Overview:

Most clinics don’t fail; they stall.

They reach a comfortable size, decent revenue, and a full diary, and then everything gets harder. Margins tighten. Staff costs rise. Insurance work drags profitability down. Growth feels risky, but standing still feels worse.

In this episode, Michael sits down with Steve Hines, founder of Wandsworth Physio, to unpack what actually changes once a clinic moves beyond survival and into scale. From pricing strategy and tiered services to customer experience, technology investment, AI, and the shift toward polyclinic models, this is a candid look at how advanced clinics think defensively as well as offensively.

This isn’t about chasing growth at all costs. It’s about protecting margin, upgrading the offer, and building a clinic that can evolve as the market changes.

Show Notes

• Why most clinics plateau in the middle of the market
• The shift from growth obsession to margin protection
• Pricing strategy beyond annual price rises
• Tiered services and what they reveal about demand
• Moving beyond physio + massage into advanced services
• How technology and AI are actually being used in clinics
• Why customer experience drives retention more than CPD
• When insurance work stops making commercial sense
• Polyclinics, lifetime patient value, and service expansion
• Staff development, autonomy, and scaling leadership

What You’ll Learn

• Why “being busy” is not the same as being profitable
• How successful clinics think about pricing beyond yearly increases
• What actually differentiates high-end clinics from the middle
• How to upgrade your offer without racing to the bottom
• Why customer experience beats clinical excellence alone
• How advanced clinics use technology defensively, not just for growth
• Where AI genuinely saves time, and where it doesn’t
• How to retain staff without aggressive KPIs
• Why polyclinic models are becoming inevitable
• How to think about long-term patient lifetime value

Who This Episode Is For

• Clinic owners stuck at a revenue or growth ceiling
• Founders running “busy but squeezed” practices
• Clinic owners considering tiered pricing or advanced services
• Operators thinking about AI, automation, or admin efficiency
• Anyone exploring expansion, acquisition, or polyclinic models
• Physios transitioning from clinician to business owner

Not for:

• People looking for shortcuts or hacks
• Clinics unwilling to raise standards or prices
• Anyone expecting technology to fix a weak offer
• Owners who want growth without operational change

Guest Details

Steve Hines
Founder, Wandsworth Physio

Steve is a physiotherapist with over 20 years’ experience, including a decade in professional football with Fulham FC. He founded Wandsworth Physio and has grown it into an advanced, multi-service MSK clinic through organic growth, technology investment, and a strong focus on patient experience.

His work spans clinical practice and clinic operations, with an increasing focus on expansion and acquisition.

Clinic: Wandsworth Physio
Location: London, UK

Visit https://hmdg.co.uk for further information.

Follow Michael on LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com/in/mjschumacher100

Overview:

The phone rings, no one answers, and the patient disappears. That tiny moment is where clinics lose revenue, trust, and momentum and it’s exactly where AI can quietly do the heavy lifting.

We unpack how AI phone reception helps clinics capture bookings after hours and during peak spikes while protecting data, avoiding lock‑in, and freeing staff for high‑value human moments. We also share a vendor‑vetting checklist to spot wrappers, weigh security, and implement AI that works.

Show Notes

• Why missed calls kill conversions and fuel no‑shows
• How clinics are really deploying AI today (out-of-hours, overflow, full replacement)
• Where AI reception fits: after hours, overflow, first‑contact triage
• Real AI costs, security layers, monitoring and escalation
• Why white labelling and wrappers risk data and trust
• Chatbot risks, prompt injection and safer voice workflows
• Disclosures, recordings and compliance trade‑offs
• Implementing change management for teams and patients
• How AI is already changing productivity in professional services
• The real reason most practice management systems cannot keep up
• What an open API actually is, explained simply
• Why standardising on one “all-in-one” tool is a long-term mistake
• Why AI phone answering is such a crowded market
• Where AI phone answering clearly works
• Where it fails and why forcing it backfires
• Why many clinics say “we tried AI and it didn’t help”
• The single biggest implementation mistake clinic owners make
• How AI changes front-desk roles in practice
• Security risks with AI chatbots and why voice is different
• Why funding matters in healthcare AI
• When clinics should not use AI phone answering at all

What You’ll Learn

• How to think about AI phone answering as infrastructure, not magic
• Why missed calls quietly cost clinics more than most owners realise
• How open APIs protect clinics from vendor lock-in
• Why “sounds human” is a terrible way to assess AI
• How bad AI implementations lose bookings without anyone noticing
• What actually happens to reception teams after AI is introduced
• How to evaluate AI vendors without being technical
• Why cheap AI phone answering should raise immediate red flags

Who This Episode Is For

• Clinic owners considering AI phone answering
• Clinic owners who tried AI and were disappointed
• Practice managers responsible for admin and reception
• Healthcare founders evaluating tech stacks
• Anyone sceptical about AI hype but open to evidence

Not for:

• People looking for quick wins or gimmicks
• Clinics unwilling to change processes
• Anyone expecting AI to fix broken operations on its own

Guest Details

Tanmay

Co-Founder, Lyngo

Lyngo is an AI phone answering platform built specifically for healthcare clinics. It handles inbound calls, bookings, patient queries, and escalation while integrating directly with practice management systems via open APIs.

Website: https://www.lyngo.ai/

Email: tanme@lyngo.ai

Visit https://hmdg.co.uk for further information.

Follow Michael on LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com/in/mjschumacher100

Overview

Pilates is either a nice add-on you never quite monetise, or it becomes the engine room of your clinic.

In this episode, Michael speaks with Lowry O’Mahony (Max Physio & Pilates, and Maxona) about how she integrated Pilates so tightly into a multi-site MSK business that it now generates roughly half of revenue, stabilises cashflow, and creates a workforce pipeline when physio hiring gets tight. They get into where Pilates fits in the patient pathway, how to make it recurring without it feeling “salesy”, and why the best lessons often come from entrepreneurs outside MSK, not the usual industry gurus.

Lowry also explains why she built Maxona: training, studio fit-outs, equipment, and smart reformers designed to measure progress and keep people engaged.

Show Notes

• Why so many clinics “offer Pilates” but fail to integrate it properly
• Australia vs UK/Ireland: why Pilates is more embedded in private practice there
• Pilates as recurring revenue: why it smooths out the peaks and troughs
• The patient pathway: where Pilates fits (day one, mid-rehab, end-stage, or standalone)
• “Physios hate selling”: how free intro classes remove friction and awkwardness
• The real Pilates customer base: why 50+ and 60+ is the market, not influencers
• Staffing reality: using Pilates to broaden your workforce beyond the physio bottleneck
• Culture and systems: KPIs for behaviour, values, and how to protect standards as you scale
• Expansion: opening multiple sites off the back of stable demand and better predictability
• Maxona: teacher training, Pilates Academy, maintenance/support, equipment finance
• Smart reformers and measurement: using objective feedback to drive adherence and outcomes
• Community strategy: macro events and micro cohorts to improve retention and seasonality

What You’ll Learn

• How to position Pilates as a core service line, not a side hustle
• How to move people from reactive physio to proactive memberships without hard selling
• What to prioritise first: space, training consistency, booking tech, and retention mechanics
• How to use blocks, memberships, and community to reduce seasonality
• How to think about staffing when physios are scarce: building a parallel workforce
• Why measurement and progress tracking matter for adherence (and revenue stability)

Who This Episode is For

• Clinic owners doing £300k to £2m who want a second engine of growth
• Owners stuck on physio capacity, utilisation, or staffing constraints
• Clinics offering Pilates but not making meaningful money from it
• Anyone considering reformer Pilates and worried about space, cost, or team buy-in
• Owners who want more predictable revenue before scaling, hiring, or exiting

Guest Details

Lowry O’Mahony

Founder of Max Physio & Pilates (Ireland) and Maxona.

• Trained as a physiotherapist (RCSI, Dublin) and Pilates instructor early in her career
• Worked in the UK and Australia, where Pilates is deeply integrated into private practice
• Built a multi-site physio and Pilates model with Pilates contributing ~50% of revenue
• Created Maxona to help clinics implement Pilates end-to-end: training, equipment, support, and studio success

Find Lowry and Maxona

• Instagram: @lowryphysiopilates
• LinkedIn:

Visit https://hmdg.co.uk for further information.

Follow Michael on LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com/in/mjschumacher100