Short Supply of geriatricians

Public radio’s “Marketplace’’ recently offered an interesting segment lamenting the short supply of geriatricians.

At a time when the 85-and-over set is the fastest growing cohort in the American population and the nation’s 77 million baby boomers, like it or not, are heading into old age, this is unfortunate.

Geriatricians — essentially family doctors for the elderly — earn about $150,000 a year. That’s less than half the $400,000 of, say, radiologists, in a health care system that rewards specialists who do the most procedures and often spend the least time with patients.

Few experts in the field of geriatrics see any likelihood this will change, absent an overhaul of the reimbursement system. Instead, their focus is on teaching the core principles of their specialty to everyone in the medical arena who comes in contact with the elderly, from surgeons to discharge planners.

“If we got to the point where everybody in the health care system was an expert in caring for older people, we wouldn’t need geriatricians,” Dr. Leo M. Cooney of Yale University School of Medicine told me a few years back. “Or we wouldn’t need them as frontline providers. We’d be like consultants, making sure everyone else was as skilled as possible.’’

To listen to the “Marketplace” update, click here. And to read my earlier story, “Geriatrics Lags in Age of High-Tech Medicine,” click here.

Tell us about your experiences with your geriatrician — or your frustrations in trying to find one.