APMA News - July/August 2017 - 21

in podiatry on Salary.com, virtually no matter where you look by
ZIP code, podiatry salaries in federal services are in the lowest
10-15 percent of that curve.
Podiatrists in leadership positions within the administration have been members of pay panels, making salary decisions for their medical colleagues who enjoy salaries that are,
at the very least, 40 percent greater than the top end of VHA
podiatry salaries.
Heretofore, the demographic seeking employment under
VHA [was] board-certified, seasoned professionals who came
with many years of experience and who wanted to make careers in federal services. Podiatrists currently employed by
VHA remain in the system primarily for one of two reasons:
Either they have a refined sense of purpose and wish to give
of themselves out of a sense of commitment to our veterans,
or they do so because they themselves are veterans and they
are compelled by a continued service mission, tending to the

Steven Goldman, DPM (left), poses with Rep. Brad Wenstrup, DPM
(R-OH), chair of the Subcommittee on Health.

APMA members Steven Goldman, DPM (left), and Seth Rubenstein, DPM,
testify before the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs Subcommittee
on Health.

medical needs of their comrades in arms. I have said many
times, the VHA is the only health-care system that I have ever
known where you will see a patient with one leg being pushed
to his or her appointment in a wheelchair by a patient or
volunteer with one arm, and they don't know each other.
Veterans truly get this. These good-hearted providers are getting harder to find and even harder to keep.
Podiatrists with fewer than 10 years of experience make up
66 percent of the new hires at VHA. The VHA podiatry workforce has effectively become the private sector's farm team, now
being filled by younger, often non-board-certified, providers
who seek to acquire the required case volume and diversity to
qualify to sit for their board certification examinations and, after
passing, take those skills to the private sector where they can
make a fair wage in order to repay a student debt burden that
averages, and often exceeds, $194,000. Specifically, in 2016,
only 30 percent of new hires were board-certified. Until we can
offer better compensation, this [situation] has, and will continue
to trickle down to affect patient access because skilled, board-certified, experienced practitioners can manage larger patient populations more efficiently than inexperienced, younger professionals. To make matters even worse, in 2016, the VA's average
delay in hiring a podiatrist to fill a vacant position was 14
months-that means 14 months of patients having to seek care
elsewhere, or forgo necessary foot and ankle care altogether.
Based on the Salary.com data mentioned earlier, the takeaway message is that the VA's top-performing podiatrists,
those making the highest possible salaries in the VA, are paid
about 25 percent less than the median salaries of their nonVA counterparts, and in most cases, only about half of what
the top non-VA performers earn.
In hospital leadership positions, both in the public and private sectors, podiatrists have had oversight of numerous surgical and medical subspecialties, utilizing an insight of core and
fundamental medical and surgical principles. These principles,
coupled with consultation and input from the chiefs of the respective medical and surgical colleagues they oversee, provide
for an effective leadership model. Should a podiatrist be the
chief of a subspecialty like Neurosurgery or Orthopedics? The
answer has to be, "No more than a neurosurgeon or orthopedist
should be the chief of Podiatry." But that does not mean that a
podiatrist, who is the overall chief of all of the surgical subspecialties, can't work with and oversee and provide effective administrative leadership of those departments with collaborative
input from the subspecialists with whom he or she works.
In conclusion, Dr. Chairman, Ranking Member, and members of the committee, I thank you again for inviting me here to
share my thoughts with you all, and for your efforts and your
desire to discuss this topic to hopefully right this inequity. I am
available to address any questions you may have for me. n
A list of congressional cosponsors to the VA Provider Equity Act
appears on page 37.
APMA News July/August 2017

21


http://www.Salary.com http://www.Salary.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of APMA News - July/August 2017

Contents
APMA News - July/August 2017 - Cover1
APMA News - July/August 2017 - Cover2
APMA News - July/August 2017 - 3
APMA News - July/August 2017 - 4
APMA News - July/August 2017 - 5
APMA News - July/August 2017 - 6
APMA News - July/August 2017 - 7
APMA News - July/August 2017 - Contents
APMA News - July/August 2017 - 9
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APMA News - July/August 2017 - Cover3
APMA News - July/August 2017 - Cover4
APMA News - July/August 2017 - S1
APMA News - July/August 2017 - S2
APMA News - July/August 2017 - S3
APMA News - July/August 2017 - S4
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