Federation of Podiatric Medical Boards Takes Action During COVID-19

Many practicing podiatrists are not familiar with the Federation of Podiatric Medical Boards (FPMB). Even though I have served on my own state’s licensing board for many years, it wasn’t until my election to the FPMB Board that I started to become aware of FPMB’s significance in each of our practice lives. The FPMB is integral - even essential - to every licensed podiatrist. The FPMB provides licensing support for applicants, newly licensed and existing licensees in renewal as the primary source of examination verification for all podiatric physicians. The FPMB also directly assists physicians seeking important general, contact, licensure and regulatory information for each state by providing comparative and regulatory information regarding licensure requirements. The website  https://www.fpmb.org  has valuable information for anyone looking to decide in which state to practice.

Each state has a licensing board whose primary responsibility is to protect the public’s podiatric health, safety and welfare by monitoring individual professional licenses. The FPMB supports these states both independently and collectively by actively fostering communication to and between states.

FPMB President, Barbara Campbell, DPM, explains, “the FPMB strives to have open communication with its members and supports them in protecting the public, particularly with their licensing needs.”

Annual FPMB meeting attendance has doubled over the past few years as each state realizes the significance of active involvement, information sharing and opportunities to engage with other states.

The FPMB website provides valuable information for states as well as individuals. The newly developed quarterly newsletter provides information pertinent to its member boards and other key stakeholders in the podiatric community.

“The FPMB newsletter is another opportunity for its boards to keep current with FPMB activities and items of current relevance” explains Campbell.

Each newsletter spotlights a state board and includes guest articles to highlight key podiatric organizations.

This type of collaboration is important for unity throughout our profession. There was no better time to showcase the work the FPMB than this past year as the COVID-19 pandemic affected each and every one of us in practice. The FPMB Board and Executive Director Russell Stoner worked hard managing each of the following issues that COVID-19 brought to the profession:

• AMPLE Part II Clinical Exam for students:

FPMB assisted graduating podiatry students preparing to begin residencies by monitoring the impact of COVID-19 on their ability to take the APMLE Part II Clinical Skills Patient Encounter (CSPE) Exam and assisting states whose licensing requirements specifically state the CSPE Part II Exam is required.

• Inability of podiatrists to obtain in-person CME Credits:

FPMB supported podiatric physicians during the license renewal process by monitoring and assisting each state licensing board on the implications COVID-19 has had on state requirements for CME during the pandemic to ensure streamlined renewals for every podiatric physician.   

• Changing ways of practice during the pandemic:

FPMB assisted podiatric physicians seeking to engage in telehealth or administer vaccines by facilitating information sharing and discussion among State Boards on issues related to progress and changes in telehealth regulations and allowance for podiatrists to administer vaccines.

• Serving as a source of information during the pandemic with the state-by-state resource:

The FPMB maintained and actively updated a comprehensive COVID-19 information webpage that was greatly utilized as both licensing requirements and CME requirements rapidly changed. The FPMB COVID-19 webpage had over 5,500 unique pageviews in 2020. The FPMB conducted its 2021 Annual Meeting on April 30, 2021 and much of the discussion centered around changes due to the global pandemic.

Data is important for any regulatory agency including licensing boards. The FPMB launched a Data Initiative to increase the types of data collected and reported. New data to obtain includes states’ scope of practice and other pertinent information other than examination data.

Campbell explains, “the FPMB Data Initiative Project will produce even more valuable information for its member boards as the project expands and is a prime example of FPMB's ongoing support of our podiatric physicians, state boards, between boards and other stakeholders.”   

The FPMB also directly assists individual states and individual podiatrists. The FPMB assisted the California Board of Podiatry on their decision to discontinue the "Continuing Competence" portion of the podiatric license renewal. This decision was based on an FPMB presentation showing what requirements other state boards require for renewal and identifying this "outlier" licensure requirement by comparing to other states.

The FPMB improves the quality and safety of podiatric medical health care by promoting high standards for podiatric physician licensure for individual states and collectively among the states and even now in British Columbia. The Federation of Podiatric Medical Boards will continue to support the states licensing boards and will continue to foster increased engagement nationwide to take advantage of this cooperative effort to strengthen the integrity of our profession.

Dr. Reid is the current Secretary-Treasurer of the Federation of Podiatric Medical Boards. She is a Past President of the Illinois Podiatric Medical Association and the American Association for Women Podiatrists. Dr. Reid is a Fellow of the American College of Foot and Ankle Surgeons and a Distinguished Fellow of the National Academy of Practitioners. She is in private practice in Naperville, Ill.

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