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| PM News | |
The Voice of Podiatrists
Serving Over 18,513 Subscribers Daily
November 05, 2020 #6,804  Publisher-Barry Block, DPM, JD
A partner of Podiatry Management https://podiatrym.com
E-mail us by hitting the reply key.
COPYRIGHT 2020- No part of PM News can be reproduced without the
written permission of Barry Block
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| PM NEWS QUICK POLL |
Quick Poll
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When, if at all, do you plan to take the COVID-19 vaccine when it is available to you?
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| NEW CME ARTICLE POSTED ON OUR WEBSITE |
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November 2020 CME |
You can earn up to 50 Continuing Education Contact Hours (CECH) Online
Earn 15 CECH only $249 (less than $17 per CECH)
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| PODIATRISTS AND THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC | |
Diabetics Shouldn't Let COVID-19 Prevent Foot Care: VA Podiatrist
The American Podiatric Medical Association (APMA) is marking November's Diabetes Awareness Month with a public education campaign designed to urge the 34 million Americans living with diabetes to keep their regular healthcare appointments. The campaign, Keep Your Appointment, Keep Your Feet, will provide strategies for maintaining control of diabetes during the pandemic and information about when to seek care for a foot or ankle concern. "People with diabetes are at high risk from COVID-19," said APMA President Seth A. Rubenstein, DPM. "They should absolutely take appropriate precautions, such as wearing masks in public and avoiding large gatherings. In addition to taking such precautions, they also must continue to monitor and care for their diabetes."
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Dr. Seth Rubinstein |
In fact, Dr. Rubenstein said, the risks of avoiding diabetes care are much higher than the risk of exposure to the coronavirus in a medical facility. Physicians' practices are taking extensive precautions to keep patients and providers alike safe during the pandemic. Safeguards include additional PPE, requirements for patients to wear masks, social distancing in waiting areas, temperature checks, pre-appointment questionnaires, disinfection between patients, and more. Virtual appointments may also be available.
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| PODIATRISTS IN THE NEWS | |
Overuse Injuries Increase Because of Barefoot Home Workouts: CA Podiatrist
Podiatrist Bobby Pourziaee, DPM has seen his fair share of shoe-related injuries. The self-proclaimed “High Heel Doc,” who has a practice in Beverly Hills, CA, said his clients often come in for issues related to constrictive shoes. But Dr. Pourziaee has noticed a pattern over the past several months: Because people have been quarantining due to the coronavirus pandemic and wearing shoes less often, he has gotten fewer complaints from patients about inflamed nerves and stress fractures.
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Dr. Bobby Pourziaee |
“The one thing I’ve seen with the gyms being closed and people doing home workouts is people developing plantar fasciitis and tendinitis, because they’re doing their workouts without tennis shoes on,” Pourziaee said. “They feel like, ‘Since I’m home, I don’t need to wear them for this workout.’”
Source: Jamie Feldman, HuffPost.com [11/2/20]
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| PODIATRIC SUPER GROUPS IN THE NEWS | |
IN Podiatry Group Joins Upperline Health
Upperline Health, a leader in lower-extremity care, has partnered with Indiana Podiatry Group, a 6 clinic group serving the greater Indianapolis area. Scott Schulman, DPM, Walter Warren, DPM, CPed and 2 associates will be joining the Upperline Health team through the partnership.
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Dr. Walter Warren |
“Our merger with Upperline Health will allow us to provide quality care at a lower cost to our patients and the healthcare system by employing best practices,” said Warren. "We will now be able to offer better care at better prices through our expanded network of providers and by incorporating early detection of diseases via protocols and the use of advanced technology." In addition to Drs. Schulman and Warren, Indiana Podiatry Group includes Scott Kilberg, DPM and Brandon Baker, DPM.
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| RELEVANT RESEARCH | |
Little Risk of Exposure from Terbinafine in Pregnancy: Study
A review of all Danish pregnancies over a 20-year period compared outcomes of patients treated with oral terbinafine (n=942) with controls who had not been exposed to any systemic antifungal agents during pregnancy (n=9240). There were no differences between the groups in rates of pre-term birth (6.2% vs 5.7%; RR, 1.08), low birth weight (3.3% vs 4.9%; RR, 0.67), or stillbirths (0.4% vs 0.3%; HR, 1.46).
In this nationwide cohort study, oral terbinafine use during pregnancy was not associated with increased rates of pre-term birth, low birth weight, or stillbirth. These findings should be confirmed in other populations but may inform clinical decision-making for patients who are or who plan to become pregnant.
Source: Margaret Hammond, MD, Practice Update [11/3/20] via Dr. Allen Jacobs
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| FROM PM's CURRENT ISSUE | |
Several times a week, PM News posts an entire article from a recent issue of our partner, Podiatry Management Magazine. Please note that the views expressed in Podiatry Management Magazine do not necessarily reflect the views of PM News or Barry Block.
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Today's Featured Article |
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| PRACTICE MANAGEMENT TIP OF THE DAY | |
Things to Consider When a Physician Goes Part-Time - Part 5
There are many factors to consider in coming up with an effective part-time/reduced modality policy that works with the physician practice. The following are some concepts to consider:
5. How does one define what part-time should be?
There is no one answer to this question. Some practices insist that you are either a .5 FTE or a 1.0 FTE only. Other practices will allow some variation. Depending on the practice, having physicians at different levels of FTE can make compensation and scheduling particularly cumbersome. Some practices may also allow two shareholders in a .5 FTE position to share a single 1.0 FTE position in terms of compensation, call, etc. There is no correct or incorrect approach to take as long as it is clearly defined in the policy.
Source: Ericka L. Adler, JD, Logan Lutton, Physicians Practice [10/27/20]
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| CODINGLINE CORNER |
Query: Deconstructed Lapidus Bunionectomy
A friend of mine is encouraging me to change how I bill for my Lapidus bunionectomy. I typically bill CPT 28297. I am being told that I should think about billing this “alternatively” as: 1) CPT 28740 2) CPT 28292
Name Withheld
Response: When billing for any surgery, you are expected to select the CPT code that most closely reflects the procedure performed. In the CPT book, there are examples/pictures of the various bunion surgeries that we do. It clearly shows that a Lapidus or a first metatarsal-cunieform fusion with a partial metatarsal head (medial eminence) is properly coded as CPT 28297.
The billing codes your friend is proposing is clearly unbundling and could be deemed abusive or fraudulent billing. I would not solicit any further billing or charting information from this individual.
Tony Poggio, DPM, Alameda, CA
For information on Codingline subscriptions, click here
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| QUERIES (CLINICAL) | |
Query: Unusual Pathogen in Paronychia
I received a culture report from a paronychia swab that grew a pathogen I have never encountered before. It is Leclercia adecarboxylata. It is sensitive to the usual antibiotics. Staph aureus (MSSA) was also in the culture. The patient is a healthy young man. I am wondering if anyone else has encountered this bacteria in a paronychia or other wound culture.
Howard E Friedman, DPM, Suffern, NY
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| RESPONSES/COMMENTS (MEDICAL-LEGAL) - PART 1 | |
From: Eric J. Lullove, DPM
COVID-19 testing in your office should be verified by speaking with a healthcare attorney familiar with the practice and scope within your state. The devices that have been cleared by the FDA that are used for rapid PCR (BD Veritor, Quidel Sofia, Abbott Ion) have all been CLIA-waived and approved under EUA by the FDA.
Devices that require blood or serum for testing antibodies or PCR are NOT CLIA-Waived and therefore are not approved if your office has a CLIA Waiver only. The obtaining of blood is considered a "higher risk" laboratory procedure and requires a Certificate of Compliance (this is on the CMS-116 form). Exceptions to phlebotomy is if you draw blood and send the samples to certified labs like Quest, LabCorp, etc. for processing.
Also, those rapid antibody or PCR tests that have not been approved by the FDA will not clear the CMS-116 review application by your respective healthcare governing agency for your state. The best advice is to consult with a healthcare attorney and make sure that you are allowed to perform those tests in your office or other setting.
Eric J. Lullove, DPM, Coconut Creek, FL
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| RESPONSES/COMMENTS (NON-CLINICAL) - PART 1A | |
From: Alan Bass, DPM
Like most of us, I have been inundated with chart requests from Ciox. I have now put together a standard letter and invoice that I email back to them. I also include a W-9 (one email response from them was to include that for payment). For the first time ever, I received a payment from them for one of the chart requests. I have also heard from another colleague that they received a payment as well. Stick to your guns; do not send any charts until payment is made.
Alan Bass, DPM, Manalapan, NJ
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| RESPONSES/COMMENTS (NON-CLINICAL) - PART 1B | |
From: Eric Lullove, DPM
You have a responsibility as part of your contract with the contracted Medicare Advantage contractors to send their assigned third-party companies records of those patients. However, since they are third parties, your contract is not with them. You can charge a copy charge per your specific state statute for chart copying charges and send them an invoice.
They will want to assign you a secure email site to send the records. I do not send the records until I have received payment for the charts and can verify the email address will be receipted for the records I send. I have had issues before with EpiSource continuing to contact me regarding charts I have previously sent and their continued fax harassment of chart requests even for patient records that do not belong to me.
At some point, once I have sent the records, I have performed my end of the contract and I ignore the other communications. Keep a record of all emails and communications with the company in case it comes back.
Eric Lullove, DPM, Coconut Creek, FL
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| YOU CAN'T MAKE THESE THINGS UP | |
RE: Outrageous Feet of the Day
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Matching bling |
Source: Submitted by Dr. Steve Abraham
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MEETING NOTICES
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NEED CME CREDITS FAST?
PODIATRY MANAGEMENT'S AFFORDABLE ONLINE CME
You can Earn up to 50 Continuing Education Contact Hours (CECH) Online
Earn 15 CECH only $249 (less than $17 per CECH)
podiatrym.com/cme.cfm
All required credits can be taken online for AL, AK, AR, CA, CO, DE, HI, IN, KS, LA, MA, ME, MI, MI, MS, NV, NJ, NM, ND, OH, OR, RI, SC, SD, UT, VA, VT, WV, and WI
Partial required credits can be taken online for AZ, FL, GA, ID, KY, IL, ID, IA, MD, MN, MO, MT, NE, NH, NY, NC, OK, PA, PR, TN, TX, WA, and DC
Choose any or ALL from 25+ CECH Category-1 articles posted
* NY podiatrists whose licenses expire from 3/2/20-5/1/21 may take all credits online
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| CLASSIFIED ADS - ASSOCIATE POSITIONS AND FELLOWSHIPS |
ASSOCIATE POSITION - NYC, NY
Opportunity available for new Associate/Graduate for Immediate start in modern practice located in NYC. In search of hard working flexible podiatrist with firm verifiable clinical and surgical experience who is willing to travel as needed. In PDF form, email a letter of interest and resume with references to nynypod7@aol.com for consideration. If both are not received, there will be no consideration. Compensation will be discussed.
FULL TIME PODIATRIST- NORTHERN NEW JERSEY
We are a fast-growing podiatry practice in North Jersey with multiple locations and Doctors. We are currently looking for a full-time motivated and caring Doctor to join our busy practice. Some benefits include: competitive six-figure salary, generous bonus structure, health insurance (including vision & dental), paid vacation time off, paid malpractice insurance and CME time off. Great prospects for experienced Doctors as well as new Associates. This is an excellent opportunity to expand your Podiatric medical and surgical experience in an office-based practice! If interested, please submit your CV to DrSamofal@PodiatryCenterNJ.com.
ASSOCIATE POSITION - LONG ISLAND
Advanced Podiatry Seeking Full Time DPM for upscale practices located in Suffolk county. Excellent work environment and company culture. Latest technology with digital x-ray, laser, EHR, Ultrasound, the latest Apple software and iPads. Must be surgically trained, motivated, with a great work ethic. Very competitive salary with significant upside. Visit www.LIFootCare.com and email eavieiradpm@gmail.com for more info.
ASSOCIATE POSITION – NEW JERSEY
Looking for a part-time podiatrist in a very busy, fast-paced practice. Offering competitive salary and bonuses. Lots of sports medicine, excellent support staff, and positive environment. Immediate start date. Please e-mail CV to cma@njfootpain.com, should you have any further questions you may call Gerry 201-523-9489 ext 101.
ASSOCIATE POSITION- NEW YORK CITY
Need full-time associate starting ASAP for our group practice. Must be capable to do foot surgery and be competent in evaluating and treating patients in the office. Must be willing to travel to any one of our 5 locations within the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Manhattan. To inquire please email cv to contactus@starrettpodiatry.com
POSITIONS AVAILABLE - NEW YORK CITY and LONG ISLAND, NY AND CONNECTICUT
Looking for reliable and ethical podiatrists to service Assisted Living, Nursing Homes, and Skilled Nursing Facilities in Long Island and the 5 Boroughs of NY and in Connecticut. Send inquiries and CV to: phasetwopodiatry@gmail.com
ASSOCIATE POSITION – NEW YORK CITY
Looking for podiatrist to work in skilled nursing facilities in the 5 boroughs full time or part time available. Please respond to Jayray822@aol.com
ASSOCIATE POSITION - SOUTHWEST, FL
Immediate position for busy practice in Sunny Southwest, FL. ABFAS RRA BC/BQ. EMR, E x-rays, US, DME. Base salary + bonus w, PTO, 401K, fees, health benefits. Also 1 ACFAS credentialed fellowship avail, must be BQ ACFAS by start of program 8/2021: DrLam@NaplesPodiatrist.com
FACULTY POSITION -- DES MOINES, IOWA
The College of Podiatric Medicine and Surgery (CPMS) at Des Moines University seeks applicants for a full-time faculty position that will participate in academic, clinical patient care, scholarly, and service activities within the College, University and community. Qualified candidates are invited to apply by submitting a CV and cover letter to www.dmu.edu/employment where detailed information about the position is available. Candidate review and interview scheduling will commence immediately.
FELLOWSHIP OPPORTUNITY IN SE GEORGIA
Fellowship Opportunity in SE Georgia with Fellowship Director Lee M. Hlad, DPM, FACFAS. In this one year fellowship you will expect to be exposed to deformity correction, trauma, Charcot reconstructions, orthoplastic reconstructions, total ankles, and external fixation. Schedule will be designed and tailored to the fellow but will be mostly surgical based with a private practice experience of in house billing, practice management, and fellows clinic. This is an exciting opportunity with a growing practice. For more information and application contact AnkleandFootFellowship@outlook.com. Applications are due in November and candidate will be chosen by December.
PM NEWS CLASSIFIED ADS REACH OVER 18,000 DPMs AND STUDENTS
Whether you have used equipment to sell or are offering an associate position, PM News classified ads are the fastest, most-effective way of reaching over 18,000 subscribers. For details, click here or write to: bblock@prodigy.net or call (718) 897-9700 for details. For commercial or display ads contact David Kagan at davidekagan@gmail.com or call (215) 808-0770
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| CLASSIFIED ADS - PRACTICES FOR SALE OR WANTED, EQUIPMENT FOR SALE |
PRACTICE FOR SALE - NW NEW JERSEY
35 year old practice, all aspects of podiatry. Loyal patient following, large physician referral base. EHR, staff in place. Low overhead. Great potential for surgically oriented podiatrist. Will stay for transition if desired. 201-317-0758
PRACTICE FOR SALE - TUCSON, AZ
Established two doctor podiatry practice, Principal retiring, other physician contractor will stay. Three-year average $1.4MM gross, $322,682 owner net in a three-and-a-half-day week and with no product sales (yet). ~250 new patients per month. Principal will assist transition. Email peter@mcmil.com or call Peter at 860-912-0800.
PM NEWS CLASSIFIED ADS REACH OVER 18,000 DPMs AND STUDENTS
Whether you have used equipment to sell or are offering an associate position, PM News classified ads are the fastest, most-effective way of reaching over 18,000 subscribers. For details, click here or write to: bblock@prodigy.net or call (718) 897-9700 for details.
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| Disclaimers |
Acceptance and publication by this newsletter of an advertisement, news story, or letter does not imply endorsement or approval by Barry Block or Kane Communications of the company, product, content or ideas expressed in this newsletter. Podiatric Medical News does not represent the views, and is a separate entity from Podiatry Management® Magazine and Podiatry Management® Online. Any information pertaining to legal matters should not be considered to be legal advice, which can only be obtained via individual consultation with an attorney. Information about Medicare billing should be confirmed with your State CAC.
THIS MESSAGE IS INTENDED ONLY FOR THE USE OF THE INDIVIDUAL OR
ENTITY TO WHICH IT IS ADDRESSED AND MAY CONTAIN INFORMATION THAT IS
PRIVILEGED, CONFIDENTIAL AND EXEMPT FROM DISCLOSURE.
If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient or an
employee or agent responsible for delivering the message to the
intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination,
distribution, or copying of this communication is strictly
prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please
immediately notify me and you are hereby instructed to delete all
electronic copies and destroy all printed copies.
DISCLAIMER: Internet communications cannot be guaranteed to be
either timely or free of viruses.
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- Subscribers are reminded that they have an ethical obligation to disclose any potential conflicts of interest when commenting on any product, procedure, or service.
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