Aug 24 2009
Wanted: Geriatricians To Care For The Elderly
There is a crisis looming in our ability to care for the elderly in this country. I’m not talking about the healthcare debate or the solvency of Medicare. I’m talking about a growing shortfall in the number of doctors trained to care for the special health problems of the elderly. These doctors are known as geriatricians. And with our nation’s senior population due to explode in the next few decades thanks to the aging of the Baby Boomer generation, this could present a serious problem.
According to the American Geriatrics Society, there are currently 7,590 certified geriatricians in the US — one geriatrician for every 2,500 Americans 75 or older. Due to the projected increase in the number of older Americans, this ratio is expected to drop to one geriatrician for every 4,254 older Americans in 2030.
One reason geriatrics does not appeal to medical students: money. According to the AGS, the median salary for a geriatrician in private practice in 2006 was $161,888. This was $2,133 less than the average family physician’s salary, and $15,171 less than the average general internist’s. Geriatricians train at least one year longer than their primary care colleagues, and yet they are compensated at a lower level. In many parts of the U.S., Medicare payment rates for physicians are lower than commercial insurance rates. Medicare reimbursement is the major source of income for most geriatricians and, as a result, community-based geriatricians have lower incomes than most other physician specialists.
The University of New England has created a unique program to give its medical students first-hand experience in a nursing home. UNE’s college of Osteopathic Medicine operates the “Learning by Living” project, which places a medical student in a nursing home to live the life of an elder resident for two weeks, 24/7. The goal is to equip the students to become more effective physicians, and also to offer a fresh perspective to nursing home administrators.