Can Podiatrists hir PA's?

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Just a general question I was wondering if podiatrists can hire PA's for their own private practice?

 

[Feli]

Of course they can... I plan to do it if I end up somewhere I don't have resident coverage. DPMs who have PAs in their group is fairly common... though probably not as common as for ortho, plastics, etc.

On most surgical services (g-surg, vasc, ortho, pod, etc etc), residents are usually the ones assigned to seeing clinic pts, rounding, writing pei-op notes, assisting in surgery, etc. Well, for private practice groups that don't have resident coverage, they often use PA or NPs for those functions. A surgical PA's job basically amounts to permanent 1st or 2nd year resident sorts of duties, but they typically make about twice what resident would make. On the flip side, the resident will eventually become an attending, but the surgery PAs have little room for advancement of duties/income.

 

[diabeticfootdr]

Just a general question I was wondering if podiatrists can hire PA's for their own private practice?

Depends what state you're in.

 

[PADPM]

Of course they can... I plan to do it if I end up somewhere I don't have resident coverage. DPMs who have PAs in their group is fairly common... though probably not as common as for ortho, plastics, etc.

On most surgical services (g-surg, vasc, ortho, pod, etc etc), residents are usually the ones assigned to seeing clinic pts, rounding, writing pei-op notes, assisting in surgery, etc. Well, for private practice groups that don't have resident coverage, they often use PA or NPs for those functions. A surgical PA's job basically amounts to permanent 1st or 2nd year resident sorts of duties, but they typically make about twice what resident would make. On the flip side, the resident will eventually become an attending, but the surgery PAs have little room for advancement of duties/income.

Feli,

I have a few follow up comments to your post. First of all, as per diabeticfootdr's post, I'm not sure if DPM's can hire PA's in all states. I think it may be dependent on each particular state, but I may be wrong. It's a topic I've never really researched.

Secondly, you stated that it's something you plan on doing if you practice in an area where there are no residents. Feli, I SINCERELY hope that this comes true. But please remember that unlike general surgeons, vascular surgeons or even orthopedic surgeons, the realistic truth is that in the MAJORITY of podiatric practices across the U.S., the daily routine is not strictly a day filled with surgical cases. Once again, I hope if that's the kind of practice you want (just like every other surgical resident) that's what you get, but please be realistic and prepared to also provide the full scope of podiatric care.

Not all patients want or need surgery, and unless you are going to be hired by a group looking for someone to perform only surgery, you'll be a very disappointed doc. And if you open your own practice, you'll have to offer a full scope of services to pay your bills, and hiring a PA will certainly not be in your budget for quite a while, though I hope it does happen for you and your goals come to fruition.

And finally, you state that DPM's that have PA's in their group is fairly common, though in my 20+ years of practice and traveling all over the country speaking at seminars and speaking with a lot of DPM's, I've personally never met one DPM that's self employed or in a group that's employed a PA.

I really don't believe it's very common in our profession. I do believe that a lot of offices employ "podiatric assistants", which is completely different.

 

[Feli]

Feli

...you state that DPM's that have PA's in their group is fairly common, though in my 20+ years of practice and traveling all over the country speaking at seminars and speaking with a lot of DPM's, I've personally never met one DPM that's self employed or in a group that's employed a PA.

I really don't believe it's very common in our profession. I do believe that a lot of offices employ "podiatric assistants", which is completely different.

You are absolutely right that DPMs (solo or group) hiring pod asst, med asst, LPNs, RNs, etc is a lot more common due to cost, but I have seen groups with DPMs and PAs. I found a few readily by googling (although most physician group sites only list physicians, not midlevels).Yes, they are usually multispec or ortho groups that have PAs who assist multiple physicians in the group, but I think it will be an increasing trend... even for just groups of multiple surgical DPMs (no MDs). Esp when you consider that schools like Barry, Samuel Merritt, and others have PAs and DPMs taking similar/same courses and seeing eachother on hosp rotations, it will likely end up that some practice together.

When you think about it, a $65-80k/yr PA/NP is much more autonomous at 1.5-2x the cost of RN... although that does mean 3-5x the cost of LPN or MA. You certainly wound't hire a PA to cut nails, take XR, take histories on new patients, etc... but to do some inpatient rounding, clinic follow-ups, first assisting in the OR, or maybe even some ER call for minor lac/sprain/etc stuff (assuming state laws permitted)? Might be more cost effective than cycling through low paid associate after associate (reapeat 10 more times) the way some DPMs or DPM groups currently do. PAs are still a relatively new addition to health care teams, but they are opening new programs to meet increasing demands. Currently, over half of PAs are employed directly by physicians (as opposed to hosp/clinics/etc). It's clear that other specialists are utilizing them, so why not us? I think that some foreward thinking multispec, ortho, g-surg, DPM, etc groups have jumped on the trend, and more will certainly follow.

For LCR's comments about state laws, I believe he is referring to state-by-state scope limiting autonomy of PAs, correct? (can they sign hosp orders without co-signer? can they write all Rx? see clinic pts without physician in clinic building? can they bill decent for that stuff? etc?). I don't see any reason that a DPM couldn't hire a PA in any US state (provided they had the funding to do it), but the state law probably would limit how autonomous/useful they could be and what parts of the billing books they can utilize.

 

[diabeticfootdr]

For LCR's comments about state laws, I believe he is referring to state-by-state scope limiting autonomy of PAs, correct? (can they sign hosp orders without co-signer? can they write all Rx? see clinic pts without physician in clinic building? can they bill decent for that stuff? etc?). I don't see any reason that a DPM couldn't hire a PA in any US state (provided they had the funding to do it), but the state law probably would limit how autonomous/useful they could be and what parts of the billing books they can utilize.

Partly correct. Yes, you may be hiring a PA so that they can provide care "with supervision", they can never have full autonomy. However, the definition of supervision depends on state law as well. It may be discussing the case and signing the charts or in some cases direct supervision.

But, some states limit PA to be under the supervision of an MD or DO. Others say "physician". Regardless, if a DPM hires a PA, they would be limited to your scope of practice, since you are the supervisor. They couldn't treat diabetes, colds, etc.

After all that, I think hiring a PA is a great idea. I also know of some wound specialty practices, usually academic, that have a PA or NP.

Consider it from a practice management standpoint. To be most efficient and profitable, you (the doctor) should never be seeing a patient without billing them. So if your PA is seeing the post-op patients, inpatient rounds, follow ups in global, it can make your practice more cost efficient - even if the PA costs you $70-80/year.

The Georgetown group has 2 midlevels, I forget if they are NPs or PAs, but they are very useful for pre-op H&P, post-op care, even simple debridements. I think their midlevel has their own Friday clinic too.

It is something I will consider as I become more clinically busy.

 

[NatCh]

I've seen multispecialty and ortho groups with PA's but I've never seen a pod group with PA's. I'm not saying it can't be done, but I just haven't seen it. It seems like it would be unnecessarily expensive for the typical podiatry practice, but there's probably some scenario out there that could make it work.

In an academic setting it might be common for someone other than the primary surgeon to follow-up on the patient post-operatively, but in a private setting it leaves a bad impression if the patient never sees the primary surgeon again. It might save you money in the short term but eventually negative word of mouth can hurt your practice.

You could hire a PA to be your first assist at $65K-$80K expense, but the Scrub Techs are accustomed to acting as first assist at no expense to you. Or, you and a colleague could collaborate, assist one another, and each of you could actually make money in assistant's fees rather than paying for help.

 

[PADPM]

As per Natch's post, I simply have never seen a DPM in practice, solo or group that employed a physician assistant or nurse practitioner.

I also know of very few practices that are too busy to make their own rounds, see their own pre or post op patients, etc. I'm referring to private practices, NOT academic or hospital based practices.

In today's economy, it's my personal opinion that coming up with the funds to hire a physicians assistant to perform the tasks that were mentioned may not be applicable for the majority of podiatric practices that I've been exposed to in the past. I've seen large orthopedic and surgical groups that employ PA's, but frankly, I don't know many or any podiatric groups generating the kind of surgical load or volume where they have to delegate pre op visits, post op visits, rounds, etc., to another person other than the treating doctor or an associate or partner.

And please remember I'm speaking as a member of a very large practice with over a dozen doctors generating a significant number of surgical cases weekly.

I'll once again repeat that although most grads would love to have a surgery only practice, it's MY belief that when you hit the "real world", you will realize that in order to survive, you may have to offer your patients more than just surgical care. When you enter private practice, you may only perform 1-2 surgeries a week for a while, and may not have ANY patients in house for "rounds".

From a simply practice management standpoint, you will always generate your greatest amount of income in your office treating patients. Having patients "in house" is really not very cost effective, since it takes you away from your office. You don't get paid for your travel to the hospital or from the hospital back to your office. The fee generated for treating/seeing your patient in the hospital is nominal compared to the fees that could have been generated in your office at that same time.

So although it's great to have in-patients and stay active with that side of your practice, you will quickly learn that paying your bills becomes difficult the more you're actually away from your office.

Residency training is a very protected but often unrealistic environment. As a resident you are able to spend your time performing surgical procedures, treating in house patients, staying up to date with academic trends and new technologies, etc., but some times I believe that residents can be out of touch with the reality of "real" podiatric practice, and the fact that not all patients walk in the door asking for surgery or needing surgery.

All of us in private practice sure WISH it was that easy!!

As I've said in the past, there are a lot of great young DPM's coming out with excellent training. There are only a finite number of hospital positions and orthopedic groups hiring each year.

That means that some of you will end up opening on your own, working as an associate, etc., but may not end up with a position that is strictly surgcial or quite as "glorious" as you hoped. You will still be able to be successful and will still be able to use your skills. But you will also be providing a broader scope of services than you may have anticipated.

 

[Feli]

...From a simply practice management standpoint, you will always generate your greatest amount of income in your office treating patients. Having patients "in house" is really not very cost effective, since it takes you away from your office. You don't get paid for your travel to the hospital or from the hospital back to your office. The fee generated for treating/seeing your patient in the hospital is nominal compared to the fees that could have been generated in your office at that same time...

Maybe it's just the area I'm in, but it seems the docs doing consults/rounds at multiple hospitals, wound care centers, etc are doing very well. The other guys doing a lot of office and elective surgery are doing pretty well also, and so are the ones focused on doing RF recon/trauma call.

Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think the DPMs doing mostly consults and wounds would choose that over elective outpatient HAV/hammertoes/neuromas or over Lisfrancs/ankles/Achilles tears/etc. Yes, everybody does a balance, but it seems that each carves out somewhat of a niche. My assumption was that the consults/wounds must be paid pretty darn well for those who choose to have a high % of their time focused on those areas. At any rate, I'm glad to see they're all making ends meet and hardly any DPMs around here - young or old, RRA or just FF, smooth businessmen or more reserved - appear to be struggling very much for pts/income.

 

[NatCh]

I suppose another angle that we could look at this is that if you were busy enough and saw the need to hire a PA, then would it be better to hire a DPM?

The DPM already knows our language and procedures, so he or she would not need you to train him or her as you would the PA. Even a DPM without Residency knows how to do podiatry more than a PA just out of PA school.

The DPM can practice autonomously so he or she could cover your call when you are out and function pretty much to your capacity. Although most of you on this forum are expecting more than $65K-$80K, I'm sure there are still plenty of DPM's who would accept that range as a base salary.

So for the same amount of money you can hire someone who probably knows more, can do more, and doesn't need to be brought up to speed. Plus you could keep a colleague employed.

 

[diabeticfootdr]

I suppose another angle that we could look at this is that if you were busy enough and saw the need to hire a PA, then would it be better to hire a DPM?

The DPM can practice autonomously so he or she could cover your call when you are out and function pretty much to your capacity.

NatCh is talking good sense here!

 

[PADPM]

Feli,

I agree with everything you stated in your last post. I'm not saying that those types of practices don't exist, nor am I saying or questioning that those practices aren't making a good living.

The point that I've been attempting to hammer home on this forum is that relatively recently, there was a disparity regarding levels of training in our profession. The "big" cases were reserved for those with the "better" training and that created groups across the country to create some niche practices.

In essence, these practices were better trained than their local colleagues and were able to capitalize on that fact, thus creating the ability to perform the more complicated cases on a regular basis and have a much stronger and consistent hospital presence. Naturally, a good income follows these numbers.

However, as the numbers of very well trained 36 month residents grows and the number of foot/ankle orthopedists grows (although that trend may be slowing down), the number of complicated cases available will become saturated in comparison with only a few years ago....in MY opinion.

The VERY well trained podiatric surgeon will now be the rule, not the exception as it was a short time ago, and the competition for the complicated cases will get a little tougher.

That's the only reason I keep "preaching" that although the opportunity is there for all of you to obtain amazing surgical training, please remember that the reality is that you may not always be performing surgery. As each year goes by, the fact remains that you may no longer be the only guy on the block or in town that has that specialty training to perform ankle and/or reconstructive rearfoot cases.

Until recently, I was happy to receive referrals from other DPM's from long distances to perform surgery for them because I was the only one around that would take on those cases. Now I can probably drive 5 miles and pass 5 docs with excellent skills that can perform the same surgery.

Times have certainly changed. It's been great for the profession, but my greatest concern is whether the graduating residents will be able to deal with the fact that despite the excellent training, there may not always be enough "major" cases to always keep you busy and that you may have to actually practice "podiatry" to survive.......which 'ain't so bad!

P.S. Natch's idea is "spot on".

 

[krabmas]

I suppose another angle that we could look at this is that if you were busy enough and saw the need to hire a PA, then would it be better to hire a DPM?

The DPM already knows our language and procedures, so he or she would not need you to train him or her as you would the PA. Even a DPM without Residency knows how to do podiatry more than a PA just out of PA school.

The DPM can practice autonomously so he or she could cover your call when you are out and function pretty much to your capacity. Although most of you on this forum are expecting more than $65K-$80K, I'm sure there are still plenty of DPM's who would accept that range as a base salary.

So for the same amount of money you can hire someone who probably knows more, can do more, and doesn't need to be brought up to speed. Plus you could keep a colleague employed.

IMO - The DPM willing to slave for $65-$80 doesn't know what they are worth, and is this going to be the well trained DPM that you want working in your practice?

The PA will never become partner and can take call for you, you would only need to "come in" if the patient needed imediate surgery.

 

[NatCh]

IMO - The DPM willing to slave for $65-$80 doesn't know what they are worth, and is this going to be the well trained DPM that you want working in your practice?

The PA will never become partner and can take call for you, you would only need to "come in" if the patient needed imediate surgery.

I said $65K-$80K as a base, which is different than $65K-$80K total, but yes, I would consider that DPM. Believe it or not there are DPM's who were trained prior to 2009 who know what they're doing and don't have expectations of $150K+ as an employee.

Frankly I would rather hire someone who had a few years of practice under his or her belt and had some concept of practice management over someone who was just finishing Residency and feels that by virtue of having 36 months of training he or she was hot stuff to be worshiped.

A DPM would not need to be trained in podiatry as would the PA. If you were so busy that you needed more clinicians, would you want to take the time to teach a PA podiatry when a DPM already knows how?

It is preferable to find a Partner rather than maintain a high-salary employee.

The main reason I would hire a DPM over a PA though is that I would want to help a colleague. You guys may not understand the reasoning behind this concept, but it's a matter of taking care of your own.

 

[PADPM]

NatCH,

I certainly understand your entire concept and your ideas, but I'm afraid that some of the current residents believe exactly what you have stated;

"someone who was just finishing Residency and feels that by virtue of having 36 months of training he or she was hot stuff to be worshiped."

That's why I say over and over again that I'm afraid many of these residents are going to either be very disappointed or will be taking anti-depressants when the reality hits that they won't ALL be making $150,000 upon completion of their programs and that they won't ALL be performing major rearfoot reconstructive cases/ankle cases and treating trauma cases all week long.

There a lot of patients seeking podiatric care on a daily basis that don't want or don't need surgery, and I'll be happy if you'd like to send them to my office. Although I perform just about any surgery you can imagine, there is no patient that walks into my office that I turn away, other than those seeking drugs with no legitimate medical/surgical problem.

But maybe that's why our practice is successful and busy. Patients know that they can count on us no matter how trivial or complicated a problem is....they don't have to think about who to call. It's one stop shopping.

You're all trained to do EVERYTHING, don't limit yourself.

 

[krabmas]

NatCH,

I certainly understand your entire concept and your ideas, but I'm afraid that some of the current residents believe exactly what you have stated;

"someone who was just finishing Residency and feels that by virtue of having 36 months of training he or she was hot stuff to be worshiped."

That's why I say over and over again that I'm afraid many of these residents are going to either be very disappointed or will be taking anti-depressants when the reality hits that they won't ALL be making $150,000 upon completion of their programs and that they won't ALL be performing major rearfoot reconstructive cases/ankle cases and treating trauma cases all week long.

There a lot of patients seeking podiatric care on a daily basis that don't want or don't need surgery, and I'll be happy if you'd like to send them to my office. Although I perform just about any surgery you can imagine, there is no patient that walks into my office that I turn away, other than those seeking drugs with no legitimate medical/surgical problem.

But maybe that's why our practice is successful and busy. Patients know that they can count on us no matter how trivial or complicated a problem is....they don't have to think about who to call. It's one stop shopping.

You're all trained to do EVERYTHING, don't limit yourself.

No disrespect to you or Natch, but I think you read into the posts and assume too much that all or most newly graduating residents are arrogant and expect to be doing surgery all the time.

Do I like doing surgery? yes. Do I also enjoy talking to patients in the clinic, explaining to them their pathology, course of conservative treatment and eventual surgical intervention if necessary? yes

Unfortunately our residencies are only 3 years long and many do not have good clinical rotations. SO we talk about what we do at the moment on a daily basis. I think we are all pretty aware that we will not be doing surgery everyday. We need some time to see pre-op and post-ops.

But, just because this may be the reality, it doesn't mean that we should settle or lessen our dreams. Dream big, accept reality.

 

[PADPM]

krabmas,

I'm not sure who's the one that's "reading into the posts too much". If there's one thing I never do, and that's an emphatic "never", it's "assume" anything.

And I certainly don't "assume" that you or any of your colleagues are arrogant. But I'm constantly reading posts such as some of the responses on this thread regarding having a PA seeing your (I'm using "your" in the third person, not speaking about you per se), pre op patients, post op patients, seeing your in house patients, making "rounds" for you, seeing your ER patients, etc.

When I read these posts I often wonder whether these residents REALLY understand that the overwhelming majority of podiatric practices simply aren't set up that way. It's not a matter of arrogance, it's simply a matter of what you are exposed to as a resident.

During many residency programs you are exposed to some "big hitters" that perform a large volume of cases and/or a wide variety of cases. However, there may be a significant number of podiatric practices within that same geographic area performing a small number of cases. Often, strong residency programs exist BECAUSE of these doctors that are bringing in the big numbers and big cases. But this isn't necessarily reflective of the total picture of what's happening in the everyday practice across the country.

Although you may be exposed to a practice that is strictly surgical or a practice that always has a few patients in house, or a practice that has ER on-call, etc., that may not be the case with the remaining 95% of the practices in the country, and certainly may not be the case if you open your own practice.

There will ALWAYS be exceptions to every rule. I know of practices that perform 20 surgeries weekly and I know of practices that don't perform 20 surgeries in 2 years. And it all depends on what you decide you want to do in practice.

As I've repeated many times on this forum, I'm part of a very large practice, and I used to have ER call but have voluntarily decided not to have that "privilege" any more. I perform the full spectrum of surgeries, though not all my partners do at the present time. I'm not "crazy" about treating wounds, but one of the members of our practice loves wound care. I don't have great training in pediatric disorders, but one of our docs sees almost all peds cases.

So my point has nothing to do with my belief that present residents are "arrogant". I believe that today's residents have an unbelievable opportunity and amazing training to build upon the basics.

However, I'm also afraid that some, yes some of these residents may forget that they are often exposed to a small percentage of DPM's that provide the majority of cases during their training and don't realize that those DPM's may not be representative of the "average" podiatric practice in this country. And although it's great to emulate those practices, the formula to build that type of practice isn't always easy.

I just don't want any graduate of one of these programs to think he/she is a failure if he/she enters practice and has to perform the full scope of podiatric medicine and surgery and not just major cases.

It's very easy to get caught up in the "glamour" of surgery. It's challenging, rewarding and exciting.

 

[Dr 14220]

Also, I'm not sure PAs or NPs would flock to work in Podiatry. Keep in mind that orthopedic jobs for these folks are plentiful and often the pay exceeds 100k/year.

 

[cool_vkb]

Unfortunately our residencies are only 3 years long and many do not have good clinical rotations. SO we talk about what we do at the moment on a daily basis. I think we are all pretty aware that we will not be doing surgery everyday. We need some time to see pre-op and post-ops.

do you mean they should be more long?

i know the MD surgical specialities are usually 4-5yrs long but arent we already getting a good exposure in our 3rd and 4th years onwards?so that should also contribute.

i was speaking to a fourth year med student about Plantar fascitis and HAV. he had no idea about the diagnosng techniques (pain at the med tubercle of calcanenus) or treatment options (non surgical and surgical),etc etc. but we in 3rd year know everything about foot pathologies (atleast theory wise). so i was thinking because we already get heavily exposed to podiatry stuff in the last two yrs of school then 3rys of residency isnt bad.

the MD people dont exactly focus on one single speciality in school. sure they might do electives but its not like they had days of lectures on Nail pathology or classes on tinea pedis or semester long class on just foot surgery or eye surgery plus clinical rotations . may be thats why they take like 4-5 yrs to specialize as they have to start from scratch.

 

[NatCh]

Also, I'm not sure PAs or NPs would flock to work in Podiatry. Keep in mind that orthopedic jobs for these folks are plentiful and often the pay exceeds 100k/year.

Excellent point. If they had wanted to do podiatry they probably would have gone to podiatry school.

 

[dropfoot]

I was just at my F.P. doctor this morning (she is a D.O). This is the first time in my 41 years that i have seen a P.A. in a family practice business (usually just M.A.'s). The reason that i bring this up is because my idiot logic has always told me: who would want to hire a P.A. for 65,000 +, when you can hire a M.A. at a much lower cost???

 

[smartman716]

I was just at my F.P. doctor this morning (she is a D.O). This is the first time in my 41 years that i have seen a P.A. in a family practice business (usually just M.A.'s). The reason that i bring this up is because my idiot logic has always told me: who would want to hire a P.A. for 65,000 +, when you can hire a M.A. at a much lower cost???

It may be because of what state you're in. Where I live, PA's are very common. PA's have a Masters degree in Medical Science or Physician Assisting, while Medical Assistants have a post-high school diploma credit or certificate. The scope of practice of a medical assistant is in no way close to that of a PA, neither is the depth nor breadth of their medical or surgical knowledge. It is a very common misconception to assume that medical assistants (MAs) are physician assistants (PAs)

 

[smartman716]

...and vice versa.

 

[NatCh]

The Physician Assistant is far more highly trained than the Medical Assistant. The PA can function similarly to the physician but with the physician's oversight. The PA can manage patients on his or her own without the doctor in the room. The doctor can then later sign off on the charts.

The MA, on the other hand, assists the physician with functions such as making phone calls, preparing injections, rooming the patient, turning over the room, taking vitals, etc. The MA is not trained or permitted to do a patient workup and treatment.

The PA therefore commands a higher salary because he or she his more highly trained and can manage a patient from start to finish without the physician being there in the room, therefore allowing the physician to see other patients.

 

[boothorp]

I live in Michigan and I see lots of PAs and NPs working in family practices. In fact, the doctor I see has a PA and a NP working with him.

 

[PADPM]

I agree that both PA's and NP's are extremely common in my geographic area among MD's and DO's. Many groups also utilize their services while making rounds to take the burden off paper work in the hospital.

I think it's safe to say that family practices/general practitioners, pediatricians and internal medicine practices probably utilize NP's and PA's the most, and ob-gyn practices also utilize these services quite a bit.

The general surgical practices that I know of that utilize the services of a PA usually have the PA almost as a "sidekick" that is constantly at the surgeon's side, almost as a personal assistant with medical skills and knowledge. The PA almost acts as an intermediary between the doctor and patient when the surgeon leaves the room, the PA often finishes the exam, explains the procedure(s), answers questions, etc.

However, I can think of at least 200 podiatric practices and I know of none that employ an NP or physician assistant. I know of several that employ RN's and "podiatric assistants". I guess these practices do exist, but I know very small practices and extremely large practices, and I've yet to encounter any that employ these types of professionals. I just don't think it's a very common finding in our profession at the present time.

 

[dropfoot]

Thanks for clearing that up for me (I must not have been paying attention). On another note, it has been noted on this post that not all states allow Podiatrists to hire P.A.'s (and i am pretty sure that this is correct), but i can't seem to find anything on the state of Pennsylvania. Podiatrists have a pretty liberal scope of practice in PA but I don't think that we are allowed to employ a P.A., nor do they consider us Physicians. Can you clear this up PADPM?

 

[Sundarban1]

Thanks for clearing that up for me (I must not have been paying attention). On another note, it has been noted on this post that not all states allow Podiatrists to hire P.A.'s (and i am pretty sure that this is correct), but i can't seem to find anything on the state of Pennsylvania. Podiatrists have a pretty liberal scope of practice in PA but I don't think that we are allowed to employ a P.A., nor do they consider us Physicians. Can you clear this up PADPM?

According to the APMA scope of practice and regulations chart, only MD's and DO's can oversee PAs in Pennsylvania. DPMs may oversee radiology techs, not PAs.