Interesting FPMB registered DPM counts by state

[Bored Snorlax]

Advertisement - Members don't see this ad

I came across the FPMB registered DPM counts by state and the distribution was more concentrated than I expected.

Federation of Podiatric Medical Boards > Resources > Member Boards Info

Top 10 states

NY: 2,448
CA: 2,194
FL: 2,096
PA: 1,504
NJ: 1,332
TX: 1,252
IL: 1,192
OH: 1,011
MI: 757
GA: 613

U.S. states/DC total: 23,405 registered DPM licenses.

What stood out to me was that the top 10 states make up about 61.5% of the U.S. states/DC registered DPM license total. Texas also stood out a little given its population size.

Caveat is that this is registered licenses, not necessarily unique active practicing DPMs. FPMB notes the data is voluntarily reported by boards, and some state notes define active/inactive/temp licenses differently.

Thought it was an interesting rough snapshot. Curious how others interpret it.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Update after helpful clarification: The 23,405 figure is registered state licenses, not unique active practicing DPMs, and is inflated by multi-state licensure.

The more useful workforce layer appears to be FTE practicing DPMs. APMA’s current modeling estimate shared below is about 15,200 full-time equivalent (FTE) podiatrists (as of 5/26/26) working out of about 19,500 sites, using NPPES/CMS practice-location data, NPI resolution, and statistical modeling across multiple sources.

 

[Feli]

I would say it stands out a bit that there are now more podiatrists licensed than practicing ortho (all types), derm, ENT, plastics, uro, cardiology... almost more than Gen Surg? Heck, the only ones with more than podiatry are primary care docs for their patients (IM, FP, Peds, ER, OB, psych) or generalists of sorts (ER, anesthesia, radiology).

Podiatry now has more people to cut nails and do foot wounds and amps than Ortho needs for head-to-toe trauma, arthritis. We have FAR more out practicing than specialists like ENT and ophtho and uro who do a limited part of the body and a bit of surgery. And we wonder why our surgery volume is low, income and demand for our services are so comparitively low? Wonder why we are taking crusty low pay jobs those other specialties would laugh at?

It's pretty crazy... and getting worse each year. Loan burden goes up, demand declines. Sure, a few DPM grads will do well, but many flounder... decades of debt. It makes no sense - especially when what we do as podiatrists has overlap (ortho, gen surg, RNs, orthotists, pedicurists, etc).

.

 

[de Ribas]

I would say it stands out a bit that there are now more podiatrists licensed than practicing ortho (all types), derm, ENT, plastics, uro, cardiology... almost more than Gen Surg? Heck, the only ones with more than podiatry are primary care docs for their patients (IM, FP, Peds, ER, OB, psych) or generalists of sorts (ER, anesthesia, radiology).

Podiatry now has more people to cut nails and do foot wounds and amps than Ortho needs for head-to-toe trauma, arthritis. We have FAR more out practicing than specialists like ENT and ophtho and uro who do a limited part of the body and a bit of surgery. And we wonder why our surgery volume is low, income and demand for our services are so comparitively low? Wonder why we are taking crusty low pay jobs those other specialties would laugh at?

It's pretty crazy... and getting worse each year. Loan burden goes up, demand declines. Sure, a few DPM grads will do well, but many flounder... decades of debt. It makes no sense - especially when what we do as podiatrists has overlap (ortho, gen surg, RNs, orthotists, pedicurists, etc).

View attachment 418296

.

View attachment 418303

It is absolutely crazy. This needs to be provided to all DPM applicants.

 

[deleted1235332]

Ideally we would have half of that practicing. We are very saturated.

 

[Boba Foot]

Texas is full and you probably won't like it, so don't come here.

 

[heybrother]

Texas is full and you probably won't like it, so don't come here.

Its funny because if you take the statistics at face value, the DPM/population ratio is quite a bit more favorable than several other states. That said - yeah, so full. There's anothe DPM who is supposed to be coming to my town and I thank God every day that he keeps flaking.

 

[Bored Snorlax]

Its funny because if you take the statistics at face value, the DPM/population ratio is quite a bit more favorable than several other states. That said - yeah, so full. There's anothe DPM who is supposed to be coming to my town and I thank God every day that he keeps flaking.

Agreed. DPM/pop by state or metro is probably the better next layer than raw license counts.

Texas is full and you probably won't like it, so don't come here.

TX can’t be officially full until LCR signs my copy of Atomic Shark.

 

[diabeticfootdr]

I came across the FPMB registered DPM counts by state and the distribution was more concentrated than I expected.

Federation of Podiatric Medical Boards > Resources > Member Boards Info

Top 10 states

NY: 2,448
CA: 2,194
FL: 2,096
PA: 1,504
NJ: 1,332
TX: 1,252
IL: 1,192
OH: 1,011
MI: 757
GA: 613

U.S. states/DC total: 23,405 registered DPM licenses.

What stood out to me was that the top 10 states make up about 61.5% of the U.S. states/DC registered DPM license total. Texas also stood out a little given its population size.

Caveat is that this is registered licenses, not necessarily unique active practicing DPMs. FPMB notes the data is voluntarily reported by boards, and some state notes define active/inactive/temp licenses differently.

Thought it was an interesting rough snapshot. Curious how others interpret it.

Some people are licensed in multiple states. The number of actual practicing podiatrists is much lower. APMA says there are about 18,000. BLM says 9400.

But BLM data (for income at least) is based on the self-identified "Occupation" field of your 1040 form.

 

[diabeticfootdr]

TX can’t be officially full until LCR signs my copy of Atomic Shark.

Atomic Shark is the bomb ya'll! IYKYK

Certainly having a "Parasailor #2" autographed copy will dramatically increase the value and you might even be able to retire early.

Fun fact. That movie made me SAG-eligible with the line: "Look! Shark!"

 

[Bored Snorlax]

Some people are licensed in multiple states. The number of actual practicing podiatrists is much lower. APMA says there are about 18,000. BLM says 9400.

But BLM data (for income at least) is based on the self-identified "Occupation" field of your 1040 form.

View attachment 418319

Appreciate the clarification. Multi-state licensure def inflates the registered license number, and the APMA vs BLS gap is interesting.

Atomic Shark is the bomb ya'll! IYKYK

Certainly having a "Parasailor #2" autographed copy will dramatically increase the value and you might even be able to retire early.

Fun fact. That movie made me SAG-eligible with the line: "Look! Shark!"

Haha now I’m bullish on the Parasailor #2 memorabilia market. DPM/pop by metro is officially my backup retirement plan.

 

[sdupre_apma]

Thanks for weighing in here Lee and all! So, I spent a fair amount of time this year doing workforce modeling on this topic for APMA, balancing public FPMB data, historical APMA internal data, NPPES data, and BLM data. The standing estimate from APMA is ~15,200 full-time equivalent (FTE) podiatrists working out of ~19,500 sites. This is based on reported NPPES/CMS practice (not billing) locations, NPI number resolution, and statistical modeling that incorporated the specific-and-accepted strengths and weaknesses of the various sources.

The "FTE" aspect here is key. 18,000 is relatively close to where the total number of anyone on the NPI registry who reports a podiatric specialty, etc. puts things. That said, if you have someone who's 95, they're very unlikely to be working a full caseload (god, I hope not for their sakes) and shouldn't be considered as being equivalent (for competition, availability, etc) to a practicing mid-career DPM. As a for-instance in our modeling, if you have two people who are both working 50% time, they'd equate to a single FTE provider. Fairly standard in labor modeling.

Either way, all statistics are wrong, etc etc, but I think those estimates above are pretty decent when it comes down to it.

 

[deleted1218629]

Once the Optimus nursing/home care program begins with an optional dremel attachment, the numbers will fall.

 

[Feli]

....

The "FTE" aspect here is key. 18,000 is relatively close to where the total number of anyone on the NPI registry who reports a podiatric specialty, etc. puts things. That said, if you have someone who's 95, they're very unlikely to be working a full caseload (god, I hope not for their sakes) and shouldn't be considered as being equivalent (for competition, availability, etc) to a practicing mid-career DPM. As a for-instance in our modeling, if you have two people who are both working 50% time, they'd equate to a single FTE provider. Fairly standard in labor modeling.

Either way, all statistics are wrong, etc etc, but I think those estimates above are pretty decent when it comes down to it.

Another thing to consider is that many hospital podiatrists have RN, NP, etc... they're producing well over 1.0 fte productivity. This is catching on in some office, home podiatrist, and supergroup settings also.

That's a new thing becoming increasingly common, yet was not available to most even 10 years ago.

 

[Sybly]

I would say it stands out a bit that there are now more podiatrists licensed than practicing ortho (all types), derm, ENT, plastics, uro, cardiology... almost more than Gen Surg? Heck, the only ones with more than podiatry are primary care docs for their patients (IM, FP, Peds, ER, OB, psych) or generalists of sorts (ER, anesthesia, radiology).

Podiatry now has more people to cut nails and do foot wounds and amps than Ortho needs for head-to-toe trauma, arthritis. We have FAR more out practicing than specialists like ENT and ophtho and uro who do a limited part of the body and a bit of surgery. And we wonder why our surgery volume is low, income and demand for our services are so comparitively low? Wonder why we are taking crusty low pay jobs those other specialties would laugh at?

It's pretty crazy... and getting worse each year. Loan burden goes up, demand declines. Sure, a few DPM grads will do well, but many flounder... decades of debt. It makes no sense - especially when what we do as podiatrists has overlap (ortho, gen surg, RNs, orthotists, pedicurists, etc).

View attachment 418296

.

View attachment 418303

Podiatry answer more schools

 

[Bored Snorlax]

Appreciate the clarification from @diabeticfootdr and @sdupre_apma. I edited the OP to better distinguish registered state licenses from unique active practicing DPMs. The APMA estimate of about 15,200 FTE podiatrists appears to be the better layer for actual workforce discussion.

 

[Toenail]

Another thing to consider is that many hospital podiatrists have RN, NP, etc... they're producing well over 1.0 fte productivity. This is catching on in some office, home podiatrist, and supergroup settings also.

That's a new thing becoming increasingly common, yet was not available to most even 10 years ago.

Yes exactly. Instead of hiring anymore pods (even non op), we are getting foot care RNs and also APPs to see post ops.

 

[Feli]

Appreciate the clarification from @diabeticfootdr and @sdupre_apma. I edited the OP to better distinguish registered state licenses from unique active practicing DPMs. The APMA estimate of about 15,200 FTE podiatrists appears to be the better layer for actual workforce discussion.

It's not state licenses (state)... it's NPI (federal... can only have one).

Many DPMs have multiple state licenses. You'd probably have 30k or 40k or even more if you did it that way and counted active state licenses.
Pretty much any employed pod will tend to hold a few state licenses... for other options, work in offices on a state border, etc. I think I usually had 2-5 at any given time (current state I was working + any ones where I wanted to seriously look for jobs). When I was in supergroup, we had to have license in the state we practiced... as well as another state license for billing of the "path lab" nonsense (license where the "lab was). It's really only owners/partners who will tend to have just one state license... and even some of them hold multiple.

What he's trying to imply is that about 3000 of 18,000 pods have active NPI but aren't seeing any/many patients. That may or may not be true. Personally, I don't buy that 15% or more of NPIs are inactive... not even close. For true inactives, you will have the rare ones recently injured or deceased or retired who show up as active NPI, but that does not last long. NPI is free, but it seems like a waste of time to update/renew after awhile. I will sure let mine expire once I retired from seeing patients (NPI needs to be verified and updated roughly annual). Nearly anyone does.

Just making a WAG or saying some NPI holders are old doesn't disqualify them. Some pretty old podiatrists still work; I have seen DPMs in their 80s practicing full time a few times (sad). It's not uncommon in 70s, at all.

Mainly, realize where the sponsorship came from and that the entire point of the "survey" was to make the stats look favorable for more demand, more DPMs, more schools, all that. It is what it is. So, make your sips on the kool aid infrequent and circumspect. 🙂

 

[deleted1235332]

I believe the 3,000 inactive NPI’s. young podiatrists realize this field is trash and leave it 1-5 years in actual practice

 

[Sole Badguy]

I think employed pods are going to be found on a parabolic curve.
- Early-career pods are going to be stuck practicing and being miserable for quite a while. How else are they going to pay off their student loans? I'd anticipate that most active NPIs are going to be here because of that.
- Late-career pods are those who struck gold in their practice setup. They're gonna stick around like a bad rash and milk the profession for all it's worth by practicing as long as they're able. Maybe do some talks on the side at this point in their careers, dispense some pearls lol
- That leaves the mid-career pod; likely burnt out and ready to GTFO the field after they pay off their loans and secure some other source of income. This is where I suspect most inactive NPIs are going to be.