Future Health Care for the Elderly in Jeopardy

from Roland Adamyan Pharm. D.(c)
NSU College of Pharmacy

A massive health care shortage is on the rise according to many experts that threatens to leave millions of elderly patients with health insurance problems in the next 30 to 40 years. As previously reported by the Institute of Medicine many medical, pharmacy, and nursing schools are graduating fewer doctors, pharmacist, and nurses than needed for the next several decades.

While other employees, such as medical receptionist, aides, technicians, and home health workers, stay poorly trained and paid weak salaries, according to many experts.
Many physicians that are currently in the field, who are seeing this first hand, are calling this situation a serious crisis. By 2030 the amount of senior citizens, over 60 years of age, are expected to nearly double. Meanwhile, those physicians specializing in geriatric care has been falling and is estimated to be around 6,500, according to multiple reports done this past July.

Many doctors are saying that most policy makers spend most of their time on Medicare's financial condition and show no interest in the lack of care that exist in the medical profession. Even if there is an overwhelming amount of money invested in health care, there will be no clinicians to provide the service, according to John W. Rowe, a professor of health policy and management at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University.

According to this report, by 2030 the United States will have to triple the amount of health care professionals qualified to treat the elderly in order to avoid this crisis. It calls for loan forgiveness and incentive plans to help persuade students to choose the geriatric specialty as their career choice. An internist who specializes in treating chronic disease states primarily in the elderly population makes an average of $158,000 per year, in contrast to $170,000 for the internist who treats the general population for chronic disease states. There are currently just about 6,500 geriatricians currently practicing in America. Clinicians attending to the elderly need to become more knowledgeable in geriatric care, in order assist in this increasing problem with senior health care.