Health Care Work Force Not Prepared For Aging Baby Boomers

Researchers say that the work force in today's health care system is too small and not prepared to handle the necessary care that the baby boomers will need as they turn 65 in 2030. Experts, knowledgeable about the matter, say higher pay for the health care workers, more training, and changes in patient care delivery are needed to avert the health care crisis for the baby boomers.

As the first of the nation's 78 million baby boomers begin reaching age 65 in 2011, they will face a health care work force that is too small and woefully unprepared to meet their specific health needs, says a new report from the Institute of Medicine. The report, Retooling for an Aging America: Building the Health Care Workforce, calls for bold initiatives starting immediately to train all health care providers in the basics of geriatric care and to prepare family members and other informal caregivers, who currently receive little or no training in how to tend to their aging loved ones. Medicare, Medicaid, and other health plans should pay higher rates to boost recruitment and retention of geriatric specialists and care aides, said the committee that wrote the report.

The committee set a target date of 2030 — the year by which all baby boomers will have turned 65 or older — for the necessary reforms to take place.

"We face an impending crisis as the growing number of older patients, who are living longer with more complex health needs, increasingly outpaces the number of health care providers with the knowledge and skills to care for them capably," said committee chair John W. Rowe, professor of health policy and management, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York City. "The sheer number of older patients in the coming years will require trying new models for delivering health care and the commitment of greater financial resources," he added. "If our aging family members and friends are to live as robustly as they can and in the best health possible, we must have a work force of adequate size and competency to take care of them."

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