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A lot of talk about the rise of podiatry "supergroups" (venture capital owned/run)... CureUltra, PupperWhine, FAZMA, Devolve, InPride, etc etc. There are a ton now. Some are multi-state, some are just basically one metro. For better or worse, they are getting to represent the majority of employed podiatrist jobs out there. Most of them obviously target new grad DPMs for hiring.
Nothing is all bad or all good, but these do have their common themes, qualities, "protocols." It helps to understand them.
Some of their qualities are obviously just adapted from regular podiatry small and medium PP groups (rapidly expanded to a bigger scale with use of VCap funds).
Common qualities of the supergroup model are below...
It seems like it'd be easy to be pretty happy with $175k or more salary (especially after much lower resident pay), but a lot of new grads don't realize the taxes, student loan payments required to be impactful on principal, increased living expenses that usually come after residency/fellow graduation (minimal change if you're smart!). It is a very bad ROI to take out $300k or $400k+ loans and 7-8yrs of school+training to only get $200k or less. Still, that is ok money with the overall DPM job market, and it's plenty of money if we're frugal and dedicated to paying down loans. Still, I feel the main problem with these groups goes much deeper than the money:
...Personally, I feel the most depressing thing about these is that it makes docs - podiatrists - into permanent worker bees (this is not unique to podiatry... ER, anesth, etc VC groups also). This is problematic on many levels. Any employed job comes down to support/admins for success. Money always matters, but it's also hard to get ahead mentally when you are reduced to basically being a burger-flipper who can be replaced by many others. While the ER or anesthesia groups are contracted with the hospitals, the podiatry is mostly/all outpatient work, and the supergroups literally tell associates what time and where to show up, how to go about doing patient care ("protocols"). 🙁
George Carlin always said that "The secret of success is doing something you love, doing it well and being recognized for it."
It becomes VERY hard to do podiatry well and be recognized in these supergroups as you have almost no control of the staffing, system, etc. It's all pre-set.
So, you are left with:
I worked in a supergroup for one year, so I experienced it a bit, talked to others doing same, saw contracts, learned their general modus operandi of these groups in general. Most DPM hires are fine with it for a year or two, but they quickly realize they're trapped as a cog in the machine with very low or no income or advance possibility. Obviously, I did not love it.
Nothing is all bad or all good, but these do have their common themes, qualities, "protocols." It helps to understand them.
Some of their qualities are obviously just adapted from regular podiatry small and medium PP groups (rapidly expanded to a bigger scale with use of VCap funds).
Common qualities of the supergroup model are below...
- high-ish base salary $150k-$180k+ w possible sign bonus (sad that that's 'high,' but that's our job market) ...clearly designed to attract big debt new grads and various DPM associates (vs typical small/medium podiatry PP base)
- pull base after 1yr and go to 30%, 35% collections etc ...pressures associate to do more tests/procedures/ancillary, see more pts, take less time off
- ancillary services ...refers by associates to vasc, PT, DME, testing/lab, etc that supergroup may own/operate are expected (and typically incentivized in some way)
- little/no control of workplace ...few freedoms in office(s) assigned as hours/schedule, staff hiring/training, marketing, supplies, etc operate via group's corporate
- multiple locations ...associate can get re-assigned, and their daily/weekly schedule oten changes if other associates quit, new office(s) open, etc
- no path to partnership ...supergroup will already have plenty of admins and quasi-admins ("management team") who don't contribute directly to pt care, and any DPM/doc admins will likely be founders or the original group who partnered with venture capital to expand and acquire more offices
- non-compete ...typically largest (or larger than) allowed by state laws, and may put non-compete into contracts even if the state disallowed them for docs
- possible group changes ...most big businesses have the poential for buy-out, leadership changes, admin changes, strategy adjustments, expand/contract... and podiatry supergroups absolute do all of these things
It seems like it'd be easy to be pretty happy with $175k or more salary (especially after much lower resident pay), but a lot of new grads don't realize the taxes, student loan payments required to be impactful on principal, increased living expenses that usually come after residency/fellow graduation (minimal change if you're smart!). It is a very bad ROI to take out $300k or $400k+ loans and 7-8yrs of school+training to only get $200k or less. Still, that is ok money with the overall DPM job market, and it's plenty of money if we're frugal and dedicated to paying down loans. Still, I feel the main problem with these groups goes much deeper than the money:
...Personally, I feel the most depressing thing about these is that it makes docs - podiatrists - into permanent worker bees (this is not unique to podiatry... ER, anesth, etc VC groups also). This is problematic on many levels. Any employed job comes down to support/admins for success. Money always matters, but it's also hard to get ahead mentally when you are reduced to basically being a burger-flipper who can be replaced by many others. While the ER or anesthesia groups are contracted with the hospitals, the podiatry is mostly/all outpatient work, and the supergroups literally tell associates what time and where to show up, how to go about doing patient care ("protocols"). 🙁
George Carlin always said that "The secret of success is doing something you love, doing it well and being recognized for it."
It becomes VERY hard to do podiatry well and be recognized in these supergroups as you have almost no control of the staffing, system, etc. It's all pre-set.
So, you are left with:
- "doing something you love" ... maybe you like feet/nails/surgery, maybe not.
- "doing it well" ... many of us do our best, but it is much easier if you can control - or at least influence - your supplies, staff, training, marketing, etc.
- "being recognized for it" ...you might get some thanks from patients, but it's hard to ever get promotion when supergroup associates are being obviously replaced, transferred, fired annually. Anything you do in these groups to increase your productivity and income will invariably increase the owner/corporate profits even moreso.
I worked in a supergroup for one year, so I experienced it a bit, talked to others doing same, saw contracts, learned their general modus operandi of these groups in general. Most DPM hires are fine with it for a year or two, but they quickly realize they're trapped as a cog in the machine with very low or no income or advance possibility. Obviously, I did not love it.
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