Report warns that older Americans will face a lack of geriatric specialists

The report, published this month in the Journal of the American Geriatric Society, warns that as the proportion of older adults spikes from 12% to a projected 20% by 2030, caring for 70 million people 65 and older and 10 million 85 and older will be a challenge.

Other types of health care providers will need to work in teams with the doctors to help coordinate patient care, according to the report.

"There are not going to be enough geriatricians," says physician Gregg Warshaw, an author of the report and chair of the division of geriatrics at the University of Cincinnati. Currently, he says, "80% of pediatric patients see pediatricians, while 80% of geriatric patients see primary care doctors or internists."

Earlier studies by physicians groups predicted 36,000 additional geriatricians will be needed by 2030. But the new report calls that "impossible and unrealistic." Fewer than 320 physicians entered geriatric medicine fellowship training from 2004 to 2008, the report said, noting a lack of geriatricians in some rural areas is acute.

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