I have been reading podiatry articles for pointers on how to run an office for the last eight years of private practice. I have adopted the advice of all the practice management gurus in our professional world. They write with ease and enjoyment on the how-to’s of conducting employee interviews, compiling employee manuals, creating job descriptions, how to train, how to treat staff and so on. I have absorbed this advice and feel they provide good tips for facilitating a good working environment.

     I condone open communication with my staff so we can

    It is universally accepted that the most common cause of heel pain is plantar fasciitis.¹ In this same vein, there is a widespread perception that plantar fasciitis is often easily treated with whatever eclectic “recipe” an individual has developed.

    Interestingly, even our present use of the term “fasciitis” is erroneous, not to mention that there is a huge gap between our general understanding and what basic medical science demonstrates in regard to our clinical understanding and treatment of plantar fasciitis. There have been rec

    Throughout the previous three decades, technological advances paved the way for the use of sonography in diagnosing and assessing musculoskeletal pathology. Continued innovations in this arena have led to affordable portable units that enable private office practitioners to utilize ultrasonography. Use of these units has grown over the last five years, especially in rheumatology. In fact, one leading ultrasound company has turned all of its advertising attention from the podiatry profession to rheumatology. However, podiatry still remains a formidable market for the portable

     Accounts receivable (A/R) represent free cash flow that is the lifeblood of any medical practice. Staying on top of A/R enables a practice to pay the bills, take care of office payroll and satisfy operational obligations. In the reimbursement climate that exists today, it is not unusual for A/R to represent 75 percent of a hospital’s investments in current assets. For podiatrists, it is not unusual for 30 percent or more of all office A/R to be more than 120 days old.

     A feature of A/Rs that makes them unique is the settlement for less than billed

     The non-traumatic lower extremity amputation rate among people with diabetes mellitus has increased 38 percent from 1992 to 2002.¹ The number of amputations has increased from 99,552 in 2000 to 110,000 in 2002.² To appreciate this statistic, this is more than double the number of amputations on U.S. soldiers from the Civil War through Vietnam.³

     Peripheral arterial disease (PAD) is largely undiagnosed. Of the estimated 12 million Americans with PAD, 2.5 million are diagnosed and only 4 percent are treated interventio