Frank Mayo on Never Miss Twice, Running Clinical Operations Without Being a Clinician

What happens when a certified athletic trainer who played three sports in high school and four years of college baseball, spent his first career taping ankles and rehabbing hamstrings on the field, walks into a clinical operations role at a multi-location healthcare practice and discovers he loves the data, the KPIs, the marketing cycles, and the standard operating procedures just as much as he ever loved the field — and then builds an entire personal and professional philosophy around three words he wears on his wrist every single day? In this episode of the Trustcast Show, Zane Myers speaks with Frank Mayo, COO of NJ Sports Spine and Wellness in New Jersey, about what Never Miss Twice actually means and how Atomic Habits shaped the way he thinks about consistency, discipline, and forgiving yourself for missing one day without letting it become two. Frank walks through the three KPIs that tell him the most about the real health of a clinical practice — referral source, cancellation rate, and retention rate — and why the most meaningful one is always where the patient referrals are coming from, because that number tells you whether the community actually trusts what you're doing. He also explains why he tells every provider he manages that he works for them, not the other way around, and what it actually looks like to practice servant leadership in a clinical environment where the stakes are people's health. They also discuss what it costs a clinical practice to fight with insurance every single year — declining reimbursement rates, rising deductibles, and the internal billing team that makes it survivable — why private equity ownership filters all the way down to the front desk and how patients feel the difference between a practice owned by clinicians who still treat patients versus one owned by a firm chasing benchmarks, why the gold is always underneath your feet rather than somewhere else you haven't looked yet, and why if you're not evolving as an independent practice every single year, you're dying. Frank Mayo is the COO of NJ Sports Spine and Wellness, a multi-location sports medicine and orthopedic practice with offices in Matawan and Marlboro, New Jersey. Connect with Frank Mayo: njsportsspineandwellness.com Phone: 908-8NO-PAIN Instagram: @Frank.J.Mayo Matawan and Marlboro, New Jersey 00:00 Introduction to Frank Mayo 00:34 The Never Miss Twice philosophy — where it came from and what it actually means 01:30 Atomic Habits, building consistent patterns, and forgiving yourself for missing one day 02:50 The wristband that keeps the mantra in front of him every single day 03:39 From Salisbury University to head athletic trainer at Stepinac High School to clinical operations 04:03 The mentor who told him the gold is underneath your feet — and what that changed 05:00 Why influencing multiple providers beats treating patients one at a time with two hands 06:35 What NJ Sports Spine and Wellness actually does — conservative and medical services under one roof 07:34 What the typical patient looks like — spine, orthopedics, concussion, and everything in between 08:41 Retooling from athletic training to spine rehabilitation when he made the clinical transition 10:54 Being intimately involved in KPIs every single day — and why data alone is never enough 11:30 Why great COOs go into the office and talk to the people driving the numbers instead of just reading reports 12:22 The discharge paradox — your goal is to get patients better and out the door 13:55 Referral source as the number one KPI that reveals the health of the company 15:04 Cancellation rate and retention rate — what those two numbers actually tell you about your providers 17:53 How patient volume is managed across providers without putting marketing pressure on clinicians 18:20 The marketing team's role — digital, community, schools, tournaments, and seminars 20:15 When a patient referral asks specifically for their provider — how the schedule gets managed 21:15 Servant leadership in a clinical environment — I work for them, not the other way around 22:52 Private equity is buying up independent practices — is staying independent worth the fight 24:20 Why the owners being chiropractors who still treat patients changes everything about the culture 25:15 Insurance reimbursement declining, deductibles rising, and why evolving every year is not optional 27:11 Where NJ Sports Spine and Wellness is headed in the next three to five years 28:34 Two offices in Matawan and Marlboro — serving Middlesex and Monmouth County 29:23 How to reach the practice and book same day or next day #FrankMayo #NJSportsSpineWellness #TrustcastShow #NeverMissTwice #ClinicalOperations #HealthcareLeadership #ServantLeadership #SportsMedicine #IndependentPractice #PhysicalTherapy