09/27/2023    Greg Caringi, DPM

It's Time for Certified Podiatric Assistants ( Martin R. Taubman, DPM )

It's a great idea, but this is a more complex and
multi-layered proposal than it first seems. I
defer to my colleagues who were involved with the
program, but TUSPM (then PCPM) put together a
legit, quality training program for Certified
Podiatric Assistants many years ago. I believe it
failed because, at the time, there was little
public interest and employers were not willing to
pay higher salaries for the trained assistants.
With the shortage of paraprofessionals and
physician extenders today, this might be
different. I was interested in this idea in the
1990's and researched it. At least in the state of
Pennsylvania, I learned that podiatrists are not
qualified to supervise CRNAs and PAs who could be
trained in-house to do routine foot care in
addition to their other duties.

Since my retirement, I now teach and train Medical
Assistants at my local community college. This is
a one-calendar-year program that allows them to
sit for the RMA and CMA examinations. We have 100%
placement. At a recent employer event, we had
representatives from all of the Philadelphia area
hospital organizations (Penn, Jefferson) along
with several cardiology and dermatology groups
offering excellent salaries with benefits and
opportunities for advancement. These students are
in demand and heavily recruited.

This is quite a change from the MA's just a few
years ago who had no formal training and were paid
little more than a receptionist. In Pennsylvania,
MA's are not licensed - certification is not a
license. Although a valuable asset to any
practice, they are quite limited in their
responsibilities. In turn, I suspect that
Podiatric Assistants would fit into this same
category - perhaps in demand, but non-licensed so
limited in their responsibilities - i.e., not
licensed to provide foot care or allow for billing
of their services.

This all points to the future of our profession.
We are no longer under-the-radar. As seen here on
PM News, there are now nurses doing our jobs,
independently and apparently legally. In our area,
we have a "Good Feet" store opening. They have
saturated the local media. Very convincing TV
advertising for the medical benefits of a well-
made orthotic. I would say that Podiatry is at a
crossroad, but we have been saying that every year
for the past 40+ years that I have been involved
in this profession.

Greg Caringi, DPM, North Wales, PA

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