Too many aging patients, too few geriatricians

There will not be enough geriatricians when the 78 million baby boomers begin to turn 65 in 2011, according to a new Institute of Medicine report. By 2030, there will be an estimated 8,000 geriatricians, but the nation will need 36,000, according to the Assn. of Directors of Geriatric Academic Programs. IOM report recommends an increase in geriatric competency throughout the health care work force to offset a shortage in geriatric specialists. It also called for the adoption of interdisciplinary care models and a fundamental change in how health care is reimbursed. As noted in this blog previously, the primary care workforce is desperately underfinanced. The current reimbursment system militates against physicians choosing to work in primary care settings (of which geriatrics is part) after graduation. The current practice of training primary care physicians in hospitals where they are trained by specialists is also dysfunctional.