The Business of a Clinic (BOAC)

Jared Aron
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The Business of a Clinic (BOAC) is a podcast for private healthcare leaders who want to run not just a great clinic, but a great business. Each episode explores the overlooked commercial side of healthcare — how to grow revenue, improve patient retention, fill empty calendars, and build high-performing front-office teams. Hosted by the team at Coherent and led by founder Jared Aaron, we sit down weekly with clinic owners, practice managers, and industry experts to unpack the real challenges behind no-shows, cancellations, and disengaged patients, and share practical frameworks and playbooks that any clinic can apply. If you’re a private healthcare operator such as dentist, aesthetic practitioner, chiropractor, physio, or private GP looking to bridge the gap between excellent care and effective business operations, this is your roadmap to running a clinic that thrives — for your patients, your staff, and your bottom line. The show is hosted by Coherent: Coherent Healthcare is a Clinic Revenue Winback company, helping private healthcare practices unlock hidden revenue. By rebooking no-shows, cancellations, and lapsed patients — and by simplifying how clinics collect payments — Coherent enables practitioners to fill their diaries, improve cashflow, and focus more on patient care.

  1. FEB 21

    The Invisible Leaky Bucket, White Space, Patient Drop-Off & The Math of Scaling a Clinic | BOAC E#22

    Most clinics believe retention is strong. The diary looks full.  Revenue is up.  Marketing is working. But beneath the surface, patients are quietly falling off track. In this episode of Business of a Clinic, Sean and Jared unpack one of the most misunderstood problems in healthcare operations: invisible patient leakage. This is the silent drop-off that happens at every stage of the journey: New inquiries that never get followed upConsultations that don’t convertCancellations that aren’t rebookedPatients discharged without continuityThousands of active patients with no next appointmentAnd because it’s not measured properly, it feels like everything is fine. What You’ll Learn in This Episode 1️⃣ Why “80% retention” is misleading When you multiply 80% across multiple visits, it’s not 80%. It compounds downward. What looks healthy on paper often masks cumulative disengagement. 2️⃣ The difference between a System of Record and a System of Action EMRs, PMS platforms, CRMs, RCM tools — they store information.  But they don’t necessarily take action. Owning software is not the same as owning outcomes. Most clinics have tools.  Very few have execution. 3️⃣ Why white space isn’t a marketing problem Empty slots in your calendar are terrifying. The instinct is to spend more on ads. But often the problem isn’t lack of demand. It’s: Unmanaged inquiriesNo follow-through on consultationsNo structured recallNo cancellation recoveryThe revenue is already inside the business. 4️⃣ Clinical follow-up vs service-based follow-up Clinical follow-up is table stakes. It’s your duty of care. But service-based follow-up is what separates good clinics from great ones. The five-star hospitality mindset doesn’t stop at fixing the issue. It extends beyond the visit. Healthcare rarely does this well — not because providers don’t care, but because systems aren’t designed to support it at scale. 5️⃣ Why hiring more coordinators doesn’t solve scaling Every clinic has a ceiling. You only have so many treatment rooms.  You can’t multiply revenue infinitely with more headcount. As your historical patient base grows, the math breaks: 1,000 patients becomes 2,000Then 5,000Then 10,000But your physical capacity doesn’t grow at the same rate. At some point, adding people stops solving the problem. Operational leverage matters more than headcount. 6️⃣ Revenue vs EBITDA: what really drives valuation Healthcare businesses are not SaaS companies. They aren’t valued primarily on revenue multiples. They’re valued on profitability. If top-line revenue grows while bottom-line stagnates, the gap between the two is where invisible leakage lives. Fixing leakage is often more powerful than chasing growth. The Core Question How many patients in your clinic right now do not have a next appointment booked? If you can’t answer that with a precise number — in real time — you’re not measuring leakage. And if you’re not measuring it, you can’t fix it. This Episode Is For You If: You run a single-site clinicYou manage a multi-site groupYou lead operationsYou’re responsible for revenue performanceYou’re thinking about scalingYou’re considering an exit in the futureThis conversation challenges the default belief that “more marketing” is the solution. Sometimes the biggest growth opportunity is not outside the business. It’s inside. 🎧 Listen in to rethink retention, rethink follow-up, and rethink what true operational excellence looks like in healthcare.

    1h 2m

  2. FEB 16

    Selling a Clinic, De-risking the Principal, Black Ball Tech in Healthcare: AI Receptionists, Overcorrection Risk | BOAC #21

    What actually makes a clinic valuable? In this episode, Sean and Jared unpack the uncomfortable truth: great clinicians aren’t enough — the business is won or lost in the operational “plumbing” around care. They explore patient retention as an asset, the gap between “booked” and “completed” care, and why many clinics look healthy on the surface but fall apart under diligence. From there, the conversation turns to AI: AI receptionists, AI scribes, and the hyped “AI doctor.” The key question isn’t capability — it’s responsibility. Who checks the work? Who holds the risk? And what happens when AI introduces a “verification tax” that forces humans to double-check everything anyway? If you’re building, scaling, or preparing for an exit, this one is a practical lens on what matters: brand, systems, accountability, and the patient journey — not just technology for technology’s sake. Key themes and takeaways 1) Clinic value is operational, not just clinical A clinic becomes investable when outcomes don’t depend on one hero operator. They break down the shift from “principal-led” to “process-led”: consistent delivery, repeatability, and a patient journey that doesn’t leak revenue through missed follow-ups and drop-offs. 2) Retention is the hidden asset on your balance sheet They frame patient history and “off-track” patients as a recoverable asset — not a marketing problem. The clinic that wins isn’t the one that generates the most leads; it’s the one that reliably converts intent into completed treatment. 3) Due diligence exposes the truth You can run a clinic on adrenaline and spreadsheets — until someone tries to buy it. They talk through why deals fail: messy data, unclear ownership, inconsistent processes, and a gap between what leaders think happens vs what actually happens at the front desk. 4) AI isn’t free — it can create a “verification tax” AI may book patients or draft notes, but if staff must re-check everything to avoid mistakes, the promised efficiency collapses. The conversation sharpens around “humans-in-the-loop” and the difference between automation that removes work vs automation that adds oversight. 5) AI doctors raise the hard question: who carries liability? The future of AI in healthcare isn’t just a product question — it’s an underwriting question. If an AI system influences diagnosis or care decisions, who is accountable, and how do you build guardrails that preserve patient safety and trust? 6) Healthcare is logistics wrapped around care They argue the bottleneck is rarely the clinical moment — it’s the scheduling, follow-up, payments, coordination, and operational reliability that gets a patient to the right room at the right time with the right context. Chapters: 00:00 Intro — the big ideas: clinic value, retention, AI risk  02:10 Practitioner → founder: building beyond the principal  04:10 Retention as an asset: patient “stickiness” and leakage  06:30 Why diligence kills deals: data, process, ownership gaps  08:40 Brand and clinic DNA: what makes you meaningfully different  10:40 The operational skeleton: “plumbing” that creates reliability  13:10 AI in clinic ops: what’s real vs what’s hype  15:20 The verification tax: when automation adds oversight  18:20 Healthcare as logistics: admin lifecycle vs clinical moment  21:10 AI doctors: liability, underwriting, supervision, safety  25:30 Guardrails, accountability, and humans-in-the-loop  29:10 What to do now: practical steps for operators building value  33:00 Closing — empathy, trust, and sustainable scale

    34 min

  3. FEB 11

    The New Breed of Clinic Owners, Project Alpha, Selling to Private Equity | BOAC Podcast #20

    Every clinic starts with a simple promise: give great care to the patient in front of you. But scale changes everything. In Episode 20, Jared unpacks a core paradox: your clinic has finite capacity (rooms, hours, staff) — but your patient history grows forever. That mismatch creates “leaks” across the journey: leads that aren’t worked, consults that don’t convert, cancellations, DNAs, recalls, and quiet drop-offs. Most clinics respond by spending more on acquisition… while the bucket keeps leaking. He then breaks down why PMS/EMR systems weren’t built to own conversion, why generic CRMs often turn into tool-sprawl when interoperability is weak, and why the real lever is a true Sales Desk function — one team (or system) accountable for utilization and eliminating calendar white space. Finally, he introduces Project Alpha: an experiment in giving patients 1:1 coordinator support outside the clinic — before and after appointments — covering follow-up, rebooking, payments, and escalation. The goal: reduce pressure on the front office while improving continuity of care and patient confidence. Chapters 00:00 Clinical ambition vs the reality of scale  01:20 The “personal WhatsApp” concierge—and why it breaks  02:40 Finite capacity, infinite patient accumulation (the first 1,000 vanish)  06:10 Why PMS/EMR is built for process, not revenue  07:20 The ownership gap: nobody “owns conversion”  08:50 You need a different engine to stop the leaking  09:50 Conversion isn’t art—it’s a data science playbook  11:10 Tech + technique + team (the 3-part system)  17:30 Stop funding acquisition while the bucket leaks  20:00 CRM vs PMS: the ~£1m inflection point and tool sprawl  21:30 Pipedrive/Klaviyo/HubSpot: order vs optimization  26:10 APIs, integration, and why healthcare stacks don’t talk  29:40 Project Alpha: 1:1 patient support outside the clinic, at scale  31:10 Follow-up reveals problems patients don’t verbalize  32:30 “Four Seasons” care: bringing outside signals into the clinic  36:20 Why it’s called Sales Desk, not Front Desk 37:00 White space economics, waitlists, and “110% utilization” 40:20 Case example: 81 appointments booked in ~2.5 weeks 41:00 The psychographics of top-performing clinic owners 46:50 Valuation, EBITDA multiples, and building leverage early 49:00 Closing thoughts: retention and optimization before exit

    49 min

  4. FEB 7

    Front of House Is Sales: Follow-Up, Confidence & Why Clinics Leak Revenue | BOAC #19

    In this episode of The Business of a Clinic, we speak with Sara Cheeney, Founder and Director of Pure Perfection, an established medical aesthetics clinic in North Wales, UK and a client partner of Coherent. Sara brings a rare combination of perspectives: a medical professional who embraces sales, targets, and commercial ownership — and sees first-hand how clinics quietly lose revenue despite delivering excellent care. This is a candid, ground-level conversation about what actually breaks inside clinics as they grow. We discuss: Why front of house is a sales function, whether clinics label it that way or notHow NHS conditioning creates fear around money, pricing, and asking for paymentThe confidence gap that stops teams from recommending treatment plans and productsWhat real patient connection and trust look like — before, during, and after treatmentWhy follow-up collapses at scale (and why SOPs, CRMs, and task lists don’t fix it)The difference between doing the task vs owning the outcomeHow recall lists fail when the wrong people, scripts, or incentives are involvedWhy clinics panic into ads, discounts, or Groupon instead of fixing follow-throughThe emotional and financial toll of poor follow-up on clinic ownersSara also shares her experience working with an external follow-up partner — including the initial fears around tone, trust, patient data, and brand, and what actually mattered once results started to show. This episode is for clinic owners who: Feel like patients “drift” despite good careSee white space in the diary they can’t explainCarry too much of the business in their own headKnow follow-up matters — but can’t get it done consistentlyThe Business of a Clinic explores the real operational, commercial, and human challenges of running healthcare businesses — beyond surface-level tactics and software promises.

    33 min

  5. JAN 29

    E#18 - Clinic SOPs, Follow-Up Debt, Your Clinic CRM Doesn't Have a User

    In this episode of The Business of a Clinic, we unpack the operational realities behind SOPs, follow-up, and patient retention — and why most clinics unknowingly leak patients long after treatment, consultations, or enquiries. We discuss why SOPs are rarely fully documented, how critical context lives inside people’s heads instead of systems, and why this creates risk when clinics attempt to automate or scale. The conversation also introduces the concept of follow-up debt — the slow accumulation of missed follow-ups, stalled patients, and unresolved issues that quietly undermine growth and patient trust. Topics covered include: What SOPs actually mean in a healthcare settingWhy intake SOPs get attention — but recall and issue resolution don’tHow undocumented nuance breaks automation and AI workflowsThe difference between complaints vs bad feedback — and why escalation mattersWhy CRM systems struggle with real patient journeysTransactional vs relational patient communicationThe limits of rules-based automation in healthcareWhere AI helps — and where human ownership is non-negotiableThis episode is essential listening for clinic owners, operators, and healthcare leaders who want to understand why patients drift, why recall fails, and how operational debt quietly builds inside growing practices.

    39 min

  6. JAN 23

    Patient Follow-Up, Recall & Why Clinics Lose Patients After Great Care

    Most clinics deliver excellent care in the treatment room — yet still lose patients quietly, months or even years later. In this episode of The Business of a Clinic, we break down where patient journeys actually fail, why recall is misunderstood, and why follow-up is one of the most strategic (not administrative) functions in healthcare. We explore why patients don’t “leave” clinics — they drift — and how manual processes, overloaded front desks, and misapplied technology create invisible drop-off across the patient lifecycle. In this episode, we cover: Why the patient journey is not linear (and never was)The difference between follow-up and patient recallWhy “one call, one email” recall doesn’t workHow clinics reconnect with patients 5–10+ years laterWhy follow-up feels salesy — and how to do it without being salesyManual work, process debt, and hidden operational riskWhy front desks are not designed to manage patient populationsProactive vs reactive engagement in healthcareVoice AI vs asynchronous messaging (WhatsApp, SMS, email)Why AI-first front offices often fail in practicePayments, billing friction, and how they damage patient experienceWhy PMS, EMRs, and CRMs weren’t built for patient relationshipsThe case for human-led, AI-powered patient coordinationPaying for outcomes vs paying for software seatsWhat winning clinics will do differently in the next 2–3 yearsHealthcare doesn’t usually fail because of poor clinical care. It fails because no one owns the relationship once the appointment ends.

    27 min
  7. Why Clinics Fail at Software, Patient Follow-Up, Risk, and the User Problem (BOAC E14)

    JAN 16

    Why Clinics Fail at Software, Patient Follow-Up, Risk, and the User Problem (BOAC E14)

    Most clinics don’t have a technology problem. They have a user problem. In this episode, Jared Aron breaks down why even “modern” practice management systems (PMS/EMR/EHR) often get used at 10–20% of their potential in real-world clinics — and why that gap creates downstream issues like DNAs, cancellations, poor follow-up, lost revenue, and hidden clinical/legal risk. We dig into the category error of using a booking system like a CRM, why clinics end up stacking multiple disconnected tools, and why “we already send reminders” doesn’t solve what happens after a patient goes quiet. Jared also shares a provocative prediction: healthcare software will increasingly be implemented like medical devices — with training, certification, and “forward-deployed” support living inside clinic workflows — because the bottleneck isn’t more features. It’s adoption, continuity, and execution. Topics covered Why clinics only use a fraction of their PMS feature setFront desk turnover, fragmented workflows, and why “nobody pushes the buttons”The difference between practice operations vs patient operationsWhy reminders don’t prevent DNAs, cancellations, and drop-offThe hidden consequences of weak follow-up: revenue leakage + clinical/legal riskThe future: software delivered like hardware (training, certification, embedded support)“Nice-to-have” vs “need-to-have” and why clinics underestimate the deltaMentioned Practice management software (PMS), EMR/EHR, CRM tools, pipeline/funnel management (e.g., Pipedrive)Patient relationship management beyond the calendar + clinical notesConnect / Follow (Insert your links here) Website:LinkedIn:Newsletter:If you enjoyed this episode, please follow the show and leave a rating/review — it helps more clinic operators find it.

    23 min

  8. JAN 11

    Why Patient Relationships Don’t Belong at the Front Desk | Episode #13 The Business of a Clinic by Coherent Healthcare

    Most clinics believe their CRM is “good enough.” In reality, many are quietly losing patients, follow-ups, and revenue because they’re using systems that were never designed for healthcare. In this episode of The Business of a Clinic, we unpack why generic CRMs — from HubSpot to Pipedrive to GoHighLevel and even healthcare-branded variants — fail to support real patient journeys. These tools assume linear funnels, predictable triggers, and email-first engagement. Healthcare doesn’t work that way. Patients pause, disappear, return months later, change channels, ask emotional questions, and move through care in anything but a straight line. Trying to force that reality into a traditional CRM leads to impersonal follow-up, broken relationships, and operational strain on front-desk teams. We discuss: Why CRMs built for B2B and agencies break down in healthcareThe difference between managing pipelines and managing patient relationshipsWhy “we’ve got it sorted — we use a CRM” is often a false sense of securityHow clinics end up retrofitting tools instead of fixing the underlying problemWhat healthcare actually needs to support patients between visitsThis episode is for clinic owners and operators who feel like patients are quietly drifting away — even though they have “systems” in place. Healthcare doesn’t need better automations. It needs systems built around patient relationships, not sales funnels.

    21 min
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About

The Business of a Clinic (BOAC) is a podcast for private healthcare leaders who want to run not just a great clinic, but a great business. Each episode explores the overlooked commercial side of healthcare — how to grow revenue, improve patient retention, fill empty calendars, and build high-performing front-office teams. Hosted by the team at Coherent and led by founder Jared Aaron, we sit down weekly with clinic owners, practice managers, and industry experts to unpack the real challenges behind no-shows, cancellations, and disengaged patients, and share practical frameworks and playbooks that any clinic can apply. If you’re a private healthcare operator such as dentist, aesthetic practitioner, chiropractor, physio, or private GP looking to bridge the gap between excellent care and effective business operations, this is your roadmap to running a clinic that thrives — for your patients, your staff, and your bottom line. The show is hosted by Coherent: Coherent Healthcare is a Clinic Revenue Winback company, helping private healthcare practices unlock hidden revenue. By rebooking no-shows, cancellations, and lapsed patients — and by simplifying how clinics collect payments — Coherent enables practitioners to fill their diaries, improve cashflow, and focus more on patient care.

Information

  • Creator
    Jared Aron
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    17
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 The Business of a Clinic (BOAC)
  • Show Website
    The Business of a Clinic (BOAC)