The fact that the United states is moving towards a sever shortage in qualified professionals for certain health care jobs has been an often spoken of topic for some time now. The continual growth of the population is expected to soon cause many hospitals to find themselves lacking the proper number of staff members to keep patient care satisfactory standards.
Adding to these growing concerns is the large number of doctors and nurses that will soon reach retirement age themselves, leaving the gaps in many medical care facilities even larger. But with the rest of the baby boomer generation moving in the same direction a recent study found that the jobs in healthcare that need qualified workers the most are those that specialize in giving care to the elderly.
The report released by the Institute of Medicine, part of the government-charted National Academy of Sciences, found that there will be a need for 36,000 doctors certified in geriatrics by the year 2030. As of last year there were only 7,128 with this particular healthcare job. Considering that the institute estimates, based on current trends, that there will be a less than 10 percent growth in the number of individuals who have been trained for these positions by that time.
According to the study, the key to solving this problem is for both federal and local governments, along with private organizations, to offer financial incentives and training in order to pull new blood into geriatric care. At this time jobs in healthcare for doctors specializing in the care of the elderly pay less than that of other specialists. Where as a rheumatologist makes, on average, $207,000 a year according to 2005’s statistics, a geriatrician made only $163,000. This difference in salaries is largely caused by the fact that these healthcare jobs are funded mainly by payments from Medicaid and Medicare, which pays less than private insurance.
John Rowe, the chairman of the Committee on the Future Health Care Workforce for Older Americans, says that “there is the idea that if we can fix and sustain the Medicaid and Medicare system in this country, we’re going to be OK, but that’s only half the problem. The other half is the lack of geriatric health-care work force.” He went on to say that “even if there is enough money in the health-care system, there is no one there to provide care.”
According to Dr. Cecil Wilson, an American Medical Association board member, the study shows that “patients around the country are beginning to feel the effects of physician and nursing shortages.” Although there may soon be a significant deficiency in the number of individuals to fill these healthcare jobs, those who do specialize in geriatric care will have no problem finding positions.
