The long term care insurance industry is not the only one that will feel the aging baby boomer surge. Geriatric physicians are in short supply, an imbalance that will become more obvious as baby boomers retire and require specialized treatment. (New York Times – free registration required)
Geriatrics is not a popular specialty in medical schools, and the fact that geriatric medicine doesn’t pay as well as other specialties means there’s no economic incentive to choose to focus on geriatrics.
Dr. Marie A. Bernard, head of the geriatrics department at the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine, told the New York Times that medical students “want to do laser-guided this and endoscopic that.†High-tech specialties are the most popular.
Experts say solutions to the shortage include limiting geriatric practice to patients over 85 and teaching “core principles†of the specialty to all medical students.
