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“One Board for All”
To our 6000 Diplomates and the Podiatric Community,
As a president’s term comes to an end, they commonly reflect on history. But I will not relive history. Instead, I remain focused on creating our future.
I am confident of ABPM’s future because our dedicated staff, our Board of Directors, and our new president, Dr. Adam Johnson, are fierce advocates for you.
But we all know our profession is currently threatened by those who wish to divide us. We will only succeed by becoming ONE profession.
There is ONE residency in podiatric medicine and surgery. There must be ONE board. And that board should have only ONE tier for certification in podiatry. This is parity with MD and DO standards and anything else is an insult to our profession and standardized training model.
For more than a decade, the ABPM has attempted to collaborate with the ABFAS to achieve this goal. But their leadership’s self-perceived elitism has obstructed any steps toward unification. They refuse to even have a discussion with us.
I believe the abysmal cumulative pass rate of the ABFAS exams (in some estimates less than 30%) is because they are not testing the standard of the podiatric medicine and surgery residency program, but some other subjectively higher standard. But this other standard has never been proven to result in safer patient experiences. It only acts as a gatekeeper to the OR and creates a mechanism for anti-competition between podiatrists.
There is nothing wrong with striving for the highest standards and it is admirable to be an elite podiatric surgeon. But elitism must not be the standard for a podiatrist to get a job in a hospital and perform surgery. Not only is this harmful to our profession, but it reduces patient access to competent podiatric surgeons.
Because of the clear and present danger posed by this elitism and division, the ABPM is far down the path of implementing our vision to make ABFAS unnecessary to practice podiatric surgery. We created the Certificate of Added Qualification in Podiatric Surgery to give podiatrists another way to demonstrate their surgical expertise. We have aggressively challenged any hospital that discriminates against a Diplomate’s surgical privileges. We filed a lawsuit against the Oregon Medical Board (OMB) over their rule that limited the license to perform ankle surgery to only podiatrists certified by ABFAS. The Oregon Attorney General’s office called the rule “clearly unconstitutional” and the OMB quickly replaced the certification requirement with a training requirement, in line with 46 other states.
If you practice in New York. We hear you. And we’re coming.
We cannot become ONE unless we embrace the whole profession. Almost 1/3 of American podiatrists have been shut out of the CPME-recognized board certification process. They experience significant financial harm. We must create an inclusive pathway for every podiatrist to be eligible to demonstrate their expertise, leading to certification by a CPME-recognized board. About 6,500 of these CPME-excluded podiatrists have become certified by the American Board of Multiple Specialties in Podiatry (ABMSP). We will be entering a due diligence period to explore a merger with the ABMSP. The resultant organization would be the largest organization in our profession, more than 12,000 podiatrists strong.
And finally, we must become ONE with the global profession. We created ABPM International (ABPMi), a separate non-profit certifying board, to help raise the standards of global podiatry. ABPMi is recognized by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow and now certifies podiatrists in the UK, Ireland, Canada, Spain, Malta, Greece, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand.
It is hard to contain the pride I have for our Board. I thank you for your support. I am honored to have been your president.
One Board for All.
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