Finally, a voice of reason and clarity. Dr.
Eckles is the only person who makes sense. I
suggest that Dr. Eckles attend and speak at
every upcoming major DPM convention this year.
You need to speak to the masses. He has
summarized everything that should have been said
weeks ago when this happened.
He is right. I was one of the first critics who
responded to this matter on PM online and did
not have anything good to say because I was
reminiscing more about what happened to me 25
years ago. I did not have any facts to back up
what I was saying. For that, I sincerely
apologize for my ignorance on the matter.
You should make sure that these facts are
resounded by the APMA and CPME to the membership
and/or anyone who may know the facts. Silence
has been the mantra of these two organizations
as a response to this "so-called" crisis. Yes,
they both recently responded in a format letter
to the membership to explain what they are doing
for the profession in regards to policies
already in place regarding podiatry residency
programs. However, this did not even come close
to what you provided in your recent post.
Just one question? What took you so long? This
knowledge and impeccable wisdom you have on this
subject is exquisite to say the least.
I have been trying to establish new in roads in
downstate Illinois to develop podiatric
residencies ever since I was president of the
Illinois Podiatric Medical Association in 2009-
2010.
In the coming weeks, the IPMA and myself will be
trying to establish a meeting with the acting
CEO of the HSHS Medical Group, Melinda Clark
(mclark@hshs.org).
HSHS is the Health Sisters Hospital System
(www.hshs.org) and is 13 hospital system in
Illinois and Wisconsin that has the ability to
have multiple 3 year podiatric residency
programs. This would be a great success for not
only the profession, but for Illinois if this
were to happen.
I have been an active staff member at one the
hospitals affiliated with HSHS since 1999 which
is St. Anthony's Memorial Hospital located in
Effingham, Illinois. There are two other
podiatrists on staff there, but they do not do
as much surgery as I do since one of them does
more at a local surgery center and the other is
involved with the hospital's wound care center.
I probably do on average 2-3 cases a week which
is probably not enough to support a podiatric
surgical residency, but if we were to combined
the cases of two other hospitals that are within
the HSHS system this may be feasible.
The other hospitals of which I speak of are St
Mary's Hospital in Decatur, IL and St. John's
Hospital in Springfield, IL. These hospitals are
located in much larger metropolitan area and
have many more on staff podiatric surgeons that
would increase the number of surgical cases
necessary to establish a 3-4 position 3 year
podiatric surgical residency.
Therefore, I strongly urge and suggest that you
assist me in this endeavor and send an email
correspondence to Melinda Clark at HSHS and to
one of her colleagues Peter Mader
(pmader@hshs.org) educating them on exactly how
and why a podiatric surgical residency program
should established at HSHS.
As a side note, Melinda Clark is an RN, BSN and
is quite knowledgeable of the podiatric
profession and its importance in health care
because was a affiliated with a podiatric
residency when she work in Texas as a hospital
administrator.
There are also other opportunities in Champaign,
IL that could be another place for a podiatric
residency, but for some reason none have ever
been established.
There are leaders in our profession who
currently practice in Champaign, IL that have
yet establish a podiatric residency. Drs. Kim
Eickmeier (PICA board member) from the Christie
Clinic and Sean Grambart (ACFAS Board member)
from Carle Foundation Hospital who I have tried
to contact on many occasions in the past few
years regarding this matter, but to no avail
there has been little or no action or response
on the matter.
If you could also help me in educating these
individuals by contacting them personally, I
would greatly appreciate it.
Another concern that is currently affecting
Illinois podiatrists is the legislation that was
passed in July 2012 to help save $7.9 billion in
the Public Aid program. This law called the
SMART act restricted the ability for DPM's in
Illinois to only see children from ages 0-19 and
only diabetics from 20-64.
This restriction of patient access has
unfortunately eliminated the ability for the
podiatric residencies to see these patients and
hence has decreased the number of potential
surgical cases that may be seen by a podiatric
residency as compared to a year ago.
This is unfortunate and could be damaging to
currently established or the potential
development of new podiatric residency programs
if it is not remedied.
The IPMA is currently working to solve this
issue by trying to carve out any hospital or
teaching institution from the SMART act that is
currently training and/or educating podiatric
students or residents. This will allow these
institutions to see public aid patients without
restriction of age or disease and be reimbursed
fully for the services provided. It will also
provide the ability for those patients requiring
care to receive proper, timely, resolute, and
cost-effective care by our profession.
Again, I thank you for clarifying what is and
has been happening regarding the podiatric
residency shortage along the pertinent facts and
necessary solutions to this situation. I look
forward to your response and assistance in
developing residency genesis in Illinois.
Joseph Borreggine, DPM, Charleston, IL,
footfixr@consolidated.net
