The Voice of Podiatrists

Serving Over 13,500 Podiatrists Daily

August 01, 2012 #4,529 Publisher-Barry Block, DPM, JD

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OH Podiatrist Off to London to Aid Olympic Athletes

Dr. Mark Mendeszoon will leave for the United Kingdom on Monday for the 2012 Summer Olympics, assisting in training four track and field athletes with various ties to the region. "I'm excited," Mendeszoon said. "It was a last-minute decision, coming from Oregon and wondering if I could make it."

Dr. Mark Mendeszoon

Mendeszoon will be working with a pair of international competitors. Shana Cox, a former Penn State stalwart who was the 2008 NCAA Division I 400-meter national champion, will be representing Great Britain in that event as well as on the 4x400 relay. Mendeszoon will also be trying to help prepare American pole vault star Jenn Suhr, as the 2008 Olympic silver medalist is "a little banged up" according to Mendeszoon in advance of heading to London.

Source: Chris Lillstrung, News-Herald [7/30/12]

NYCPM Student Club Travels to Mexico

This Spring, members of the International Podiatry Club (IPC) at NYCPM travelled down to Mexico to offer medical services. The group of ten 3rd year students along with one attending, Dr. Sharon Barlizo, went to Vicente Guerrero, which is a small town 175 miles south of the U.S. border in the San Quintin Valley. This is the fourth year that IPC has planned and participated in this mission trip.

NYCPM International Podiatry Club in Mexico (Photo: Alicia Attanasio)

The IPC team worked in a wide range of environments, which included a clinic, a community center, home visits, an orphanage, and even a park where they offered health services from their van. Approximately 60 to 70 patients were seen a day. The NYCPM students got the opportunity to work with other health professionals, ranging from a pediatrician to an RN to a nutritionist.

Source: Student Alumni Report [Summer 2012]

NJ Podiatry Group Sets Up Food Pantry Website for Donations

All through the year, residents from around town look to the Howell Food Pantry to help them put food on the table. Now, thanks to a website, helping that organization is easier than ever.

(L-R) Drs. Alison DeWaters, Jasen Langley, and Hal Ornstein

A national group of podiatrists, including Affiliated Foot and Ankle Care has started a website through their own organization. Known as De-Feet Childhood Hunger (DFCH), the group has started a website which takes contributions to the Howell food pantry.

Source: Adam Hochron, Howell Patch [7/30/12]

NY Podiatrist Appointed to Wartburg Board of Directors

The Wartburg – recently named by US News & World Report as one of New York State’s Best Nursing Homes for the second consecutive year – announced that its Board of Directors has appointed Dr. Nicholas Cicchetti to the board of The Wartburg Foundation. Cicchetti has a long-standing history of service to The Wartburg as a member of the Home’s Board beginning in 2005. As a newly elected Director of the Foundation, he brings great institutional knowledge to the role of Director and Vice Chair. Dr. Cicchetti, native to Mount Vernon, has a wealth of professional experiences in local government, healthcare, and the provision of human services. 

Dr. Nicholas Cicchetti

As the Chief of Podiatry of Mount Vernon Hospital’s Department of Surgery, he was involved in the organization and operation of podiatric services, both at the hospital and through the establishment of private practices. In addition to his healthcare background, Dr. Cicchetti has devoted much time to the administration of many of Mount Vernon’s critical services, serving as past Commissioner of the City’s Fire Department and currently as the Assistant Superintendent of Water. Dr. Cicchetti has served as a Director of the Board for the Mount Vernon Neighborhood Health Center since 2001.

IN Podiatrist Joins South Bend Clinic

Jonathan M. Deming, DPM, has joined Drs. Jeffrey L. Niespodziany and W. Douglas Kolmodin in the Podiatry Department at The South Bend Clinic. Dr. Deming received his Doctor of Podiatric Medicine degree from the Dr. William M. Scholl College of Podiatric Medicine at Rosalind Franklin University.

Dr. Jonathan M. Deming

Deming completed his podiatric residency at St. John Hospital and Medical Center in Detroit, MI where he was appointed co-chief resident for podiatric surgery. He holds professional memberships with the American College of Foot and Ankle Surgeons and the American Podiatric Medical Association. Dr. Deming is board eligible with the American Board of Podiatric Surgery.

Source: digitaljournal.com [7/30/12]

Query: Athena Billing or EMR

What experiences have PM News readers had using Athena for their billing and/or EHR?

Jordan Sheff, DPM, Newport, RI

Query: Associate Becoming a Partner

We hired an associate in our office two years ago. He is now going to be buying in as a partner at the first of the year. We have all of our corporate numbers. My question is, will he need his own Tax ID? What about Medicare? Do I need to change anything there?

Kash Siepert, DPM, Roseburg, OR

Response: If you have a group practice, the associate should not need a new Tax ID number. I am assuming that your doctors are all in a single corporate entity and that you bill under a single group number. If that is the case, the associate does not need a Tax ID number.

J. Kevin West, Esq.,Boise, ID

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RE: Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) 
From: Paul Jones, DPM

My brother in Oklahoma is insured and had some dental work done. His insurance paid the claim, but the payment was not sent to the dentist providing the service. My brother is divorced, with children. The new law now requires that the payment not be paid to the doctor, but to some type of holding account that evaluates whether or not he is outstanding in child support. If my brother were outstanding in this debt, the money would be used towards the debt of the outstanding child support first, and then, maybe, the dentist will be paid the difference in the amount of the original remaining insurance payment. Has anyone experienced this yet?  

Paul Jones, DPM, Spokane Valley, WA, instepfootandankle@gmail.com

RE: Best Laser for Onychomycosis (Marc Katz, DPM)
From: Adam Ullman
 
We fully agree with Dr. Katz that a protocol is needed for treating onychomycosis. Regardless of what laser is used (or other treatment options), your patients are at greater risk of exposure to the microorganisms that cause onychomycosis when they are stepping into a contaminated shoe. The in-shoe environment must be dealt with for the most effective treatment possible.
 
A study discussing shoes as part of the infection cycle and proving the efficacy of the SteriShoe ultraviolet shoe sanitizer is publishing in the 2012 July/August issue of JAPMA. The SteriShoe sanitizer provides a controlled, clinically proven treatment with each use and doesn’t fill the shoe up with toxic chemicals.
 
Adam Ullman, President & CEO, Shoe Care Innovations, Inc., adamullman@sterishoe.com

RE: CA Podiatrist Says Team Approach Saves Limbs and Lives
From: Allen Jacobs, DPM

Perhaps Dr. Rogers could further enlighten us on his quotes. Where is the data demonstrating a 68% five-year mortality in the diabetic patient with a lower extremity amputation?

In addition, I'm curious as to the factual basis for the suggestion that the "sedentary" lifestyle following amputation contributes to increased post-amputation mortality. I was under the impression that the increased cardiac stress secondary to ambulatory with a prosthesis was a contributing factor, not the reverse.

While it may be true that in SOME instances saving a leg may save a life, the fact is that people with ulcers are sick people, and it is the co-existing neuropathy, vascular disease, and metabolic disorders that are responsible for the increased mortality in the diabetic patient with an ulceration.

Allen Jacobs, DPM, St. Louis, MO, allenthepod@sbcglobal.net

RE: Landmark Long-Term Study Reveals Data on Amputation and Death From Diabetes
From Elliot Udell, DPM
 
Dr. Armstrong's study showing that diabetic patients presenting for salvage procedures have a high rate of mortality is not new to most of us. It is heart-breaking when, after spending months treating a diabetic ulcer and getting it to close, you get a call from the family telling you that the patient died from a CVA or MI.
 
Unlike cancer, which tends to start in one location, and if not treated in a timely manner may spread to the rest of the body, peripheral vascular disease, especially in diabetics, is a degenerative disease affecting most, if not all, of a patient's arterial tree. PVD may choose to manifest itself initially in arteries of the lower extremity, the heart, or brain, but if and when it manifests itself clinically in one area, it is most likely subclinical in arteries in other areas. In this sense, the pathology is more analogous to degenerative joint disease than to cancer.
 
Dr. Armstrong's study could lead clinicians and researchers to view peripheral vascular disease and its pedal manifestations from a different perspective, open it to new research, and hopefully new ways of approaching this disease from a total body perspective.
 
Elliot Udell, DPM, Hicksville, NY, Elliotu@Aol.com

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