For-profit nursing homes have weaker oversight over physicians, study finds

The United States is expected to face a shortage of geriatricians over the next two decades, just as the proportion of older adults is expected to surge, new research details.

The proportion of older adults is expected to jump from 12% to 20% by 2030. That will increase the challenge of finding care for a projected 70 million people over age 65. Due to the shortage of geriatric specialists, other kinds of healthcare providers will have to focus on collaboration, University of Cincinnati researchers say. Previous reports have anticipated a need for 36,000 extra geriatricians by 2030, but Cincinnati researchers call this figure “impossible and unrealistic,” USA Today reported. They note that fewer than 320 physicians entered geriatric fellowship programs between 2004 and 2008. The lack of specialists is particularly acute in rural areas.

Legislators and healthcare systems could do the most to cover the geriatrician gap by offering rewards and incentives to those who want to treat seniors, researchers say. This report appears in the April issue of the Journal of the American Geriatric Society.