Dr. Patrick DeHeer, DPM, and APMA president, sat down with us to discuss some of the latest issues in podiatry. Here’s a snippet.

Medicare has released a proposed Local Coverage Determination (LCD) that would establish coverage criteria for topical oxygen therapy (TOT) as an adjunctive treatment for certain non-healing diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs). The proposal is currently open for public comment until September 5. 

Source: HMP Global Learning Network

The foot and ankle devices market is projected to grow from $6.6 billion in 2025 to $7.3 billion in 2026, a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10.6 percent. This is linked to increasing foot and ankle disorders, an aging population, more cases of diabetes-related foot complications and orthopedic surgeries, and improved access to expert care.\

Source: EIN PressWire

Have a question for your colleagues? An insight or opinion about a pressing issue that you want to share? Get the discussions and debates going by emailing us.

How a onetime cattle puncher laid the groundwork for modern medical practice administration more than a century ago.

Source: MGMA

Practices tend to evaluate agencies on contingency rate alone, which reveals almost nothing. Ask instead for liquidation rate broken out by balance band and by how old the account was at placement. An agency that liquidates well on fresh, midsize balances may return close to nothing on the 18-month-old small balances the practice actually wants cleared.

The rest of the diligence is about conduct, because the agency is speaking to patients in the practice's name. Confirm the business associate agreement is current, ask how many consumer complaints the agency received last year, find out whether it files lawsuits and under whose name it files them, and read the call scripts. One aggressive call costs a patient and can surface in a public review that prospective patients read for years. Set a recall trigger so accounts that go quiet come back rather than sitting on an agency's books indefinitely.

Source: Keith A. Reynolds, Physicians Practice

Prior authorizations and denials slow down care and drain revenue and staff time. Join MGMA for demos showcasing smarter, tech‑enabled solutions that help practices prevent denials before they happen, streamline prior auth workflows, and protect reimbursement. See how leading vendors are turning one of healthcare’s biggest administrative burdens into a competitive advantage. 

Thursday, August 20, 2026, noon EST

Source: MGMA

The longer a patient waits for an appointment, the more likely they are to miss it. Life gets in the way, the reason for the visit fades, or they find care somewhere else. Long lead times are one of the quietest drivers of no-shows.

This is where open-access scheduling, sometimes called advanced access, earns its keep. By holding part of each day open for patients who need to be seen soon, you shrink the window in which a booking can fall apart. You do not need to convert the whole schedule at once. Even reserving a handful of near-term slots each day gives you somewhere to put urgent requests and cuts the number of appointments booked so far out that patients forget them.

Source: Keith A. Reynolds, Physicians Practice

Before Congress adjourned for its August recess, three Maryland representatives, two Republicans and a Democrat, co-sponsored the Patients First Act, which would modernize the Medicare payment system and improve access to care. Multiple medical organizations, including the APMA, have applauded this potential legislation, which will work through the legislative process when Congress reconvenes.

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