Deanne Bannatyne & Sam Waterhouse

In Episode 31 of The Business of Allied Health, host Barry sits down with Deanne Bannatyne (CEO of HICAPS, NAB) and Sam Waterhouse (Business Executive, MedFin) to dive deep into the comprehensive NAB Health Insights Report. Together, they explore the complete lifecycle of an allied health practice—from initial ideation and financing to multi-site scaling and navigating evolving consumer expectations.

They discuss whether to bootstrap or seek finance, the risks of buying an existing clinic vs. starting greenfield, how to reduce owner dependency for better funding, and how to combat cost-of-living pressures by focusing on transparent pricing and patient experience rather than just raising fees. Plus, Deanne drops exciting updates on what's next for HICAPS over the coming months, including portal refreshes, digital claiming, and broader API/ecosystem integrations.

Timestamps:

00:00 Introduction: Meeting Deanne Bannatyne (CEO of HICAPS) & Sam Waterhouse (MedFin).

01:05 Starting an allied health business: Financing, ideation, and bootstrapping vs. borrowing.

03:52 Buying an existing clinic vs. starting greenfield: Which option is lower risk for a bank?

05:30 Operational considerations and modern patient expectations with HICAPS.

09:29 Phase Two: Scaling your business, managing multi-site complexity, and reducing owner dependency.

13:40 Leveraging AI and standard operating procedures (SOPs) to build a systematized clinic.

18:12 Navigating cost-of-living pressures: Should you raise prices or focus on patient experience and value?

23:25 The importance of voice-of-customer (VoC) feedback and tracking patient retention.

29:30 Sam & Deanne's top piece of advice for allied health practice owners.

31:40 What's in store for HICAPS: Digital portals, new terminals, and future API/ecosystem integrations.

37:20 Final thoughts and how to connect with the NAB Health and HICAPS teams.