APMA News - January/February 2018 - 20

Include a DPM for
Diabetes Prevention and Management

or years, APMA has made a concerted effort
to educate the public about the importance
of including a podiatrist as part of their diabetes management team. This year, APMA focused
on educating primary-care physicians about the
importance of referring their diabetic and pre-diabetic patients to a podiatrist in order to reduce
their risk of diabetic ulcers and amputation.
As part of this campaign, APMA encouraged
member podiatrists to engage in grassroots efThe campaign logo.
forts to increase visibility. APMA created materials to help members achieve this goal.
Although this campaign focused mostly on primary-care
physicians, our secondary audience was the public. APMA
returned to earlier campaign materials and messaging to encourage patients with diabetes to visit a podiatrist.

This year's campaign messages for
primary-care physicians included:

* Include a DPM for diabetes prevention and manage-

*
*
*

ment. Podiatrists are the experts on the foot and ankle.
If you have a newly diagnosed diabetic or prediabetic
patient, refer him or her to a podiatrist before he or she
develops any foot and ankle symptoms.
Podiatrists can reduce amputation rates up to 80 percent. Include a DPM on your patient's diabetes-care
team so he or she can have the best outcome.
Including a DPM on the diabetes-care team can save
the health-care system $3.5 billion per year. It is both
effective and cost-effective to include a DPM on your
patients' diabetes-care team.
Investing in podiatry can help save lives and money.
Every dollar invested in care by a podiatrist results in
$27-51 of savings for the health-care system.

* Up to 25 percent of patients with diabe-

tes will develop a foot ulcer. Help increase
their healing rate by including a DPM on
your patients' diabetes-care team.

The campaign messages for
the public included:

* Look for the "DPM." See a podiatrist

at least twice per year. Podiatrists are
trained to treat foot conditions that can
be caused by diabetes, such as neuropathy, infection,
and ulcers. Be sure you're seeing the most qualified
health-care professional to treat your feet by looking
for the letters "DPM" after his or her name. Seeing a
podiatrist for foot care can reduce amputation rates by
45-85 percent.
What you can't feel might hurt you. People with diabetes can experience nerve damage called neuropathy,
which causes a loss of sensation. People with diabetes
may injure a foot and not know it. These injuries can
become infected and lead to amputation.
Want to be on the forefront of treating diabetes and
collaborate with a wide variety of medical specialists?
Consider becoming a podiatrist.

Reaching Primary-Care Physicians
To start the campaign, APMA worked with Medscape and
the American Diabetes Association (ADA) to target primary-care physicians who work with prediabetic and diabetic
patients. APMA advertised on several Medscape and ADA
webpages with content specifically tailored for primary-care
physicians who see this patient population.

The campaign's advertisements on ADA's website (left), and on Medscape's website (right).

20 APMA News January/February 2018

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of APMA News - January/February 2018