APMA blocks ACGME from exploring podiatry as a medical specialty.

[heybrother]

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Members do not see this ad.

Maybe I lack imagination, but I never saw this as a path for podiatrists or MD/DOs to switch residencies. It was a path towards actual quality control for podiatry residencies.

 

[Feli]

Maybe I lack imagination, but I never saw this as a path for podiatrists or MD/DOs to switch residencies. It was a path towards actual quality control for podiatry residencies.

Now how does that make the big APMA donors rich and dean jobs secure? Cmon meow.

 

[HalluxSlicer]

Honestly, there are DPM residents who will be happy switching to primary care specialities such as FM, IM, and PM&R. I've also met few MD/DO residents who wished they were doing podiatry residencies. I believe for the sake of podiatry to survive, accepting ACGME is necessary to preserve the quality of podiatry residencies as they all are NOT standardized, especially the VA and non hospital affiliate programs such as Surgical Center Sponsored programs. There will definitely be purging of weak residencies and ramping up podiatry school requirements / education but in the end, podiatry as a specialty will survive. The golden age of podiatry hit the glass ceiling back in the 70s-80s when the scope of foot and ankle surgeries peaked. Now, scope is being limited, ortho F&A dominated hospital systems / gate keeping DPMs prevent young grads from furthering in the field.

I wish APMA BOD nothing but good vibes, but please for the sake of our profession stop with the corruption, conflict of interest, and eating the young...

 

[Feli]

Honestly, there are DPM residents who will be happy switching to primary care specialities such as FM, IM, and PM&R. ...

(but yeah, some of the stuff after that makes sense)

 

[Bored Snorlax]

Yes, I eluded to the "corruption" at CPME. And I don't make that charge lightly.

Webster's defines CORRUPTION as:
A. a dishonest or illegal behavior especially by powerful people (such as government officials or police officers)
B. inducement to wrong by improper or unlawful means (such as bribery)
C. a departure from the original or from what is pure or correct

IMO, the actions of individuals on CPME, and the organization as a whole, meets this definition.

Here are a couple relevant examples:

Example 1 (Samuel Merritt failure to meet outcomes standards):
- In 2022, Samuel Merritt had a 69% pass rate on the APMLE Part 1. That, was at the time, below the CPME standard for school accreditation.
- In Oct 2023, CPME announced that Samuel Merritt was in noncompliance with the standards.
- In 2024, CPME voted to change the standard for accreditation to a 3-year average of passing instead of first-time pass rate (as reported by USMLE and COMLEX). Dr. Eric Stamps, then Dean of Samuel Merritt, was a Council Member.
- After that vote, I wrote to CPME and asked who was present for this meeting and if anyone recused themselves. They are required by their Bylaws to record recusals. CPME responded that the information was not public and refused to answer the question.
- In April 2024, CPME announced that Samuel Merritt was in full compliance with all standards.
- Then in 2025, (I have heard the number same as has been stated on SDN) Samuel Merritt pass rate is supposedly 21%

IMO, if true, this is an emergency. Yet, it is unclear if CPME will even act on this information.

Example 2 (CPME's failure to report COIs and acting on other interests):
- In June 2023, ABPM submitted an official complaint to CPME (attached PDF) against the Council itself for failing to follow its Bylaws and failing to follow its conflicts of interest (COI) policies. The complaint contained 17 separate complaints against the CPME and Members of the Council and 94 pages of evidence. This included a complaint that the chair of the SBRC (committee overseeing specialty boards) served in a position of duality, as a member of the ABFAS Exam Committee. How can this person chair the committee overseeing the certifying boards when she writes the exam for one of the two recognized certifying boards? It's a clear COI.
- CPME convened a "Complaint Panel" and responded in August 2023 that they could find nothing improper.
- In March 2025, several members of ABPM's BOD submitted a Bylaws Amendment to the APMA HOD which would have required CPME Council and Committee members to publicly report their COIs.
- CPME told the HOD that they are not required to publicly disclose COIs. But after significant pressure from state delegations, CPME stood before the HOD and said that they would start public disclosure. After this commitment from CPME, the sponsors of the Bylaws Amendment agreed to withdraw the proposed Amendment.
- CPME started disclosing their conflicts here. (I don't know the exact date they started this). But they explicitly excluded any committee work on behalf of organizations, even organizations they oversee, like ABFAS. JT Marcoux disclosed a conflict with ABFAS since he was on the Board of Directors.
- On Sept 1, 2025, I wrote a letter to CPME stating that their disclosure was insufficient and provided several references of Council Members and SBRC Members having positions of duality with ABFAS. I gave them 14 days to respond, they haven't yet. But if they do not start complying with what they committed to at the HOD, I will be resubmitting the Bylaws Amendment forcing them to publicly disclose their actual and perceived COIs.

Unfortunately, there are many more examples of corrupt actions that we have collected over the recent years.

So many of podiatry's issues are rooted in the CPME failing to perform its job in the profession and the public's best interests. The Council is a self-elected body. So there is no way for the profession to remove or replace members of the Council.

But, the APMA does hire the Executive Director of the CPME. And the BOT or the CEO of the APMA could replace the Executive Director.

The APMA can not have any control or influence over the Council's accreditation of schools. It would be a violation of federal law. However, the US Department of Education provided an opinion to the APMA BOT that they could have more control over the accreditation of residencies/fellowships, recognition of specialty boards, and approval of continuing medical education.

If the APMA wants to "save the profession," it's time we address serious issues at the CPME.

Edited 9-14-2025: Added links, letter, table, and figures. Corrected dates in Example 1

LCR coming in hot. Wild that the new Texas school is already outperforming S69er on APMLE in year 1.

 

[Feli]

.... Wild that the new Texas school is already outperforming S69er on APMLE in year 1...

The newer schools always do well... they have smaller class sizes to fill.
They can be more selective on admissions when they are small.
I think the first Ariz clas or two was under 20 grads.
It's easier for students to be engaged, fewer students : pts in clinics, etc.

People like to say "they have good students at new pod school X," but all of the schools have good students...
the newer ones just don't have many/any bad students. They need to obtain full accreditation. That's all.

...The problem is that new schools almost always become regular podiatry schools.... bigger classes, lax admissions, didn't create the residencies they said they would, residency shortages with more grads, floods job market even more... all that fun. It has been that way with new pod schools again and again. The 4 new podiatry schools in 20 years is way faster than any expansion before, but we won't see the full effects until at least 10-20yrs after they open (although there was residency shortage within a few years of Western first grad class).

 

[Sybly]

And I’m the arsehole for not being an APMA member and not using my free time providing personal data to help an organization who is actively working against the best interest of all of us practicing and our profession as a whole? What a joke…

I never in my 40 years was member either . F it

 

[Mad Jack]

it’s a good point you made about the bottom tier of residencies not looking great to acgme. But I think of it as a win-win. We need to get rid of those programs anyways. And maybe with the current enrollment decreases there wouldn’t even be that much of a residency matriculation problem?

That's what happened with us DOs when we merged the systems. The weakest programs closed but all the remaining programs were strengthened in reputation

 

[DarkPathMedicine]

I never in my 40 years was member either . F it

I knew about the organization when they came and spoke during podiatry school about the APMA-PAC. As soon as they asked for donations, I was like heck no. I was never a member and don't ever see the need to.