Why I Quit Podiatric Surgery After 20 Years (And My Practice Got Better)

Hiring Gap Year Pre-Med Students for My Practice: The Staffing Model That Cut Costs and Improved Operations

I explains how I redesigned office staffing by hiring motivated gap year students (future med, PA, and NP applicants) for front office, back office, and billing roles to address rising costs while staying profitable. I share the uncomfortable reality of balancing being a good employer with financial sustainability, and compares her model to McDonald’s: young workers guided by one experienced manager. I detail my hiring funnel—an Indeed post written specifically for gap year applicants at $18/hour, Zoom pre-screens, then in-person interviews—and emphasizes the trade: students gain rare clinical and operational experience and strong letters of recommendation, while the practice gains fast-learning, tech-native staff. The approach works because of strong SOPs and training videos, accepts predictable turnover, and leverages part-time flexibility to match real clinic schedules and improve the P&L.

Why Independent Medical Practices Can Still Thrive: Independent Doctors Network

Podiatrist Michele McGowan reflects on how private practices across specialties are facing the same pressures—lower reimbursement, higher overhead, rising payroll and supply costs, growing administrative burden, private equity acquisitions, and hospital systems absorbing independent medicine—despite independent practices being profitable and valuable. She explains how she and her husband transformed their practice over the last four years by stepping away from low-paying insurance models, dropping certain insurances, implementing transparent cash pricing, and adding services not dependent on insurance approval, resulting in more time with patients, better outcomes, and less chaos. McGowan argues high-volume medicine harms care and shares that patients want present, unburned-out doctors who build long-term relationships. She introduces the Independent Doctors Network as a cross-specialty community to share strategies on cash services, AI/technology, sustainable operations, and practice-building resources via a webpage and Facebook group.

Why I Quit Podiatric Surgery After 20 Years (And My Practice Got Better)

Why I Quit Podiatric Surgery After 20 Years (And My Practice Got Better) Michele McGowan of Podiatry Unfiltered reflects on Muhammad Ali’s late-career fights to introduce the uncomfortable idea that quitting can be a win, then explains why she stopped doing surgery after 20 years in private practice. Trained in a strong surgical residency at West Penn Hospital, she built her own Florida practice and became board certified, with surgery once central to her identity. Over time, the realities of OR delays, lost time, and two decades of hospital call—weekend emergencies and missed family time—left her unfulfilled, and she wishes she’d changed sooner. Four years ago she stopped surgery entirely, found malpractice costs dropped, and discovered her practice and patient care improved. She now focuses on regenerative and conservative treatments (PRP, SoftWave, laser, orthotics) while referring surgical cases, emphasizing that doctors are allowed to change what no longer serves them. 00:00 Ali and Quitting 01:03 Why I Left Surgery 03:17 Training and Identity 04:42 Private Practice OR Reality 06:09 Call Burnout Turning Point 07:23 Stopping Cold Turkey 08:00 New Conservative Focus 09:23 Practice Got Better 10:41 Permission to Change 11:48 Closing Thoughts

Podiatry Unfiltered Episode 14: Helping Patients Say Yes — For the Right Reasons

Podiatry Unfiltered: Ethical “Selling” That Builds Trust (Shockwave, Laser & Real Treatment Plans) Dr. Michele McGowan and Dr. Tim Henne discuss how podiatrists can confidently and ethically present non-surgical treatments by building trust, focusing on patient “discovery,” and recommending plans with conviction rather than apologizing for costs or options. Using a chronic plantar fasciitis case, they explain reframing treatments like Softwave shockwave and Class IV laser around what patients want back in their lives, handling objections such as “I’ll think about it” and “that’s expensive,” and avoiding common mistakes like talking too much, leading with price, and weak handoffs to untrained staff. They contrast conservative care with regenerative options between conservative and surgery, emphasize patient selection and tracking progress (VAS), share their shift from high-volume visits to longer appointments, and note they personally use the technologies they recommend.

Webinar Special Episode: Shockwave Therapy: Unpacking What Every Podiatrist Should Know

How to Implement Extracorporeal Shockwave (SoftWave TRT) in a Podiatry Practice | Webinar Replay (April 2026) Michelle McGowan (Podiatry Unfiltered/Independent Podiatrist Network) shares an April 2026 webinar on implementing extracorporeal shockwave therapy—especially SoftWave TRT—in a podiatry office, joined by Dr. Tim Henny and SoftWave specialist Liz Keener. She explains the three commonly discussed modalities in podiatry (radial pressure wave, focused shockwave, and broad-focused shockwave), why her practice chose broad-focused SoftWave (larger treatment zone), and the regenerative concept of mechanotransduction. McGowan outlines real-world workflow and clinical protocols (typical shocks, energy targets, pain-guided technique, VAS tracking, and when to add laser), discusses packaging and pricing (including pay-per-visit vs upfront plans), and covers patient expectation-setting and consent/ABN considerations. She also reviews marketing tactics (in-office videos, testimonials, email outreach), financing tools (Cherry), and answers audience questions on depth, insurance, costs, and combining shockwave with orthobiologics. 00:00 Webinar Intro and Invite 01:26 Friendly Network Banter 04:39 Webinar Kickoff and Agenda 08:00 Shockwave Basics Explained 08:47 Three Shockwave Types 11:55 Cellular Healing Effects 13:03 SoftWave Physics Demo 13:35 Treatment Technique Walkthrough 14:35 Depth Question and Use Cases 15:40 Protocols and Settings 18:04 Why We Chose SoftWave 20:38 Pricing and Patient Expectations 23:00 Treatment Packages and Plans 24:54 Marketing That Works 26:51 In-Office Video and Testimonials 28:00 Patient Testimonial Playbook 28:18 Shockwave Case Breakdown 29:02 Share Outcomes and Consents 29:27 Email Marketing That Converts 30:24 Patient Financing Options 31:30 Workflow and Documentation Setup 33:22 Athletes and Expectations 34:45 Old School Shockwave Evolution 35:41 Live Q&A Marketing Vendors 36:40 ABNs and Insurance Pushback 39:50 Pricing and ROI Reality 45:08 Shockwave vs Stem Cells 51:51 Wrap Up and Next Steps