07/03/2024     Jon Purdy, DPM

Victory! AMA Removes Offensive Social Media Post (Robert Steinberg, DPM)

This topic once again spurs the question of degree
change, or should I say augmentation. Going through
the rigors of years of training, dedication and the
ever rising expense of getting a DPM degree, does
make one wonder why we are swimming upstream.

My father was a podiatrist. He was not as well
trained as I, nor did he have the privileges
today’s podiatrists enjoy. He also had a fraction
of the debt we face, minimal insurance
interference, and did not have to deal with EHR or
the myriad of other government regulatory and
overhead expenses current podiatrists deal with. He
was able to treat his patients well and enjoyed an
income probably far better than most of today’s
podiatrists, and did so seeing less patients. In
short, his return on investment was far greater
than today’s podiatrist.

So while we pat ourselves on the back for having
achieved more inclusion, we are not reaping the
benefits of our colleagues. As a matter of fact, we
have more restrictions than other degrees that do
half the training and incur half the expense. Most
states allow PAs to practice independently with
physician oversight. Some states do not even
require physician oversight for an NP to open their
own practice, and be able to do more than a DPM!
We’re ok with this?

Podiatrists are limited in far more than scope. We
see disparities in reimbursements. We are not able
to employ ancillary medical staff without physician
oversight. We do not have the option of alternative
income from oversight of programs such as home
health, hospice or other medical providing
companies. There are many other aspects of medicine
we are not entitled to participate in, which may
just be paramount in the case of injury or illness
not allowing us to continue our current practice
situations. We cannot supplement our retirement is
ways an MD or DO could using the alternative
revenue streams.

Our training has changed, the medical environment
has changed, and we are being left behind while
lesser trained ancillary medical providers out pace
us.

Jon Purdy, DPM, New Iberia, LA

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07/03/2024    Allen Jacobs, DPM

RE: Victory! AMA Removes Offensive Social Media Post (Robert Steinberg, DPM)

Quite some years ago, I served as the scientific
chairman, assisted by Ray Esper DPM, for the APMA
scientific meeting for three years (Disney,
California, Las Vegas, and Boston). At that time,
the scientific meeting was held concurrently with
the House of Delegates. At the Las Vegas meeting, I
had invited a number of nationally respected
medical school faculty members to lecture. I was
rather upset at the fact that it seemed to me that
the House of Delegates was receiving priority over
my needs for the academic faculty. Although I did
not voice my concern, I was indeed upset about
this.

James Ganley was one of the individuals I had
invited to speak. With his usual insight, he sensed
that I was upset. He asked me to take a walk with
him through the exhibit hall. He asked me “Allen,
you any good at politics?”. I told Dr. Ganley
absolutely not. I have an inability to negotiate if
I feel someone is wrong and willfully
misrepresenting facts or willfully distorting
facts. Dr. Ganley looked at me and said “neither am
I“. He then said. “you know, neither one of us is
good at politics. But we do need politicians. We
need them to move the profession forward and to
protect the profession. We need good people to do
the things that you and I do not do.”

Ray Esper and I met with John George, who was
either APMA president or on the board of APMA at
that time. We spoke to the need to separate the
national scientific meeting from the House of
Delegates meeting. He agreed, and got the ball
rolling.

Recently, we have seen some increasing criticism of
the APMA by contributors to p.m. news. I must say
at the outset that I am in general agreement with
them. However, complaining does not solve the issue
of poor political representation by our national or
local organizations

Anyone who knows me well knows I am incapable of
participating in politics. However, I tell the
residents with whom I work that they must get
involved and change things. If you are
dissatisfied, then you must vote out your current
delegates. You must be more involved in your state
societies. You must demand action by the officers
and board members both locally and nationally or
you must take action and remove them. You must get
involved if you have the ability to do so. In the
“old days“ the APMA officers and presidents were
generally individuals academically accomplished,
who moved on to politics later in their life. They
had established bona fides. They were people like
Irv Kanat, Earl Kaplan, Dalton McGlamry, Arthur
Helfand. They were academics first and politicians
later.

We need good politicians. I agree that in the last
number of years we have had individual officers
with relatively little or no academic or
professional accomplishment. I personally believe
it is acceptable to be a full-time politician so
long as you do a good job of it, moving the
profession forward, academically and politically. I
agree with other writers they have failed in this
regard. I believe that the APMA has become somewhat
self-serving relegating the needs of our profession
second to their own personal political and
financial needs. Some of the concerns of our
membership are beyond the control of the APMA, and
are issues which confront all of medicine, just not
podiatry.( As an example, reduced payments for
services rendered, increasing pre-authorizations).
At the local level, as they say, all politics are
local. You need to take the time to get involved at
the state level. You need to hold your national
delegates accountable or remove them. You need to
hold your executive directors accountable or remove
them. If your seminars fail to provide you with the
education you require and fail to satisfy your
educational needs vote out the people who are
responsible for the construction and content of
these meetings. Get involved. The editor of PM
Magazine has told you this for years and it is
true. If you do not get involved, you do not have
the right to complain. hold people accountable. Dr.
Ganley said it best, we need good politicians.

Allen Jacobs, DPM, St. Louis, MO