03/15/2024    Steven Spinner, DPM

RE: APMA Policy Proposition 2-24: One Board in Podiatric Medicine & Surgery (Meghan M.. Arnold, DPM)

Driving through Georgia one day I got stopped for
doing 10 miles over the speed limit (Okay…it may
have been more) by a Georgia state trooper. When he
asked for my license and registration, I discreetly
open my wallet so that he could see I had a Broward
sheriff’s office badge and identification card.
Although my credentials at the time were legitimate
his comment to me was “you boys from Florida all
have those so put it away”.

It became a meaningless credential because the
impression was that every car from Florida that was
speeding could whip out a police credential and
hope to get out of a ticket. We are not a uniform
profession with uniform training. We are a diverse
profession made up of many talented people
practicing different aspects of podiatric medicine
and surgery. To confer board certification from one
board on everybody in our profession would render
that credential as meaningless as a sheriff’s badge
from Florida on a Georgia highway.

ABFAS is not the enemy. ABPM hierarchy continuously
insults the organizations integrity and
misrepresents their pass rate. We cannot as a
profession follow the course that they have put
forth. When I was president of ABPS, I argued for a
system that closely resembled the dental model.
There were dentists practicing multiple
specialties, and they were oral maxillo-facial
surgeons who did more extensive training in that
specialty. That model has passed the test of time.
A general dentist or orthodontist would not think
about doing a jaw reconstruction. But by conferring
uniform board certification on every graduating
podiatrist, the public is not protected. There will
be no distinction between those doctors who have
met the minimal 3 year residency requirement and
those that have obtained additional training,
knowledge, and experience in foot and ankle
surgery. And the bar for that attainment is the
ABFAS certification process…and that bar should
never be lowered.

This is not an “elitist” ideology and its intention
is not to keep any member of our profession out of
an operating room. I have served on hospital
credentialing committees for many years and
privileges were always awarded based on training
and case logs, not which board certified you. Our
profession is at a very dangerous crossroad. We
can follow a model which distinguishes multiple
different specialties within our profession and
their expertise or we can homogenize the
certification process and make it meaningless. I am
at the twilight of my career, but I truly have
concerns about the future of my profession. If the
people advocating for a single board are allowed to
succeed I have serious concerns for our young
doctors and our patients.

Steven Spinner, DPM

There are no more messages in this thread.