Thriving Practice with Tracy Cherpeski

Tracy Cherpeski

Top 5% globally ranked podcast for healthcare practice owners. Prevent burnout, grow profitably. 215+ episodes, 51 countries. Welcome to Thriving Practice - the business podcast that proves independent physicians, dentists, therapists, and healthcare practice owners can build profitable, efficient practices while actually enjoying their lives. By the Numbers: 215+ episodes featuring top-tier practice owners and healthcare business experts Global Top 5% ranking on Listen Notes among all podcasts 51 countries reached globally 9 seasons of proven practice management strategies Weekly episodes with actionable insights you can implement immediately Hosted by Tracy Cherpeski, MBA, MA, CPSC - executive coach, business consultant, and CME-approved educator with 15+ years specializing in healthcare practice consulting. Tracy brings you successful practice owners, industry experts, and medical association leaders, all united in helping private practices stay private and thrive. Subscribe now and join our community at ThrivingPracticeCommunity.com for ongoing support from practice leaders who've been where you are.

  1. MAY 6

    The Diagnostic Eye: Reading Your Practice's Recurring Problems, EP 254

    There's something in your practice that keeps coming back. You handle it, move on — and there it is again. In this solo episode of The Thriving Practice Podcast, Tracy Cherpeski reframes every recurring problem in your practice: those problems aren't malfunctions. They're messages.  Read the full show notes, memorable quotes, and key takeaways.  Is your practice growth-ready? See Where Your Practice Stands: Take our Practice Growth Readiness Assessment  Drawing on her background in regenerative gardening and her experience coaching independent healthcare practice owners, Tracy introduces the concept of reading practice problems the way a skilled clinician reads recurring symptoms — with diagnostic intelligence, not just a quick fix. She walks through three categories of recurring "practice weeds," four diagnostic questions you already know how to ask, and a simple Two-Week Data Log that shifts you from reactive manager to pattern-reader.  This is part two of a two-part mindset series. If you haven't listened to part one — Episode 247, From the Weeds to the Horizon — Tracy recommends starting there. But this episode stands on its own as a practical framework for any practice owner who's tired of managing the same problems on repeat.  Ready to do this kind of thinking in community? Our June TPC cohort is open now. Inquire at ThrivingPracticeCommunity.com  Read the full show notes, memorable quotes, and key takeaways.  Is your practice growth-ready? See Where Your Practice Stands: Take our Practice Growth Readiness Assessment  Connect With Us:  Be a Guest on the Show  Thriving Practice Community  Schedule Strategy Session with Tracy  Tracy’s LinkedIn  Business LinkedIn Page

    18 min
  2. APR 29

    You May Be the Bottleneck: What a Telehealth Entrepreneur Wants Every Practice Owner to Know Featuring Paulina Riedler, EP 253

    What does it cost when a skilled provider spends their afternoon doing compliance paperwork instead of treating patients? In this episode, Tracy Cherpeski sits down with Paulina Riedler — founder of SpaKinect and a registered nurse turned entrepreneur — to talk about telehealth compliance, practice efficiency, and the real cost of being the bottleneck in your own medical spa or aesthetic practice.  Read the full show notes, memorable quotes, and key takeaways.  Paulina built SpaKinect 14 years ago after spotting a compliance gap in the aesthetics industry: nurses performing Botox without proper physician oversight, not out of carelessness, but because the existing system made compliance impractical. Her telehealth good faith exam model now serves over 40 states and 42 employees — and has given her a front-row seat to how clinician-owners think about (and often avoid) thinking like a CEO.  In this episode, you'll hear about the hidden revenue cost of handling your own compliance exams, why every practice owner should do a time audit, what it means to always be deal ready, and why succession planning isn't just for people who plan to sell. Tracy also shares a shoutout to a team member who proved that great systems are the best insurance policy a practice can have.  Read the full show notes, memorable quotes, and key takeaways.  See Where Your Practice Stands: Take our Practice Growth Readiness Assessment  Connect With Us:  Be a Guest on the Show  Thriving Practice Community  Schedule Strategy Session with Tracy  Tracy’s LinkedIn  Business LinkedIn Page

    36 min
  3. The Ick Factor: Why Practice Owners Avoid Fee Conversations — And What It's Costing Them – A Special Snack Episode, EP 252

    APR 24

    The Ick Factor: Why Practice Owners Avoid Fee Conversations — And What It's Costing Them – A Special Snack Episode, EP 252

    If you've ever looked at your fee schedule and felt a knot in your stomach, you're not alone. Fee setting is one of the most avoided conversations in private practice — and it's not about not caring. It's about the discomfort that runs deep in helping professions, where talking about money can feel like it conflicts with the commitment to care.  Read the full show notes, memorable quotes, and key takeaways.  Is your practice growth-ready? See Where Your Practice Stands: Take our Practice Growth Readiness Assessment  In this SNACK episode, Tracy Cherpeski sits down with Miranda Dorta to cut through that discomfort and get practical. They explore why so many practice owners undercharge, what that pattern has to do with burnout, and what it actually takes to build a fee structure that reflects your value and keeps the lights on.  You'll hear Tracy break down the numbers every practice owner should know cold — from burn rate and cash flow to how insurance versus out-of-pocket decisions shape your entire business model. She also shares the one number you can pull up right now that tells you a lot about where your practice stands.  Whether you're just starting to look at your finances or you know it's time to raise your fees and keep putting it off, this conversation will help you take off the clinician hat and put on the CEO hat — without losing what makes your practice worth running.  Read the full show notes, memorable quotes, and key takeaways.  Is your practice growth-ready? See Where Your Practice Stands: Take our Practice Growth Readiness Assessment  Connect With Us:  Be a Guest on the Show  Thriving Practice Community  Schedule Strategy Session with Tracy  Tracy’s LinkedIn  Business LinkedIn Page

    12 min
  4. APR 22

    If You Don’t Ask, You Don’t Know: A GP’s Case for Making Menopause Care a Practice Priority Featuring Dr. Danielle Hunte, EP 251

    What if the physician best positioned to help women through perimenopause is the one they’re already seeing — their GP? In this episode, Tracy sits down with Dr. Danielle Hunte, a general practitioner from Barbados and founder of Midlife Meridian, to explore exactly that.  Read the full show notes, memorable quotes, and key takeaways.  With nearly 30 years in medicine and over 20 in private practice, Danielle went through perimenopause herself — and even as a physician, it caught her off guard. That experience sparked a new mission: closing the gap in menopause care and education, for both patients and the GPs who treat them.  In this episode, you’ll hear why GPs are uniquely positioned to manage menopause (it’s not a one-system problem), the simple screening tool Dr. Danielle developed that revealed a silent cohort of symptomatic patients, and her vision for a “practice-in-a-box” digital resource for other providers. You’ll also hear a really honest conversation about sustainability — what it means to build a second revenue stream, protect your time, and keep showing up creatively so the practice doesn’t swallow you whole.  Read the full show notes, memorable quotes, and key takeaways.  See Where Your Practice Stands: Take our Practice Growth Readiness Assessment  Connect With Us:  Be a Guest on the Show  Thriving Practice Community  Schedule Strategy Session with Tracy  Tracy’s LinkedIn  Business LinkedIn Page

    43 min
  5. APR 15

    18 Years in the Insurance System, Then She Built Something Better: Dr. Samantha Mekrut on DPC and Women’s Midlife Health, EP 250

    After more than 18 years in insurance-based healthcare, Dr. Samantha Mekrut made a decision a lot of physicians dream about: she left to build something better. The result is Meristem Family Medicine — a direct primary care practice in Medfield, Massachusetts, where patients pay a flat monthly membership fee, appointments run 30 to 60 minutes, and the administrative machinery of insurance billing is nowhere to be found.  See Where Your Practice Stands: Take our Practice Growth Readiness Assessment  Read the full show notes, memorable quotes, and key takeaways.  In this episode, Tracy sits down with Dr. Mekrut to unpack the real difference between direct primary care and concierge medicine, what it actually takes to make an affordable membership model work, and why eliminating insurance billing overhead is the key that makes it possible.  They also get into Dr. Mekrut’s specialty: menopause care for women in midlife. From the flawed rollout of the Women’s Health Initiative study to the community library talks she hosts to educate patients without selling them anything, Dr. Mekrut is approaching women’s health the way more of us wish the system would.  See Where Your Practice Stands: Take our Practice Growth Readiness Assessment  Read the full show notes, memorable quotes, and key takeaways.  Connect With Us:  Be a Guest on the Show  Thriving Practice Community  Schedule Strategy Session with Tracy  Tracy’s LinkedIn  Business LinkedIn Page

    42 min
  6. The Real Burnout Prevention Framework for Independent Practice Owners – A Special Snack Episode, EP 249

    APR 10

    The Real Burnout Prevention Framework for Independent Practice Owners – A Special Snack Episode, EP 249

    Burnout is one of the most talked-about topics in healthcare — and still one of the most misunderstood. In this SNACK episode, Miranda Dorta turns the mic around and puts Tracy in the hot seat for an unscripted conversation about what burnout prevention actually requires. Not the surface-level version. The real one.  Read the full show notes, memorable quotes, and key takeaways.  Sign up for the Prevention Paradigm Masterclass.  Tracy breaks down why the self-care checklist approach misses the mark, how practice ownership compounds burnout risk in ways that employed providers rarely face, and why real prevention is a structural decision — not just a personal one. She also shares where most practice owners skip the prevention work that costs them the most long-term, and what to do right now if you're already in the thick of it.  This conversation is built on research, grounded in Tracy's CME-based content, and refreshingly practical — no platitudes, just real frameworks for building a practice that doesn't burn you down.  Don't miss The Prevention Paradigm masterclass on April 28th — the link to register is in the show notes. To schedule a consultation with Tracy, visit thrivingpracticecommunity.com.  Read the full show notes, memorable quotes, and key takeaways.  Sign up for the Prevention Paradigm Masterclass.  See Where Your Practice Stands: Take our Practice Growth Readiness Assessment  Connect With Us:  Be a Guest on the Show  Thriving Practice Community  Schedule Strategy Session with Tracy  Tracy’s LinkedIn  Business LinkedIn Page

    11 min
5
out of 5
7 Ratings

About

Top 5% globally ranked podcast for healthcare practice owners. Prevent burnout, grow profitably. 215+ episodes, 51 countries. Welcome to Thriving Practice - the business podcast that proves independent physicians, dentists, therapists, and healthcare practice owners can build profitable, efficient practices while actually enjoying their lives. By the Numbers: 215+ episodes featuring top-tier practice owners and healthcare business experts Global Top 5% ranking on Listen Notes among all podcasts 51 countries reached globally 9 seasons of proven practice management strategies Weekly episodes with actionable insights you can implement immediately Hosted by Tracy Cherpeski, MBA, MA, CPSC - executive coach, business consultant, and CME-approved educator with 15+ years specializing in healthcare practice consulting. Tracy brings you successful practice owners, industry experts, and medical association leaders, all united in helping private practices stay private and thrive. Subscribe now and join our community at ThrivingPracticeCommunity.com for ongoing support from practice leaders who've been where you are.