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06/10/2024
RESPONSES/COMMENTS (PM EDITORIALS)
From: Lee Rogers, DPM
Respectfully to Dr. Maleski, the One Board proposition wasn't developed for his generation. It is developed for the current and future generations of podiatrists who are ALL "surgical podiatrists." Since 2003, according to CPME standards, EVERY residency graduate has been trained in podiatric medicine AND surgery. Whether a podiatrist chooses to do surgery after residency is irrelevant. Just like all OB/Gyns or ophthalmologists are trained to perform surgery and some decide to focus on a medical practice afterward, they are still board certified in what their residency training was.
Other medical specialties don't have 2 boards. There is only one recognized board for every MD specialty, many containing a mixture of surgery and non-surgery. Subsequently, your privileges at the hospital or ASC are determined by your education, training, and current experience (surgical cases).
Lee Rogers, DPM, San Antonio, TX
Other messages in this thread:
06/13/2024
RESPONSES/COMMENTS (PM EDITORIALS) - PART 1 A
From: Jon Purdy, DPM
I don’t understand why this has to be such a convoluted issue. You have ONE board with multiple certification types. And as much as I’m tired of repeating myself, it bears repeating. We ALREADY have that type of board, called the “American Board of Multiple Specialties in Podiatry.”
Currently, we have a surgical board that splits the foot, so we have to say we are “board certified” then denote for which structures of the foot. This, along with multiple other boards, is just confusing to the public, insurances, the medical system, and it further marginalizes us.
Why not present our profession with one board, then within that board, get certified in whatever the heck you want? Be it podiatric medicine, surgery, wound care, limb salvage, or all of the above, we are represented by one certification body.
Jon Purdy, DPM, New Iberia, LA
10/18/2022
RESPONSES/COMMENTS (PM EDITORIALS)
From: Keith L. Gurnick, DPM
Irrespective of our fee-for-service contracts and taking into account all of the services that podiatrists can provide, we definitely make more money per minute staying in our offices and going from room to room seeing patients. As we all know, some procedures and services seem to pay less than we feel is appropriate for the time and skill and effort involved (and the aftercare); and also procedures done in the hospital or at surgery centers pay us less than if the same surgery were done in our office setting. If your career is only about the money and efficiency, then never leave your office to do a house call, never drop off a sample to a patient at home, and never do a consult or treat a foot ulcer in the hospital.
However, the beauty of our profession is that each doctor can decide what is best for them. Personally, I have found that after 40 years of private practice, the "outside of the office" surgeries that I still do, are both enjoyable and rewarding, both to myself and to my patients. Even if my overall "dollar-per-minute" remuneration would be increased by focusing my attention to only in-office care or procedures, it is kind of relaxing to be in the operating room with the patient not talking, getting the job done, along with teaching our surgical residents (our profession's future).
Keith L. Gurnick, DPM, Los Angeles, CA
07/22/2022
RESPONSES/COMMENTS (PM EDITORIALS)
From: Ron Freireich, DPM
I have read most of the posts regarding this topic and have come to a conclusion. Recommending that anyone go into podiatry and/or medicine these days basically boils down to economics. Just take a look at your EOBs for each procedure you do and calculate your overhead. If at the end of the day, you are happy with those numbers compared with what it has taken you to get where you are, including your time and money, then by all means recommend podiatry/medicine as a career.
All of the topics that have been brought up are issues that our profession has been fighting with for decades. Some of the battles we have won, but we are still losing the war. Podiatry is a great profession, but would anyone recommend any career to someone where there are so many battles being fought and one's pay scale is continuously dropping while expenses continue to rise?
Ron Freireich, DPM, Beachwood, OH
06/25/2022
RESPONSES/COMMENTS (PM EDITORIALS) - PART 1B
From: Judd Davis, DPM
Dr. Brower, you must live in a very podiatry friendly town which surprises me. As I recall, Arizona recently had a law that DPMs couldn't even amputate a toe; maybe that has changed? Bottom line is there is still plenty of discrimination against the DPM going on out there. I am doubtful that most foot and ankle orthopods stand "shoulder to shoulder" with DPMs during their schooling/residencies and so have no clue as to our training or capabilities. Nor do most of them care as we are direct competition for them. In my town, there are younger generation orthopods who actively joust and badmouth podiatrists when their patients end up there for second opinions.
I am currently on call at a hospital system that does not pay podiatrists for taking that call. If a podiatrist wants privileges there, they are forced to take call pro bono. Be assured, the orthopedists are paid for that service. For prospective students out there, I would say if you want the respect and pay grade of an orthopedist, then you should go that route. I'm sure things are better now for DPMs than 40 years ago, but let's not sugarcoat it; all is not equal.
Judd Davis, DPM, Colorado Springs, CO
06/17/2022
RESPONSES/COMMENTS (PM EDITORIALS) - PART 1B
From: William DeFeo, DPM
Interesting that Dr. Feinberg’s self-professed “proudest moment” was the suggestion that he supposedly had an income greater than a plastic or vascular surgeon. In my opinion, this conclusion represents exactly what is wrong in medicine in general. When financial success is the major goal, to paraphrase Sir William Osler, you have lost the true spirit for which you entered medicine. My proudest moments have been those occasions in which physicians praised my competence and have accepted me, a podiatrist, as their intellectual and academic equivalent as a healthcare provider. Respect for your care is far more rewarding than respect for your wallet.
As I look back on 45 years of podiatry practice, I feel compelled to write about the discussion of parody with medicine. When I read my classmate Dr. Larry Oloff's letter, I couldn’t agree more. Maybe because of my own ignorance, I felt after finishing my residency that I was competent...
Editor's note: Dr. DeFeo's extended-length letter can be read here.
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