Stepping Stone Foot & Ankle Specialists
Welcome to the MedCoShare Podcast, where we delve into the dynamic world of private practice healthcare. I'm your host, Ronak Vyas, CEO and co-founder of MedCoShare. In each episode, we explore the intricacies of being a healthcare practitioner in today's landscape, navigating both challenges and triumphs. Today, I am thrilled to introduce Dr. Wendy Le, founder of Stepping Stone Foot & Ankle Specialists, a pioneering member of our King of Prussia facility. Dr. Le brings a fresh perspective to podiatric care, having launched a hybrid concierge model that prioritizes innovative solutions and personalized attention. Join us as we uncover Dr. Le's journey, the unique offerings of her practice, and the insights she shares with aspiring practitioners. Welcome, Dr. Le, and to our listeners, prepare to embark on a journey of discovery with us.
Ronak 0:00
Welcome to the MedCoShare Podcast, the podcast where we learn everything about what it's like to be a private practice healthcare practitioner in today's world. We dig deep into the challenges of going private, but also the rewarding aspects that it entails. My name is Ronak Vyas, I'm the CEO and co founder of MedCoShare. I'm excited to announce that on this episode, we have Dr. Wendy Le of Stepping Stone Foot & Ankle Specialists. Dr. Le is one of our newest members in our King of Prussia facility, and she's launched a hybrid concierge podiatric care model. Welcome Dr. Le. Tell us a little bit about yourself and what made you become a physician.
Dr. Wendy Le 0:35
Thank you Ronak and the MedCoShare community. I'm very privileged to be here today with you and join you for this podcast. So I grew up in South Philly area and I always drove by the Temple School for Podiatry in Chinatown as I was growing up, and I was thinking to myself, why would I ever want to be a foot doctor, I hate my own feet with bunions and a wide width. But then, as I was growing up in college, just shadowing with different specialties of medicine, I wanted something hands on something that I can give patients immediate relief. So I was steering either towards dermatology or podiatry. And then looking at the lifestyle of both I kind of felt the podiatry route was with my calling. And I'm really glad I did that.
Ronak 1:24
Awesome. That's amazing. So what was your experience like before joining MedCoShare and why did you decide to join us?
Dr. Wendy Le 1:31
So I finished my residency at Crozier Keystone Medical Center in Pennsylvania. And I took the normal route, which is the Associate podiatry role, podiatrist roll in the local area. I worked there for a year. And then I also then joined another private practice for podiatry is in sports medicine. And I've been doing that for the past six years, then it was just a chance. Now, when this opened up, when I saw their grand opening in the King of Prussia, location, it felt like it was a sign for me to maybe take my own pathway create my own dream of what I would like to be called my podiatry office.
Ronak 1:31
Amazing. So thank you for joining us and what sets your office apart from other podiatrists?
Dr. Wendy Le 1:43
So what we're focusing on is more like certain niche services. So I'm not catering to everybody, because there's a lot of great local podiatrists around the area, luckily, in our tri state area. Just providing something that is different in terms of options that maybe you have failed to normal, traditional podiatry treatments, and just not getting the results. So we're just integrating more innovative technology, and minimal invasive or non invasive solutions for common podiatric problems.
Ronak 2:52
Okay, and what are some of the challenges you faced?
Dr. Wendy Le 2:55
Some of the challenges is, I would say, for podiatry starting up, even outside of residency is getting a job offer a package that is what you felt is your worth, with all the training that you did. And then also other challenges now that you're in practice for the the petitioners out there is getting into insurance panels and learning the business side of podiatry and how hard it is for you just to be able to do what you're ultimately signed up to be as a podiatrist as give patient care, quality care. Unfortunately, with the insurance model, was more paperwork documentation to get reimbursed or paid. Rather than unfortunately, the patient care kind of gets lost sometimes.
Ronak 3:40
Right? What advice would you give to other doctors entering either the podiatry practice or going direct?
Dr. Wendy Le 3:50
Yeah, so learning from my like now I guess eight years of practice. One professor I had an podiatry school said that medicine and it's specifically podiatry is all a business at the end of the day. So if you have the opportunity now to get to start learning more about business and practice and marketing, that will be a good tool to have if you're ever interested in venturing on your own to be to either direct care, podiatry practice or just a private practice yourself and be the owner.
Ronak 4:22
Yeah, marketing is definitely a challenge. You know, we've seen it when we launched MedCoShare, nobody knew what medical coworking was. And we spent over a year researching, you know, trying to create blogs, also work on our SEO, some, you know, articles that were published about us really helped us because those websites had a lot more exposure. But I would say the first year was very, very tough on us. So going back to, you know your practice of hybrid concierge. What are some of the benefits of your model versus the traditional model?
Dr. Wendy Le 4:59
The first benefit is all probably no long wait times. So we are not emphasizing on volume of patient to make ourselves make our ends meet, we want to offer quality care. So meaning you'll be able to have your your appointment time be on time. And we spent about 45 minutes to an hour per patient, and then explain things allow you to have chance to ask questions, and then go over details of your care and anything that you may have any questions?
Ronak 5:29
Okay, can you talk a little bit about the fee structure?
Dr. Wendy Le 5:31
The fee structure, so the hybrid part of it is I will be accepting certain insurances, but not all. And then we offer cash packages for certain treatments. So if you're self pay, or underinsured, or even services that we offer, now, the most insurance doesn't cover for these. So essentially, you're already going to be paying that out of pocket. So instead of just having double dip, where you have to pay your deductible from your insurance, you can elect to pay the services through a little bit of a what we call a package cash deal with all the treatments solutions in that, all to get you better and get you your results faster.
Ronak 6:10
Got it? Right. Yeah, I mean, I'm in, you know, in my 40s, and I've never had any foot pain before. All of a sudden, depending on what shoes I'm wearing, you know, it's a lot of pain, depending on the activity. So I could be a patient of yours pretty soon.
Dr. Wendy Le 6:27
I'll be happy to see. Yes
Ronak 6:29
So thank you so much for coming. I really enjoyed this conversation. Where can patients find you?
Dr. Wendy Le 6:34
They can find us in our social media pages on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, as well as making a YouTube video series for education and just information you could check us out on our website. It's steppingstonefootankle.com
Ronak 6:51
Dr. Le, thank you for your time and thanks to our listeners. If you want to hear more of these conversations as we dig deep into the lives of our members, please follow us on Spotify, Apple Music or wherever you get your podcast. Follow us on social media to hear more from our doctors and nurses as well as to keep updated on all things MedCoShare. We hope you'll join us on the next one. Until then don't forget to practice your way.
