APMA News - March/April 2019 - A2

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YOUNG PHYSICIAN PARTICIPATES IN
HARVARD'S INTERNATIONAL SURGICAL
LEADERSHIP PROGRAM
Harvard University Medical School offers a surgical leadership program with the
goal of developing viable, scalable solutions that add value to health-care
systems. The international group is brought together by the common goals of
sharpening skills and advancing surgical techniques. Twenty-three different
countries are represented in the program, spanning six continents.

PMA's own Stephen Schmid, DPM,
was intrigued after hearing about the
program from APMA Trustee Patrick
A. DeHeer, DPM. Dr. Schmid recently completed a two-year term as Young Physician
Liaison to the Board of Trustees.
"When I came across the information for
the program, I emailed Harvard about it," Dr.
DeHeer said. "They replied it was not open to
podiatrists. After some back and forth, the program decided to allow podiatrists to participate.
"[Dr. Schmid] is the ideal candidate to
educate the program administrators about
podiatrists. He will also take the information
and use it to give back to the profession, his
local hospital, and his patients. [He] is already
a leader in the profession, and the opportunity afforded to him by attending the surgical
leadership program at Harvard will only refine
his leadership and expand upon his skills.
The profession will be all the better for it."
With his interest piqued, Dr. Schmid, the
chief of Surgery at Lake Region Healthcare in
Fergus Falls, MN, went right to his hospital's
CEO for input. It was a straightforward pitch.
"I explained that this course gives me the
tools to do what we need," Dr. Schmid said.
Dr. Schmid applied and was accepted
into the program. Since starting the program

last September, he has been hard at work
learning new aspects of hospital administration. As the only podiatrist among the 140
program participants, Dr. Schmid works with
surgeons from varied backgrounds and sees
the program as a platform for advancing
podiatric medicine and surgery.
"Some of the relationships you get to build
give us the opportunity to showcase what we
do," he said. "I want to make sure that podiatrists have the opportunity to be in leadership
positions and show that podiatrists belong."
Program participants learn directly from
Harvard's leading faculty across all areas
influencing surgical leadership. The curriculum includes all aspects of health-care
management, such as communication,
mentoring, process and quality improvement, change management, and financial
management.
The time commitment can be intense.
As part of the course, the participants must
attend a series of three separate four-day
workshops on the Harvard campus in Boston
or The Royal Society in London.
"It's a lot of extra work that we have to
do," Dr. Schmid said. "But I want to be a
part of the decision-making process as a
profession that pushes us forward. I think
this program is going to make me better on
[the] executive side and administrative side
of management."
Of particular interest to Dr. Schmid is
applying the lessons learned through the
program to APMA's Young Physicians' Institute (YPI).
"One of the things that I'm using this
course for is focusing on leadership development at YPI," he said. "We can show that
podiatry deserves to be on this platform
along with other surgical specialties. I hope
my participation demonstrates that podiatry
and orthopedics can work together."

YES, APMA IS
WORKING FOR
EVERY PODIATRIST

ou may have peers who, for whatever
reason, are not members of APMA.
These less-enlightened individuals
probably don't realize everything that APMA
does to protect the profession. If you have the
opportunity to talk to a non-member about
the benefits of APMA membership, here
are a few things the organization has done
recently to help every podiatrist:
*

E/M Codes-CMS did not finalize a discriminatory proposal requiring podiatrists
to use separate E/M codes that reimbursed
at a lower rate.
VA Parity-The MISSION Act, passed in
May 2018, included APMA's VA Provider
Equity Act and reclassified podiatrists
as podiatric surgeons in the VA Health
Administration, placing them in the same
pay band as MDs/DOs.
Scope-of-Practice Advancements-APMA
has provided support to successful scope
-of-practice advocacy efforts in South
Carolina, Connecticut, and Michigan. In
South Carolina, these changes included
the ankle for the first time.
Orthotics and Prosthetics Rule-APMA
defeated a proposed CMS rule that would
have forced podiatrists furnishing orthotics
and prosthetics to seek additional certification to do so.
-59 Modifier-APMA efforts led to a
change in Medicare's National Correct
Coding Initiative use of CPT codes 11055
and 11720, allowing appropriate use of
these codes with the -59 modifier.
MIPS Burden-APMA has extensively
advocated on behalf of its members to
CMS to reduce the administrative burden
of the Quality Payment Program.

Assuming you have piqued the interest of
your colleague, send him or her over to
www.apma.org/join to learn more and start
the application process.

http://www.apma.org/join

APMA News - March/April 2019

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