06/28/2013    Eric J. Roberts, DPM

Unmatched Residency Placements Currently Stand at 92

RE: Unmatched Residency Placements Currently
Stand at 92

I may be missing something about this debate. We
are asking for parity with MD’s, but are all MDs
guaranteed a residency placement out of
internship or medical school? As far as I know,
they are in the same situation or even worse.
Correct me if I’m wrong in stating that not even
close to all MD candidates get a residency. Many
times, poor matching strategies rather than poor
candidates are what lead many to not matching.
But for medical school candidates, there is
nowhere near the amount of residencies available
for all applicants.

I encourage everyone to read the NRMP (National
Resident Matching Program) data on MD matching
from 2009-2013. Here is an excerpt which
demonstrates that in 2013, 25.9% of seniors of
MD, DO students did not match. 74% matched. How
many ACTIVE candidates didn’t match in 2013?
8,892. This data includes students who did not
match the previous year and reapplied: Also,
check page 7 that shows there are over 13,000
more candidates applying than there are
positions.
http://www.nrmp.org/data/resultsanddata2013.pdf

All Applicants 2013 No. %

Active Applicants 34,355 100

Matched PGY-1 25,463 74.1

Unmatched PGY-1 8,892 25.9

Withdrew 2,814 7.0 3,909

No Rank List 3,166 7.8

Total 40,335 100

In short: Do we need more residencies to
accommodate the graduates? Yes. Do we need to
make sure they are of high quality first?
Definitely. We don’t want to put out substandard
programs just to “get by” or we’re doing a
disservice to our profession and our students.
We are discussing on this forum about 92 people
who should sue our profession. How about the
8,800 MORE MD’s who didn’t match? I am pro-
podiatry but there is so much more to parity than
meets the eye.

Eric J. Roberts, DPM, Tampa, FL,
lordertz@gmail.com

Other messages in this thread:

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07/01/2013    Name Withheld

Unmatched Residency Placements Currently Stand at 92 (Stuart J Wertheimer, DPM)

My experience with the CPME and residency
expansion under the direction of Dr. Wertheimer
what much different than what I just read. I was
a student rotating at an incredibly busy and
prestigious residency program. The program was
applying for additional residency positions. It
was time for the site visit when two individuals
representing the CPME showed up. They sat at the
table in the conference room and called for the
director.

The director came in and they didn’t so much as
stand up to greet him. He offered them a tour of
the facility. To his shock, they said no, asked
for the paperwork, and in a demeaning tone
demanded coffee and donuts. As preposterous as
this sounds, it happened. The director promptly
asked them to leave, and no positions were
created. The residency director was doing this
out of the love of profession, not for himself.

I then became part of a residency program seeking
to increase the number of residents and elevation
of the residency type. I witnessed a process
whereby the written demands for production of
evidence, and verification of requirements and
standards were anything but standardized by the
CPME. A list of needed documentation would
arrive. All documents and verifications were
satisfied and sent in promptly.

It would take months before a different list of
requirements would arrive. The process continued
numerous times, over a period longer than a year.
It was as if stonewalling techniques were being
purposely employed. There were numerous times
that my director attempted to contact Dr.
Wertheimer directly and was denied access to him.
Eventually he gave up.

I know there are many other stories out there
just like this. So I beg to differ strongly with
the perception Dr. Wertheimer would like
portrayed about the function and administration
of CPME over this profession. When Dr. Wertheimer
asks that the other podiatrists come forward and
volunteer, these would be the reasons why many
won’t. Instead of banding together to help the
profession, I witnessed first-hand, the arrogance
and wielding of power so pervasive in positions
held by those in regulatory bodies. It’s just sad.

Name Withheld

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06/27/2013    Michael M. Rosenblatt, DPM

Unmatched Residency Placements Currently Stand at 92 (H. David Gottlieb, DPM)

I most vigorously disagree with Dr. Gottlieb
(when he says that it is not CPME responsibility
to create residencies.) APMA and CPME both claim
that they are “separate entities.” Yet, they
worked hand in hand over the years to deal with
post graduate residency education. Every DPM
residency that has ever been created was done
because of selfless dedication of DPMs who
insisted on taking time away from their practices
and families, and paid it forward.

APMA/CPME took this largess completely for
granted and encouraged states to establish
licensing rules characteristic of medical
doctors. APMA/CPME knows we can never match
their resources, and never will. That is one of
the reasons why I blame CPME.

During the very difficult and enormously time-
consuming effort to develop and maintain a
program, CPME has served as a blocking agent,
with hyper demanding language changes and
excessively picayune evaluation requirements.

They have also denied previous residents, though
for no fault of their own, were denied
certification for their post graduate programs.
The finger pointing continues. APMA admitted in
their own documentation that as many as 150 DPM
graduates next year will be without programs and
will therefore not be able to get licensed.

Under the circumstances, I can no longer support
any student entering podiatry, and have therefore
put APMA on notice that I will withdraw my
Charitable Remainder Trust, which has
considerable funds in it, unless this is fixed.
So far I have heard no response from APMA or
CPME. I would also encourage other APMA
Educational Fund Contributors to put APMA/CPME on
notice. Lives are being destroyed.

The right way to start is to terminate the top
two administrative employees from CPME, and do it
now.

Michael M. Rosenblatt, DPM, San Jose, CA,
Rosey1@prodigy.net

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06/26/2013    H. David Gottlieb, DPM

Unmatched Residency Placements Currently Stand at 92

Everyone is, or should be, concerned about the
residency crisis. There is much finger pointing
being done. No one accepts blame and the only
ones that have an answer seem to be the same ones
with no capacity to do anything.

In this debate we should remember that the CPME
is approved by the U.S. Federal Government to act
as the sole regulatory oversight body for
podiatric education and training in the US.
As a regulatory body it is not in their scope of
action to create programs or colleges. They exist
to ensure that the residency programs and
podiatric colleges that do exist meet minimum
standards consistent with a quality education.
That is what they do. They regulate and provide
oversight. Just as programs and colleges have to
provide data and metrics to CPME for review and
continued approval, CPME also has to be
periodically reviewed by the Department of Health
and Human Services for their compliance with HHS
rules and regulations.

Can the CPME be a pain to deal with? Absolutely.
But only because they have a difficult job to do
and required standards to maintain and they have
to be able to document that they are doing what
their mandate requires. Sometimes this means a
hand-slap, or worse, for using the wrong
terminology [Council OF Podiatric Med Ed instead
of Council ON Pod Med Ed for example] or using a
dash instead of a slash or putting it in the
wrong place.

While these examples seem to be silly abuses of
oversight powers by those of us who don't see any
difference in the usage, you have to remember
that we are thinking in terms of English language
use, not regulatory oversight requirements. If
the regulations says 'RR/A' then that is what is
required, not RR-A or R/RA. Remember, this is
more governmentese than American English.
Is CPME perfect? No, none of us are. But they do
a difficult job with limited resources and in the
end they ensure that the newly minted podiatrist
joining or buying your practice is competent to
treat the patients that come in your front door.

H. David Gottlieb, DPM, Baltimore, MD,
hdavidgottliebdpm@gmail.com