In the old days of Podiatry (like a decade ago) you could sell a Podiatry practice rather easy. There was a demand and not many people were selling established successful practices.  But those were the days before Podiatrists getting jobs in medical groups and orthopedic groups. Those were the days before super groups, now the terrain has changed.  Podiatry residents are graduating with 300k of debt ready to start families. They are not looking to shell out 400k for a practice.

The old way of establishing how much a Podiatric practice was worth was to calculate the gross and take half of that or pay the average net profit for three years. There were different formulas.  This was also before the great recession when credit was fast and loose. Well, credit is not fast and loose anymore; the credit markets have tightened.  And most residents and students don’t want to take out a 500k loan at 12% interest on top of their student loan debt.  That does not even factor into all the cities and states that are now dominated by large pediatric groups that can outspend and out market most single practices.  It really is to the point where singular Podiatry practices almost have to sell to the Super Group to get any kind of return.

But now we are reaching the period where multiple Podiatric schools were graduating 300-400 grads. There are a ton of Podiatrists looking to sell practices but most of recent grads don’t want to purchase a practice. They want a job with guaranteed income.  Additionally, these new grads want to preform Ankle surgery and Charcot reconstruction. Private practice is all about ingrown toenails and 11721. It is not glamorous. It’s being on call all the time, it’s manage a staff, it’s managing your own EMR system, managing billing.  If you get a job at a multi speciality group or a super group you do not have to do any of those management tasks. Just operate and go home.  Solo practitioner: do your own marketing websites and hope to get referrals.  Podiatrist gets hired by a multi specialty group or orthopedic group. They have the referrals built into the system.   It’s hard to see the value in purchasing a solo Podiatry practice anymore.