even shows up at your door. 

Jennifer Spector, DPM: Well, it is always a pleasure to learn from your insights and experience, Dr. McDannald. We thank you so much for joining us today and thank you to the audience too. We're so glad you're with us as well. Be sure to listen to this and other episodes of Podiatry Today podcast on your favorite podcast platforms, and we'll see you next time.