From the Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times and elsewhere:

Health-care institutions must rapidly increase training in geriatric care to ward off an “impending crisis” as 78 million baby boomers head toward old age, according to a report by the federal Institute of Medicine.

Calling the U.S. health-care work force “too small and woefully unprepared” for the growing elderly population, the 242-page report lays out a stark picture of increased demand for health-care workers — unmet by a stagnant or even dwindling supply of those trained to treat the elderly.

“This could be seen as evidence that our society places little value on the expertise needed to care for vulnerable, frail older Americans,” said John W. Rowe, chairman of the committee that wrote the report and former chairman and chief executive of health-insurance giant Aetna Inc.

… The report blamed misplaced financial incentives for much of the shortfall. Doctors specializing in geriatrics averaged income of $163,000 a year in 2005, compared with internists who earned $175,000 with no specialty training. Other specialists, from surgeons to radiologists and dermatologists, can earn more than twice as much.

Meanwhile, half of those workers caring directly for the elderly — helping them dress, bathe and eat, for example — are paid less than $9.56 an hour, the report notes.

See earlier posts here and here.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 15th, 2008 at 9:10 am and is filed under caregivers, elderly, NOT2BEMISSED. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.