You can do quite well seeing 15 patients per day if you keep your expenses reasonable. I do not want to see 35 patients per day. I think 20 is the sweet spot. You always want to have room in your schedule for an urgent appointment, like the 15 year old with an acute paronychia.
Yep, this is why I think more ppl don't start their own office (or buy out a retire/wind-down pod office).
There is the misconception that because pod groups push their DPM associates to see 25 or 30 or 35+ patients per day or do a bunch of DME/proc that you
need to do that to be profitable. They push that simply because they are taking 20-30% of every dollar the associate brings in... the more, the better... longer hours, more pts/hour, more $/visit, etc are the way for owners to line their pocket. It is also hard for the associate to make a living seeing much fewer than 25+ per day when they're making only 30-40% of their collections, taking a lot of MCA and low/no pay visits, usually seeing free hospital ER call/consults, etc.
...People don't realize how quick they can break even (usually 8-10pt/day) or even be making fair profit (12-15/day) in most offices as the owner if rent and overhead is modest.
I agree it is better to see 20/day or more to correct for some no-shows and last minute cancels and slow/no pays. Those can be minimized with good staff training, but some payer areas are just rough for those factors no matter what you try. There is definitely no need to kill yourself seeing a high number and working late like an associate, though... esp when revving up a new office and not wanting bad reviews or area PCPs hearing back that you rush visits, run up bills, run late for appts, etc.