How do I read a foot clinic’s mix of services, orthotics and product sales?

A foot clinic or pedorthic store often earns from several different things at once. Some income comes from time spent with patients, some from devices made for them and some from products picked off a shelf. These behave differently from one another, so a single revenue total hides more than it shows. Your job is to ask for the pieces and see how they fit together.

Ask for sales by line

Request a breakdown that separates assessments and visits, custom orthotics, footwear, compression garments and retail foot care products. Ask the accountant’s statements to match what the seller says. If the seller cannot split them, ask what records exist, such as appointment software or point-of-sale reports, and whether your own accountant could build the split from them.

Ask how each line is priced and paid

Find out who pays for each line: the patient, an insurer, an employer plan or a mix. Ask how prices are set and when they last changed. Insurer rules differ and change, and they belong with your lawyer and accountant, but you can still ask the seller how often claims are paid late, reduced or refused.

Look at what repeats

Ask whether custom devices are reviewed or replaced over time. Footwear and compression garments may be bought again. A shelf product may be a once-only purchase. Ask what share of customers come back, how the business reminds them and who handles that. Ask the seller how much of the work repeats; only the records can show it.

• Which line brings in the most new patients?
• Which line depends on one referring clinician?
• Which line would stop if one staff member left?