Do you know a Geriatrician?

If your answer is no, you don’t know a doctor who specializes in geriatric medicine, then take heart, you aren’t alone. One would think, with the sheer number of baby boomers aging away, that there would be a number of doctors specializing in geriatric medicine.  Kaiser Health Network (KHN) and West Virginia Public Broadcasting ran a story on July 13, 2016 about the lack of geriatricians.  Few Young Doctors Are Training To Care For U.S. Elderly  reports that West Virginia is 3rd in the country with a sizeable elder population, but only has 36 geriatricians practicing in West Virginia.   It’s not just West Virginia, though, who needs more geriatricians.  “The deficit of properly trained physicians is expected to get worse. By 2030, one in five Americans will be eligible for Medicare, the government health insurance for those 65 and older.”

The lack of geriatricians is not due to the lack of training programs in the U.S. “The United States has 130 geriatric fellowship programs, with 383 positions. In 2016, only 192 of them were filled.” Why is this, you ask? According to the story, one reason may be the cost of a medical education and “they think that they need to get into something without the fellowship year where they can start getting paid for their work.”  An audio of the story is also available here.