Podiatrist Job Description Templates for Private Practices
6 templates for practices hiring without an HR department: associate DPM, partnership track, foot and ankle surgeon, per diem rounds, podiatric medical assistant, and practice manager. Download as DOCX.
Most podiatrist job descriptions online were written for a hospital system. They assume a medical staff office, a credentialing department, a published compensation band, and someone whose whole job is verifying licenses. If you own a two-doctor practice and you are writing this posting yourself between patients, none of that describes your week.
Podiatry is also a genuinely small profession, which changes the hiring math. Federal employment data counts roughly 9,700 podiatrists nationally, with growth projected at 1% to 2% through 2034 and about 300 openings a year. The doctor you want is not browsing job boards for months. They are talking to two other practices this week.
At FirstHR we build hiring templates for owner-operated businesses, and the six below cover the whole staffing picture of a podiatry practice: an employed associate, a partnership track hire, a surgical role, a per diem rounding role, a podiatric medical assistant, and a practice manager. Each one carries the classification and credentialing notes the generic versions skip.
TL;DR
A podiatrist job description has to state four things a generic posting leaves out: the exact credential bar, the patients per clinical day, the full compensation formula, and the FLSA classification. Licensed podiatrists are exempt with no salary test at all. Their assistants and front office staff are not. Six templates below, downloadable as DOCX.
Which Podiatry Role Are You Hiring?
The setting decides the posting, not the job title. A solo practice hiring its first associate, a group with an established production formula, and a mobile service covering nursing facilities are writing three different documents even though all three say podiatrist at the top.
That matters more in podiatry than in most specialties, because the range of practice is unusually wide. One DPM spends the week on nail and skin pathology and diabetic foot care. Another spends two days a week operating. Write the posting for the week the doctor will actually have.
Solo or two-provider practice
You write the offer yourself
The owner is the hiring manager, the credentialing coordinator, and the payroll contact. Everything in the posting is yours to define: base, incentive formula, call, malpractice tail, and whether ownership is ever on the table.
Group practice or multi-site
Formulas already exist
Compensation follows an established production model and the posting mostly restates it. The differentiator becomes case mix, surgical access, and how quickly a new doctor gets a full schedule rather than the base number.
Facility rounds and mobile care
Route work, not clinic work
Skilled nursing and assisted living coverage is a different job: geriatric and medically complex patients, documentation-sensitive routine foot care benefits, and travel between sites. Per diem here invites misclassification mistakes.
Hospital or health system
Out of scope here
Systems hire through a central medical staff office, a credentialing department, and a published compensation band. If that is you, most of the posting is written for you already. These templates target independent practices.
Write the Schedule, Not the Specialty
The single most useful sentence in a podiatry posting is the one that says how many patients per clinical day, how many operative days, and how long the ramp to a full schedule takes. Candidates use it to model their income under your incentive formula. Leaving it out reads as a practice that has not decided, or one that is hiding a thin schedule. Both cost you the strong applicants first.
What Belongs in the Posting
A podiatrist job description does four jobs at once: it describes the practice, it filters on credentials, it protects you legally, and it closes the candidate on terms. Most independent practice postings do only the first two, which is why they attract applications and lose offers. Here is the full inventory.
The parts a DPM reads first
Practice size, sites, and case mix in two sentences
Patients per clinical day and the ramp to a full schedule
Surgical access: which facilities, what volume
Call rotation, stated as a frequency
The parts that filter applicants
DPM degree and CPME-approved residency
State license, or eligibility with a hard issuance date
Board qualification or certification, if you require it
DEA registration where the role prescribes
The parts that protect you
FLSA classification stated on the posting
Malpractice coverage type and who pays the tail
Any restrictive covenant, disclosed before the offer stage
Equal opportunity statement and essential functions
The parts that win the hire
Base plus the exact incentive formula and threshold
CME allowance, license fees, and days off to use them
Credentialing support and a realistic start date
Whether ownership is on the table, and when
The most common omission is the compensation formula. Base plus production is not a formula, it is a category. State the percentage, the basis, the threshold, and the payment timing, or expect candidates to price your offer at the base alone. Our guide to writing a job description covers the general structure, and the hiring template library holds the rest of the roles a practice fills.
6 Podiatrist Job Description Templates to Download
Download all six as one file or copy them individually. Each follows the same structure: practice overview, position summary, key responsibilities, required qualifications, a classification and compliance note, an equal opportunity statement, and how to apply. The bracketed fields are the only parts you need to change.
Download All 6 Podiatry Job Description Templates
Associate DPM, partnership track, foot and ankle surgeon, per diem rounds, podiatric medical assistant, and practice manager. All in one download.
Associate Podiatrist
The standard employed DPM
The general private practice role, with clinical scope, in-office procedures, orthotics, call rotation, and the full credential list built in.
Partnership Track
Ownership stated, not implied
For a succession hire, with eligibility timing, ownership percentage, valuation method, and financing written as real terms in the posting.
Foot and Ankle Surgeon
Clinic plus operative days
For a surgically trained DPM, with case mix, facility privileges, board certification expectations, and the credentialing calendar spelled out.
Per Diem / Facility Rounds
Route-based coverage
For nursing facility and mobile care, with the rounding schedule, documentation standard, and a blunt warning about contractor classification.
Podiatric Medical Assistant
Hourly, non-exempt
For the clinical support role, with procedure setup, instrument reprocessing, imaging permits, and bloodborne pathogen requirements included.
Practice Manager
Everything that is not clinical
For the operations hire, covering revenue cycle, credentialing calendars, exclusion screening, and an honest note on the exemption test.
Template 1: Associate Podiatrist, Private Practice
The standard employed DPM role, with clinical scope, in-office procedures, orthotics and DME, the call rotation, and the full credential list built in.
•Perform in-office procedures: [nail avulsion and matrixectomy, debridement,
injections, biopsies, laceration repair, casting and immobilization]
•Order and interpret [plain films, diagnostic ultrasound] within scope
•Prescribe, cast for, and dispense [custom orthotics, DME, offloading devices]
•Manage diabetic foot care and coordinate with [primary care, endocrinology,
vascular surgery, wound care] on at-risk limbs
•Document each visit the same day to coding and medical necessity standards
•Participate in the [after-hours / weekend] call rotation: [frequency]
•Supervise clinical staff assisting in your treatment rooms
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
•Doctor of Podiatric Medicine (DPM) from a college accredited by the Council on
Podiatric Medical Education
•Completion of a CPME-approved podiatric medicine and surgery residency
•Active [State] podiatric medicine license in good standing, or license
eligibility with issuance before the first patient day
•Passing results on APMLE Parts I, II, and III
•Current [DEA registration / state controlled substance registration] where the
role prescribes
•Current BLS certification and malpractice insurability in [State]
•Credentialing eligibility with [Medicare, Medicaid, and our commercial payers]
CLASSIFICATION AND COMPLIANCE NOTE (read before posting)
A licensed podiatrist actually engaged in the practice of medicine is an exempt
professional under the FLSA, and the federal regulation naming exempt medical
practitioners lists podiatrists by name. Unusually, the salary level and salary
basis requirements do not apply to this group, so a pure production formula does
not defeat the exemption. Confirm the license on the state podiatric medical
board site before the start date, screen the candidate against the federal
exclusion list before the first billed visit, and complete payer credentialing
before you schedule patients under this provider. This is general information,
not legal advice.
EEO STATEMENT
[Practice Name] is an equal opportunity employer and provides reasonable
accommodations for the essential functions of this role.
COMPENSATION AND HOW TO APPLY
Compensation: $_ base per year, plus [percent] of collections above
$_, [signing bonus], [CME allowance and days], [license and DEA fees],
[malpractice coverage type: claims-made or occurrence, and tail responsibility],
[health, retirement, paid time off].
To apply, email __ with your CV and state license number.
Template 2: Podiatrist with a Partnership Track
For a succession hire. The partnership section forces you to state eligibility timing, ownership percentage, valuation method, and financing as real terms rather than as a promise made at the second interview.
Podiatrist Job Description with Partnership Track
PODIATRIST JOB DESCRIPTION (PARTNERSHIP TRACK)
Practice: __ ([City, State])
Reports to: [Owner / Managing Partner]
Employment type: Full-time, W-2 employee with a defined path to ownership
FLSA status: Exempt (licensed practitioner of medicine; see classification note)
Compensation: $_ base per year, plus production, plus buy-in terms below
ABOUT THIS OPPORTUNITY
[Practice Name] is a [number]-provider podiatry practice in [City, State]. The
owner intends to [transition to part-time / retire] within [number] years, and
this role is written for a DPM who wants to buy in rather than stay salaried.
The partnership terms below are real terms, not a vague promise.
POSITION SUMMARY
The Podiatrist carries a full clinical schedule, builds an independent patient
panel, takes on progressively more practice management responsibility, and
becomes eligible to purchase an ownership interest on the timeline and valuation
method stated in this posting.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
Clinical
•Full clinical schedule of [number] patient days per week
•Full scope of general podiatric care and in-office procedures
•Surgical cases at [facility names] at [expected volume]
•Call rotation: [frequency]
Practice
•Take ownership of [a service line / a satellite location / a payer contract]
by month [number]
•Review your own production, collections, and no-show reports monthly
•Take part in hiring and reviewing clinical staff alongside the owner
•Represent the practice with [referring physicians, facilities, community
screenings]
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
•DPM from a CPME-accredited college and a CPME-approved residency
•Active [State] podiatric medicine license and APMLE Parts I, II, and III
•[Number] years in practice preferred; strong new graduates considered
•[ABFAS / ABPM board qualification or certification: state which you require]
•Genuine interest in ownership and the financial side of a practice
PARTNERSHIP TERMS (state these, do not imply them)
•Earliest eligibility: month [number] of employment
•Ownership offered: [percent] interest, with a path to [percent]
•Valuation method: [formula, appraisal, or fixed multiple], set in writing now
•Financing: [seller note / bank financing / earn-in from production]
•What partnership includes: [profit share, voting rights, real estate option]
•What happens if either side declines: [continuation terms, notice period]
CLASSIFICATION AND COMPLIANCE NOTE
Until the buy-in closes, this is an employed physician role: W-2, exempt as a
licensed practitioner of medicine, with the salary level and salary basis tests
inapplicable under the federal regulation covering medical practitioners. Do not
treat a partnership track as a reason to classify the doctor as an independent
contractor. If the practice controls the schedule, the site, the staff, the
equipment, and the billing, that is employment regardless of what the agreement
is titled. Have counsel draft the buy-in documents and review any restrictive
covenant against your state law, because several states now limit or void
non-competes for licensed health care practitioners. This is general
information, not legal advice.
EEO STATEMENT
[Practice Name] is an equal opportunity employer and provides reasonable
accommodations for the essential functions of this role.
COMPENSATION AND HOW TO APPLY
Compensation: $_ base, [percent] of collections above $_,
[benefits], and the partnership terms stated above.
To apply, email __ with your CV and a short note on what
you want out of ownership.
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Automate documents, training assignments, task management, and track onboarding progress in real time.
For a surgically trained DPM carrying both clinic and operative days, with case mix, facility privileges, board expectations, and a start date built around the credentialing calendar.
Foot and Ankle Surgeon (Surgical Podiatrist) Job Description
FOOT AND ANKLE SURGEON (SURGICAL PODIATRIST) JOB DESCRIPTION
Practice: __ ([City, State])
Reports to: [Managing Partner / Medical Director]
Employment type: Full-time, W-2 employee
FLSA status: Exempt (licensed practitioner of medicine; see classification note)
Compensation: $_ base per year plus [surgical production incentive]
ABOUT THIS ROLE
[Practice Name] is hiring a surgically trained DPM to carry a mixed clinic and
operative schedule: [number] clinic days and [number] operative days per week at
[hospital / ambulatory surgery center names]. Our current case mix is
[reconstructive forefoot, rearfoot and ankle, trauma, diabetic limb salvage,
elective bunion and hammertoe correction].
POSITION SUMMARY
The Foot and Ankle Surgeon evaluates surgical candidates in clinic, performs
elective and trauma cases at our contracted facilities, manages the full
perioperative course from workup through final follow-up, and maintains the
credentials and privileges each facility requires.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
•Evaluate and select surgical candidates, and document medical necessity and
conservative care attempted
•Perform [forefoot, rearfoot, ankle, trauma, limb salvage] procedures at
[facility names]
•Obtain and document informed consent for every procedure
•Manage preoperative clearance, postoperative visits, and complications
•Maintain hospital and ASC privileges, including reappointment paperwork,
case logs, and peer review participation
•Coordinate with [vascular, infectious disease, endocrinology, orthopedics] on
complex limb salvage
•Carry a clinic schedule of [number] patients per clinic day
•Share the surgical call rotation: [frequency and facilities]
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
•DPM from a CPME-accredited college
•CPME-approved podiatric medicine and surgery residency with [reconstructive
rearfoot and ankle training: required or preferred]
•Active [State] podiatric medicine license and current DEA registration
•[Board qualified or board certified in foot surgery, or in reconstructive
rearfoot and ankle surgery: state your requirement]
•Eligible for privileges at [facility names] and for credentialing with our
payers
•Malpractice insurability at surgical limits in [State]
CLASSIFICATION AND COMPLIANCE NOTE
Exempt as a licensed practitioner of medicine, with no salary level or salary
basis test to satisfy. Two timelines drive this hire and neither can be
compressed: facility privileging and payer credentialing both routinely take
months, so start both the day the offer is signed rather than the week before
the start date. Build the start date around the credentialing calendar, confirm
the state license and the federal exclusion screening before any billed service,
and keep case logs and reappointment dates tracked so privileges never lapse
quietly. This is general information, not legal advice.
EEO STATEMENT
[Practice Name] is an equal opportunity employer and provides reasonable
accommodations for the essential functions of this role.
COMPENSATION AND HOW TO APPLY
Compensation: $_ base per year, [surgical incentive formula], [CME
allowance], [malpractice coverage type and tail responsibility], [relocation].
To apply, email __ with your CV, case log summary, and
state license number.
Template 4: Per Diem or Nursing Facility Podiatrist
For route-based coverage at skilled nursing and assisted living sites, with the rounding schedule, the documentation standard, and a blunt warning about calling the doctor a contractor.
Per Diem / Nursing Facility Podiatrist Job Description
PER DIEM / NURSING FACILITY PODIATRIST JOB DESCRIPTION
Practice: __ ([City, State])
Reports to: [Owner / Clinical Director]
Employment type: Part-time or per diem, [W-2 employee: see classification note]
FLSA status: Exempt (licensed practitioner of medicine; see classification note)
Compensation: $_ per [day / session], or [percent] of collections
ABOUT THIS ROLE
[Practice Name] provides routine and at-risk foot care at [number] skilled
nursing facilities, assisted living communities, and [home visits] across [area].
We are hiring a DPM to cover [number] days per [week / month] on a set rounding
schedule, with a [medical assistant / driver] supporting each route.
POSITION SUMMARY
The Per Diem Podiatrist provides routine foot care, nail and callus management,
diabetic foot assessment, and wound follow-up to residents at contracted
facilities, and completes documentation and orders before leaving each site.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
•Round at [number] facilities per day on the assigned route
•Provide at-risk foot care: nail debridement, callus and corn care, ulcer
assessment, offloading recommendations
•Perform diabetic foot examinations and document vascular and neurologic status
•Write orders and communicate findings to facility nursing and attending
physicians
•Meet the coverage and medical necessity documentation standards that routine
foot care benefits require, at the visit, not afterward
•Refer residents needing surgical or vascular care to the appropriate provider
•Complete all charting the same day, before leaving the facility where possible
•Follow each facility's infection control, sharps, and identification rules
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
•DPM from a CPME-accredited college and a CPME-approved residency
•Active [State] podiatric medicine license in good standing
•Comfort with a geriatric and medically complex population
•Reliable transportation and a valid driver's license for the route
•Clear federal exclusion screening and facility-required immunization records
•[Availability profile: which days, which weeks, how much notice]
CLASSIFICATION AND COMPLIANCE NOTE
Read this section before you write the offer. Per diem does not mean
independent contractor. If your practice sets the route, supplies the assistant
and the instruments, holds the facility contracts, and bills under the practice
name, the doctor is your employee no matter what the agreement says, and
misclassification exposure here is real money. The FLSA exemption still applies
because the doctor is a licensed practitioner of medicine, so a day rate is
fine for an exempt physician, but the exemption question and the employee versus
contractor question are separate questions and must be answered separately.
Routine foot care is a documentation-sensitive benefit area, so state the
documentation standard in the posting and audit it monthly. This is general
information, not legal advice.
EEO STATEMENT
[Practice Name] is an equal opportunity employer and provides reasonable
accommodations for the essential functions of this role.
COMPENSATION AND HOW TO APPLY
Compensation: $_ per [day / session], [mileage reimbursement],
[malpractice coverage], [minimum guaranteed days per month].
To apply, email __ with your CV, license number, and
availability.
Template 5: Podiatric Medical Assistant
For the clinical support hire, with procedure setup, instrument reprocessing, imaging permits, and the non-exempt classification stated plainly. The general medical assistant templates cover other specialties.
[Practice Name] is hiring a medical assistant to work directly alongside our
podiatrists in [number] treatment rooms. This is a hands-on clinical role in a
small practice: you will room patients, set up procedures, take X-rays where
permitted, and keep the day moving.
POSITION SUMMARY
The Podiatric Medical Assistant prepares patients and rooms, assists during
in-office procedures, handles instrument reprocessing, supports casting and
orthotic work, and maintains clinical supplies and records under the direction
of the treating podiatrist.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
•Room patients, take vitals, and record the history and chief complaint
•Set up and assist with in-office procedures: [nail procedures, debridement,
injections, biopsies, suture removal]
•Clean, package, and sterilize instruments, and document sterilizer testing
•Apply and remove [dressings, casts, splints, surgical shoes, offloading pads]
•Take and process [X-rays] where state law and your certification permit
•Cast, scan, or box orthotic impressions and track lab turnaround
•Restock rooms, monitor supply and medication expiration dates
•Follow bloodborne pathogen, sharps, and hazard communication procedures
•Complete assigned charting in the record the same day
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
•[High school diploma / medical assistant program completion: set your bar]
•[CMA, RMA, or CCMA certification: required or preferred]
•[State-specific X-ray operator permit or limited scope license, if you take
images in this state]
•Current BLS certification
•Clear background check and federal exclusion screening before the start date
•Comfort with wound care, nail pathology, and sharps
CLASSIFICATION AND COMPLIANCE NOTE
Medical assistants are non-exempt: hourly, entitled to overtime past forty hours
in a workweek, and owed pay for required training, instrument reprocessing after
the last patient, and any time spent closing the office. The teaching and
practitioner exemptions do not reach this role. Two clinical compliance items
belong in every posting for it. First, the federal bloodborne pathogens standard
requires an exposure control plan, training at hire and annually, and hepatitis
B vaccination offered within ten working days of assignment at no cost to the
employee. Second, X-ray operation is regulated state by state, so confirm what
your state permits an assistant to do before you write the duty into the job.
This is general information, not legal advice.
EEO STATEMENT
[Practice Name] is an equal opportunity employer and provides reasonable
accommodations for the essential functions of this role.
COMPENSATION AND HOW TO APPLY
Compensation: $_ per hour, [overtime policy], [health, paid time off],
[certification and license fee reimbursement].
To apply, email __ with your resume and certifications.
Template 6: Podiatry Practice Manager
For the operations hire who owns revenue cycle, credentialing calendars, and compliance programs. Compare it with the broader medical office manager templates if your practice is larger.
Podiatry Practice Manager Job Description
PODIATRY PRACTICE MANAGER JOB DESCRIPTION
Practice: __ ([City, State])
Reports to: [Owner / Managing Partner]
Employment type: Full-time
FLSA status: [Exempt or non-exempt: decide on duties and salary, see note]
Compensation: $_ per year
ABOUT THIS ROLE
[Practice Name] is a [number]-provider podiatry practice with [number] staff
across [number] locations. We are hiring a practice manager to run everything
that is not clinical care: schedule, staff, billing oversight, credentialing,
compliance, and vendors.
POSITION SUMMARY
The Practice Manager owns daily operations: staffing and scheduling, revenue
cycle oversight, provider credentialing and privileging calendars, payer
contracts, compliance programs, supplies and vendors, and the reporting the
owner needs to make decisions.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
Operations and people
•Hire, schedule, train, and review front office and clinical support staff
•Own the provider schedule, template utilization, and no-show recovery
•Run onboarding for every new hire: paperwork, access, training, credentials
Revenue cycle
•Oversee coding, claim submission, denials, appeals, and patient collections
•Review [days in accounts receivable, denial rate, net collection rate] monthly
•Manage the orthotic and DME billing workflow end to end
Compliance and credentialing
•Track licenses, DEA registrations, certifications, and CME with renewal dates
•Run federal exclusion screening for every employee and contractor on a set
monthly schedule and keep the evidence
•Maintain the HIPAA privacy and security program, training, and incident log
•Maintain the bloodborne pathogen exposure control plan and annual training
•Drive payer credentialing and facility privileging for every provider
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
•[Number] years managing a medical practice, podiatry or a related specialty
•Working knowledge of [your practice management and EHR systems]
•Command of coding and documentation requirements for [podiatry, DME, orthotics]
•Experience with payer credentialing and contract negotiation
•[CMPE, CMOM, or similar certification: preferred or not required]
•Clear background check and federal exclusion screening
CLASSIFICATION AND COMPLIANCE NOTE
Do not assume the manager title carries the exemption. To be exempt under the
executive or administrative tests, the role must meet a duties test and be paid
on a salary basis at or above the federal threshold of $684 per week, which is
$35,568 per year, and any higher state threshold that applies to you. Unlike the
doctors in this practice, there is no practitioner shortcut here. An office
manager who mostly checks patients in, works the phones, and posts payments is
performing non-exempt work regardless of the title on the door. Decide on the
real duties, write the classification into the posting, and track hours for
anyone non-exempt. This is general information, not legal advice.
EEO STATEMENT
[Practice Name] is an equal opportunity employer and provides reasonable
accommodations for the essential functions of this role.
COMPENSATION AND HOW TO APPLY
Compensation: $_ per year, [bonus tied to named metrics], [benefits].
To apply, email __ with your resume and a short note on the
last practice problem you fixed.
Licensure, Boards, and Residency
Every practicing podiatrist holds a Doctor of Podiatric Medicine degree, completed a residency, and carries a license from the podiatric medical board of the state where the practice sits. Unlike teaching or many allied health roles, none of that is optional or variable by employer.
The path is standardized nationally. The degree comes from a college accredited by the Council on Podiatric Medical Education, licensure requires passing results on the American Podiatric Medical Licensing Examination administered by the National Board of Podiatric Medical Examiners, and a CPME-approved podiatric medicine and surgery residency is a prerequisite to licensure across the states. What varies is what your practice requires beyond the floor.
Credential
Who sets it
How to handle it in the posting
DPM degree
Council on Podiatric Medical Education accreditation
State it as required; it is the entry credential, not a preference
Residency
CPME-approved podiatric medicine and surgery program
Required; specify if you need reconstructive rearfoot and ankle training
APMLE Parts I, II, III
National Board of Podiatric Medical Examiners
Ask for passing results; the state board verifies them for licensure
State license
State podiatric medical board
Require it active, or set a hard issuance date before the first patient day
Board certification
Certifying board, by practice choice
Mark required, preferred, or not required and mean it
DEA registration
Federal, plus state controlled substance registration
Require only where the role actually prescribes
Malpractice
Your carrier
State claims-made or occurrence, the limits, and who buys the tail
Board certification is where independent practices most often overstate the requirement. If you will happily hire a strong candidate who is board qualified rather than certified, say preferred. Marking it required filters out most recent residency graduates before they read the compensation section.
Overtime and the Practitioner Exemption
A licensed podiatrist practicing medicine is exempt from overtime, and the salary level and salary basis tests do not apply. The exemption rests on holding a valid license and actually practicing, not on how the compensation is structured.
This is written directly into the federal rule on licensed practitioners of law and medicine, which lists podiatrists by name in its definition of physicians and then states that the salary requirements do not apply to those employees. That is why a percentage-of-collections package does not endanger the exemption for a DPM the way it would for almost any other exempt employee. It also does not extend one inch past the licensed doctors: our breakdown of exempt versus non-exempt classification covers the tests your support staff actually fall under.
Podiatrists are named in the exemption itself
The federal regulation on exempt medical practitioners does not leave this to interpretation. It covers any employee holding a valid license permitting the practice of medicine or any of its branches who is actually engaged in that practice, and its definition of physicians lists podiatrists alongside medical doctors, osteopathic physicians, dentists, and optometrists. The same section states that the salary requirements of the professional exemption do not apply to these employees at all. That is genuinely unusual. For almost every other exempt role you have to clear a weekly salary floor and pay on a salary basis, and here you do not, which is why a pure percentage-of-collections arrangement does not by itself defeat the exemption for a licensed DPM. Two limits worth stating anyway: the doctor must actually hold the license and actually be practicing, and none of this reaches your non-clinical staff. This is general information, not legal advice.
Exclusion screening happens before the first billed visit
Any practice that bills Medicare or Medicaid carries a screening obligation that most small offices discover late. A person or entity excluded from federal health care programs cannot be paid for items or services they furnish, order, or prescribe, and that reaches employees who never touch a claim, including the front desk and the billing contractor. The government publishes a searchable exclusion list and updates it monthly, and the practical standard is to screen every provider, employee, and vendor at hire and then on a monthly cadence, keeping dated evidence of each check. Screening once at onboarding and never again is the common failure. Build it into the hiring sequence next to the license check and the background check, and keep the screenshots or reports with the employee record so an audit finds them in one place. This is general information, not legal advice.
Clinical staff trigger the bloodborne pathogens standard
A podiatry office runs sharps all day: nail nippers and blades, injections, biopsies, debridement, minor surgery. That puts the practice squarely inside the federal bloodborne pathogens standard for every employee with reasonably anticipated exposure. The standard requires a written exposure control plan reviewed at least annually, engineering and work practice controls including safer sharps evaluated with input from the staff who use them, a sharps injury log, personal protective equipment at no cost, training at the time of assignment and annually after that, and hepatitis B vaccination offered within ten working days of initial assignment at no cost to the employee. None of that is optional and all of it is documented. Put the training and the vaccination offer in your onboarding sequence rather than treating them as annual paperwork. This is general information, not legal advice.
Credentialing is the real start date
A signed offer letter is not a start date in a medical practice. Three separate clocks run in parallel and all three have to finish before the new doctor can see patients and get paid for it: state licensure if the candidate is not already licensed where you practice, payer credentialing and enrollment with Medicare and each commercial plan, and facility privileging if the role is surgical. Each routinely takes months, each has its own primary source verification, and none of them speed up because your schedule is full. The fix is sequencing, not urgency. Start every application the day the offer is signed, name one person who owns the tracker, set the start date from the slowest clock rather than from optimism, and record every license, registration, certification, and reappointment with its expiration date so nothing lapses two years from now. This is general information, not legal advice.
Keep the exemption question separate from the classification question. A day rate for a per diem DPM is fine for an exempt physician and says nothing about whether that doctor is an employee or a contractor, which turns on control over the schedule, the site, the instruments, and the billing. Our explainer on what makes someone an independent contractor works through the tests before you write the offer.
What to Pay a Podiatrist
National podiatry wage data has one of the widest spreads in medicine, so treat the median as a reference point rather than a target. The gap between a first-year associate on a modest base and an owner with a full surgical schedule accounts for most of it.
National Wage Distribution for Podiatrists
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey (May 2025), the median annual wage for podiatrists was $160,300, or $77.07 per hour. The tenth percentile earned $66,010, the twenty-fifth percentile $103,730, the seventy-fifth percentile $225,910, and the ninetieth percentile $309,670 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS national estimates).
The rest of the practice matters too, because a podiatry office is a small team and the support roles are where an owner most often guesses. These are the national medians for the positions around the doctor.
Role
National median (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
Note for an independent practice
Podiatrist
$160,300 per year
Wide spread; benchmark to comparable independent practices
Medical and health services manager
$123,860 per year
The practice manager benchmark; exemption still needs a duties test
Orthotist and prosthetist
$81,110 per year
Relevant if you run orthotic fabrication in house
Medical records specialist
$51,140 per year
Coding and documentation support; non-exempt
Medical secretary and administrative assistant
$45,930 per year
Scheduling and provider support; non-exempt
Medical assistant
$45,690 per year
Your clinical support hire; hourly and overtime-eligible
Receptionist and information clerk
$38,010 per year
Front desk; non-exempt and often the first hire after the assistant
Publish a good-faith range where pay transparency laws apply, and state the incentive terms next to the base. An independent practice rarely wins on base salary against a hospital system, so compete where you are actually stronger: autonomy over case mix, a real path to ownership, a decision you can make in a week, and a formula the doctor can model on the first call.
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Three checks belong in every clinical hire at a podiatry practice: primary source license verification with the state board, a criminal background check, and federal exclusion screening. The third is the one small practices skip, and it is the one with direct billing consequences.
An excluded person cannot be paid by a federal health care program for items or services they furnish, order, or prescribe, and the reach extends to staff who never touch a claim. The government publishes a searchable list of excluded individuals and entities and updates it monthly, which is why the working standard is screening at hire and then monthly, with dated evidence kept. Our guide to running a background check covers the notice and consent side of the process.
Credentialing Sets the Start Date, Not Your Schedule
The most expensive mistake an independent practice makes is picking a start date and hoping credentialing catches up. Payer enrollment and facility privileging routinely take months, each with its own primary source verification, and under most contracts you cannot bill for the doctor until enrollment completes. Start every application the day the offer is signed, give one person the tracker, and set the start date from the slowest clock. A doctor sitting in your building unbillable for six weeks is a payroll cost with no revenue attached.
Clinical staff add one more layer. A podiatry office handles sharps constantly, which puts every employee with reasonably anticipated exposure inside the federal bloodborne pathogens standard: a written exposure control plan, training at assignment and annually, a sharps injury log, and hepatitis B vaccination offered at no cost within ten working days of assignment. Put it in onboarding, not in a binder.
Hiring a DPM Without an HR Department
Independent practice hiring fails in three predictable places: the process moves slower than the candidate pool allows, the compensation formula stays vague, and the credentialing paperwork has no owner. Each has a fix that costs nothing.
The candidate pool is smaller than you think, and a slow process loses it
Podiatry is a small profession. Federal data puts employment at roughly 9,700 podiatrists nationally with about 300 projected openings a year, which means the doctor you want is probably talking to two other practices at the same time and is not going to wait three weeks for a second conversation. Small practices lose these hires on speed, not on money. Decide your base, your incentive formula, and your call expectation before the posting goes up, so the first call can answer every question a serious candidate asks. Then compress the process: one clinical conversation, one working visit where the candidate sees the actual schedule and the actual staff, references, offer. Anything longer and you are competing on patience against groups that have a recruiter.
You wrote a base salary and left the incentive vague, so the base is all a candidate hears
A posting that says competitive base plus production bonus reads to an experienced DPM as the base and nothing else, because they have been burned by an undefined formula before. State the terms: the percentage, whether it runs on collections or on production, the threshold it starts above, exactly which services count toward it, and when it is paid. Do the same with everything else that has a number attached: CME allowance and how many days off to use it, who pays the license and DEA fees, whether the malpractice policy is claims-made or occurrence, and who buys the tail if the relationship ends. Publish a good-faith range where pay transparency law requires it, and remember that the doctor will compare your written terms against another practice's written terms, not against your intentions.
Onboarding a licensed provider is a credential problem, not a paperwork problem
Hiring a DPM starts a set of dated obligations that a folder on the office manager's desk will not survive: state license verification, DEA registration, malpractice certificate, payer enrollment for each plan, facility privileges and reappointment dates, board certification status, CME cycles, BLS renewal, exclusion screening on a monthly cadence, HIPAA and bloodborne pathogen training at hire and annually. Every one of them expires. FirstHR was built for exactly this pattern. The onboarding wizard runs the same sequence for every clinical hire, e-signature handles the employment agreement and the policy acknowledgments, document management stores each certificate against the employee profile with its renewal date attached, and training modules cover privacy and safety orientation before the first patient day. Applicant tracking is coming soon to FirstHR. Note that FirstHR is an onboarding and HR platform, not a payroll provider.
Once the agreement is signed the work becomes a repeatable sequence rather than a scramble, and a standard onboarding checklist with dated credential fields carries most of it. The medical billing specialist templates cover the next hire most growing practices make.
Key Takeaways
A podiatrist job description has to state the case mix, the patients per clinical day, the full incentive formula, and the FLSA classification, because a generic posting leaves all four unstated.
Licensed podiatrists are exempt professionals and the federal regulation on medical practitioners names them explicitly, with no salary level or salary basis test to satisfy.
Medical assistants, front office staff, and most practice managers are non-exempt and overtime-eligible, so the doctor’s exemption never extends to the team around them.
Per diem is a schedule, not a classification: a day rate is compatible with exempt employment, and calling a rounding DPM a contractor while controlling the route invites a misclassification claim.
National medians (BLS OEWS, May 2025) put podiatrists at $160,300 with a tenth-to-ninetieth percentile range of $66,010 to $309,670, so benchmark to comparable independent practices rather than to the national figure.
Licensure, payer credentialing, and facility privileging each run for months, so start all three the day the offer is signed and set the start date from the slowest one.
Screen every clinical hire against the federal exclusion list at hire and monthly afterward, and keep dated evidence with the employee record.
Hiring a licensed provider creates a stack of dated obligations, and every one of them expires. FirstHR runs the same onboarding sequence for every clinical hire, with e-signature for the employment agreement and policy acknowledgments, document storage for licenses, registrations, and certificates, and renewal dates tracked so nothing lapses quietly. Applicant tracking is coming soon to FirstHR.
Frequently Asked Questions
What should a podiatrist job description include?
A podiatrist job description should include eight things: the practice type, size, and case mix in two sentences, the patients per clinical day and the ramp to a full schedule, the clinical and surgical responsibilities, the credential requirements, the FLSA classification, the malpractice arrangement including who pays the tail, the full compensation terms with the incentive formula spelled out, and a named person to apply to. For an independent practice the credential block is not optional: state the DPM degree from a college accredited by the Council on Podiatric Medical Education, the CPME-approved residency, the active state license or a hard license issuance date, APMLE results, and DEA registration where the role prescribes. Disclose any restrictive covenant in the posting rather than at the contract stage. The six templates on this page follow that structure so you only rewrite the practice-specific parts.
Are podiatrists exempt from overtime under the FLSA?
Yes. A licensed podiatrist actually engaged in the practice of medicine is an exempt professional, and the federal regulation covering exempt medical practitioners names podiatrists explicitly in its definition of physicians, alongside medical doctors, osteopathic physicians, dentists, and optometrists. The same regulation states that the salary requirements of the professional exemption do not apply to this group at all, which is unusual: for nearly every other exempt role an employer has to clear a weekly salary floor and pay on a salary basis. The practical consequence is that a compensation package built entirely on a percentage of collections does not by itself defeat the exemption for a licensed DPM. Two limits apply. The doctor must actually hold the license and actually be practicing, and the exemption does not reach the practice's medical assistants, front office staff, or billing team, who are non-exempt and overtime-eligible. This is general information, not legal advice.
What license and credentials does a podiatrist need?
A podiatrist needs a Doctor of Podiatric Medicine degree from a college accredited by the Council on Podiatric Medical Education, completion of a CPME-approved podiatric medicine and surgery residency, passing results on the American Podiatric Medical Licensing Examination administered by the National Board of Podiatric Medical Examiners, and an active license from the podiatric medical board in the state where the practice operates. All licensing jurisdictions rely on the APMLE, and the residency requirement is a prerequisite to licensure in effectively every state. A DEA registration is separate and is needed only where the role prescribes controlled substances. Board qualification or certification in foot surgery or in reconstructive rearfoot and ankle surgery is a practice decision rather than a licensure requirement, so state whether you require it, prefer it, or do not need it. Verify the license on the state board site before the start date, not after.
How much does a podiatrist make?
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey (May 2025), the national median annual wage for podiatrists was $160,300, which works out to $77.07 per hour. The spread is very wide: the tenth percentile earned $66,010, the twenty-fifth percentile $103,730, the seventy-fifth percentile $225,910, and the ninetieth percentile $309,670. That range reflects the difference between a first-year associate on a modest base, an established doctor with a full surgical schedule, and an owner taking practice profit. For a private practice posting, treat the median as a reference point rather than a target, benchmark against comparable independent practices in your market, and publish a good-faith range where pay transparency law requires it. State the incentive formula alongside the base, because an undefined bonus reads to candidates as no bonus at all.
Should an associate podiatrist be a W-2 employee or an independent contractor?
In almost every private practice arrangement the associate is a W-2 employee, and classification depends on the real working relationship rather than on what the agreement is titled. If the practice sets the schedule, supplies the office, the instruments, and the staff, holds the payer contracts, assigns the patients, and bills under the practice name, that pattern points firmly toward employment under federal and state tests. Some states apply a stricter test than federal law does. Per diem and facility rounding roles attract the most confusion, because a day rate feels like contractor pay, but a day rate is perfectly compatible with exempt employment for a licensed physician and says nothing about classification. Keep the two questions separate: exempt versus non-exempt is one analysis, employee versus contractor is another. Getting the second one wrong brings back taxes, penalties, and interest.
How long does it take to onboard a new podiatrist?
Plan on months rather than weeks, because three clocks run in parallel and the slowest one sets the start date. State licensure comes first if the candidate is not already licensed where you practice. Payer credentialing and enrollment with Medicare and each commercial plan runs next and routinely takes several months, and the practice cannot bill for the doctor's services under most contracts until it completes. Facility privileging adds a third track for a surgical role, with its own primary source verification and committee calendar. None of the three speeds up under pressure. Start every application the day the offer is signed, give one person the tracker, and set the start date from the slowest clock. Alongside those, run the standard sequence: employment agreement, exclusion screening, background check, malpractice certificate, privacy and safety training, and a renewal date recorded for every credential.
What is the difference between a podiatrist and a podiatric medical assistant job description?
The two postings differ in credential, scope, and classification, and mixing them up creates real wage exposure. A podiatrist holds a DPM degree, completed a residency, holds a state license to practice podiatric medicine, diagnoses and treats independently, performs procedures and surgery, and is exempt from overtime with no salary test to satisfy. A podiatric medical assistant supports the doctor: rooming patients, setting up and assisting with procedures, reprocessing instruments, applying dressings and casts, and taking images only where state law and a permit allow it. That role is non-exempt, meaning hourly and entitled to overtime past forty hours in a workweek, including time spent cleaning instruments after the last patient. Both roles need background and exclusion screening before the start date, and both need bloodborne pathogen training, but the credential and pay structures have nothing in common. Applicant tracking is coming soon to FirstHR.
