Your patients aren't leaving.
They're just not being
asked to come back.
An analysis of patient retention patterns across Australian podiatry practices - and the system that fixes it.
Routiq - Australian Podiatry Report 2026Podiatry is the #1 Medicare-subsidised allied health profession in Australia.
Podiatry conditions are recurring.
Patient visits are not.
Diabetic foot assessments need regular monitoring. Nail and callus care needs 6-8 week cycles. Orthotic reviews need annual follow-up. These are recurring conditions being treated as one-off visits.
WebPT, Etactics, Routiq Practice Analysis 2026The economics of ignoring retention.
Most practices spend 80% of their marketing budget chasing new patients while existing patients silently disappear.
We analysed patient databases across Australian podiatry practices.
Across the practices we reviewed, a consistent pattern emerged - regardless of size, location, or specialty mix. The vast majority of patients in every database were lapsed, reachable, and had never received a single recall message.
What follows is representative of what we typically see in podiatry practice databases.
In a typical podiatry practice database, three-quarters of all patients haven't been seen in over 90 days. Many haven't visited in years.
Typical patient recency distribution
Most podiatry practices have no automated system for identifying overdue patients, understanding their treatment history, or sending clinically-relevant recall messages at scale.
Practice management software manages bookings. It was never designed to bring patients back.
Four reengagement segments hiding in every podiatry database.
What reengagement looks like for a typical podiatry practice.
Based on a practice with 3,000 patients, ~75% lapsed, at standard Australian private podiatry rates.
| Segment | Estimated Pool | Reengagement Rate | Recovered | Avg Value | Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Routine Care Lapsed | ~1,200 | 10% | 120 | $120 | $14,400 |
| Initial Contact Only | ~750 | 8% | 60 | $600 | $36,000 |
| Long-Lapsed | ~600 | 5% | 30 | $240 | $7,200 |
| No-Show Recovery | ~150 | 25% | 38 | $120 | $4,560 |
| Total - First Pass | 248 | $62,160 |
And routine care patients don't come once - they come every 6-8 weeks. Those 120 recovered patients generate $14,400 every 6-8 weeks in recurring revenue.
Modelled on Australian private podiatry rates. Conservative reengagement assumptions.These numbers aren't optimistic. They're conservative.
“Can't I just get my receptionist to send some texts?”
Sending messages is easy. Getting lapsed patients to act is the hard part.
82 cognitive principles from Nobel Prize-winning research. Applied to every message, automatically.
Routiq's messaging engine is built on behavioral science frameworks from 20 seminal works in psychology and economics - not marketing copywriting.
Loss Aversion + Commitment & Consistency
The first asks for action. The second activates loss aversion (things getting worse), anchoring (12 weeks vs. 6-8 week norm), and default effect (a spot already held). Loss-framed messages outperform gain-framed messages by 2-3x in healthcare settings.
Commitment & Consistency (reference their existing plan), Goal Gradient (progress already started), Pratfall Effect (zero guilt for no-shows), and Planning Prompts (specific options, not open-ended).
The 3-touch behavioural escalation sequence.
Every campaign follows the same evidence-based structure. Three messages. Three psychological mechanisms. Automated and personalised.
Loss Aversion
“Your last foot care appointment was 14 weeks ago - without regular maintenance, issues tend to return. We'd love to get you back on track.”
Default Effect
“We've found a time for you on Thursday at 10am - reply YES to confirm, or CHANGE for other options.”
Social Proof + Scarcity
“Most of our regular patients come in every 6-8 weeks to stay ahead of issues. We have a couple of spots left this week if you'd like to get back into a routine.”
Three layers no one else has.
Routiq doesn't know a patient is “overdue.” It knows they had general foot care 14 weeks ago, their protocol calls for 6-8 week returns, they're 6 weeks past their buffer, and they've been a regular for 3 years who slipped. 49 podiatry-specific treatment protocols built in.
82 principles from 20 seminal works in psychology and behavioral economics. Not copywriting tips - systematic frameworks applied automatically. Each segment gets the right lever at the right time.
Every patient monitored daily. Messages sent at the exact overdue moment. Replies handled instantly with AI-powered clinical context. Works nights, weekends, holidays. Sends from your own clinic number.
Where Routiq sits.
| Capability | Front Desk | PMS / Cliniko | Routiq |
|---|---|---|---|
| Messages per day | ~20 (manual) | Basic reminders | Unlimited, daily |
| Knows treatment history | If they check | Stores data, doesn't act on it | Yes - protocol-based |
| Triggers at exact overdue moment | No | No | Yes - 49 protocols |
| Segments by priority | No | No | Yes - 4 segments |
| Behavioral science messaging | No | No | 82 principles, systematic |
| Multi-touch campaign escalation | No | No | 3-touch, automated |
| AI-powered reply handling | During office hours | No | Instant, 24/7 |
| Works after hours | No | No | Yes - always on |
Your PMS holds the data. Routiq turns that data into revenue.
Reengagement isn't a campaign. It's a system that compounds.
Routine care patients don't come once - they come every 6-8 weeks. Each reactivated patient becomes recurring revenue. Based on recovering 20 routine care patients per month at $120/visit.
By month 6: 120 reactivated patients generating $14,400 every 6-8 weeks in recurring revenue - plus one-off recoveries from single-visit dropoffs, long-lapsed, and no-shows.
What this means for your practice.
The pattern is universal. The opportunity scales with your database size.
| Your Database Size | Estimated Lapsed (~75%) | Conservative Recovery (5%) | Moderate Recovery (10%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1,000 patients | 750 | $13,500 | $27,000 |
| 2,000 patients | 1,500 | $27,000 | $54,000 |
| 3,000 patients | 2,250 | $40,500 | $81,000 |
| 5,000 patients | 3,750 | $67,500 | $135,000 |
| 10,000 patients | 7,500 | $135,000 | $270,000 |
Based on blended average treatment value of $180 and industry-standard 75% lapse rate across podiatry practices. Excludes recurring revenue multiplier from routine care patients.
Industry benchmark: 15-25% of lapsed patients can be successfully re-engaged via recall campaignsWithout Routiq
No automated recall system
Revenue dependent on new patient acquisition
Receptionist doing manual follow-ups (when they remember)
No clinical intelligence on who to contact or when
80% of marketing budget on acquisition
With Routiq
49 podiatry treatment protocols running daily
Revenue from patients you've already acquired
Automated campaigns with behavioral escalation
Clinical intelligence on every overdue patient
Fraction of the cost, 10x the ROI
You already did the hard part - building a patient base, earning their trust, helping them walk without pain.
Those patients didn't leave because they were unhappy. They left because life got busy and nobody reminded them.
Their feet haven't stopped needing care. They just need the right nudge.
How much of your dormant revenue do you want to leave on the table?
routiq.
Clinical Intelligence Meets Behavioral Science
routiq.ai
Podiatry Board of Australia / AHPRA Annual Report 2024
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW)
National Health Workforce Dataset (NHWDS)
Journal of Foot and Ankle Research (PAIGE Study)
Medicare Benefits Schedule Data
Services Australia
Bain & Company / Harvard Business Review
WebPT / SPRY PT
Dialog Health / LionShare Marketing
PMC Systematic Reviews
Australian Podiatry Association
Practice analysis data from Routiq platform analysis. All data anonymised and presented as industry patterns. February 2026.