RE: Treating Homeless Patients (Elliot Udell, DPM)
From: David S. Wolf, DPM
I am one of the 15 plus Houston podiatrists who volunteer every Saturday morning at a downtown homeless medical clinic. My advice is to treat the homeless patient as only we DPMs know how to do and not be concerned as to the possible medical/legal issues and follow-up appointments.
The homeless and the other uninsured are already going to overcrowded ERs and county clinics. We can, as podiatrists, make a real difference in helping those less fortunate to ambulate and get back on their road to recovery. Most homeless people today are not just psychiatric/alcoholic types, but people (and entire families) who lost their housing and employment due to the recent economic downturn.
David S. Wolf, DPM, Houston, TX, rebdovid@aol.com
RE: HBOT Supervision (Stan Gorgol, DPM)
From: Ira Weiner, DPM
I was instrumental in changing the law in Nevada allowing podiatrists to supervise treatments. Recently, the law was challenged and was upheld in our favor. Our law currently states, and has always stated, that we can monitor dives for diagnoses in our scope of practice only. In addition, we have gone further to state that all dives need to be performed in a facility located in an acute care campus. Based upon Nevada law, osteoradionecrosis of the jaw would not qualify a podiatrist to monitor the dive.
Ira Weiner, DPM, Las Vegas, NV, vegasfootdoc2005@yahoo.com
RE: Rules for Rewarding Patient Referrals (Pasquale Cancelliere, DPM)
From: Peter Walimire, DPM, Pasquale Cancelliere, DPM
I made the assumption in my previously posted question that if I thought something was illegal, most readers would assume that I would also think it to be unprofessional, which I do. That was obviously lost on Dr. Cancelliere. I have no intention of doing these things which the author of the CD (who is not a physician) recommends to increase patient referrals. I am in no way promoting these practices, but the suggestion of doing so by this marketing "guru" prompted me to ask the question. I was just hoping for someone with experience in practice marketing or medical law to weigh in. The state statutes appear to make the practice illegal, but there is a lot of gray area, which is why I phrased my question the way I did. There is often no clear-cut definition of what IS or IS NOT acceptable.
Dr. Cancelliere wrote, "We already still have a hard enough time being recognized as professionals and physicians." I don't know about his situation, but being accepted as a professional and a physician in this community has been the easiest part because of how I represent myself. Based upon his comments and my time spent with him in school, I'll bet that what he's still struggling with the most is the professionalism part.
Peter Walimire, DPM, Cape Coral, FL, pwalimire@gmail.com
It was not my intention to personally attack Dr. Walimire in my statement. I just find it un-becoming of any physician to undertake such schemes in the interests of self-promotion. I think highly of our profession and we have a long way to go to be truly integrated and respected by allopathic and osteopathic colleagues. My position on this does not change, but I wanted to apologize to Dr. Walimire, who is a friend of mine, for singling him out and attacking him.
Pasquale Cancelliere, DPM, Scranton, PA, pcancell@bidmc.harvard.edu
RE: Rules for Rewarding Patient Referrals (Joel Lang, DPM)
From: Michael Brody, DPM
While I agree with Dr. Lang's sentiments, I find that most physicians and others who are referral sources use PDA's and no longer use the calendar books he refers to. I believe you will get much more mileage from flash drives with your practice information embossed on the outside. In bulk, they are less than $10 each. In addition with 'Meaningful Use' requiring you to provide patients with electronic copies of their health information, this same flash drive can be provided to your patients with their health information. Patients will use that flash drive to bring information regarding the care they received at your offices to other physicians to allow them to keep their records up-to-date.
Having a patient walk into an office with personal medical info on a flash drive is sure to impress another doctor, and with your practice info on the flash drive, this can only enhance the image of your practice.
Michael Brody, DPM, Commack, NY, mbrody@tldsystems.com
