Medical crisis with doctor shortages occur mostly in rural areas

Doctor treating elderly patient

“It is wonderful news that we are living longer, but it also creates an entirely new set of challenges for families and the health care system.  The face of medicine is going to start to change rapidly because of this transition.” 

  Stephen G. Jones, MD, a specialist in treating the aging population and director of the Center for Healthy Aging at Greenwich Hospital, wondered a few years whether there will be enough doctors available to treat the onslaught of baby boomers turning 65 in 2011 and who would be on Medicare.

The problem is felt from cities to small towns in America, even before 2011.  For example, a newcomer to Natchitoches, a baby boomer turned 65, in 2010 found that Dr. Ana Pere, a respected general practitioner in the area, was not taking new patients on Medicare, which is part of a trend, making people wonder about the potential shortage of doctors.

January 2011 began the "baby boomer" rush, when the first large group of the aging population became eligible for Medicare and demanding medical services through a government program for the elderly.

100 years ago the leading cause of death was infection, “now true diseases of aging; cancer, heart disease and Alzheimer’s disease are the leading causes,” reports Dr. Jones.

Dr. Jones tells us there are various issues that will be raised by this wave of baby boomers turning 65 next year.  The shortage of doctors is one of them, along with the low insurance reimbursements for the care given these people.  This comes at a time when there are fewer and fewer trained doctors in geriatric medicine, the sub-specialty that treats health issues of the elderly.

What is happening, according to Dr. Jones, is the merge of a number of problems related to treating the baby boomer populations.  Lower insurance reimbursements come at a time when physicians struggle to manage the costs in treating patients.  Longevity is advancing, and with it comes an increase in the diseases of aging.  Alzheimer's disease will more than double by the year 2030 and will be epidemic by 2050.

In 2010 this quote, “It is difficult to imagine the impact of this big wave of new seniors who will be tapping into Medicare over the next few years,” was offered by Richard Rathge, director of the State Data Center at North Dakota State University at the time who, like Dr. Jones expressed concern about the state of medicine in response to the needs of a growing number of seniors. “Nationwide, we will see more than 1.8 million people turn 65 each year beginning in 2011. This translates into more than 5,000 a day, which is a substantial number.”

In 2013 PBS Newshour carried an interview with a number of seniors, finding some of them with compromised immune systems found that it was difficult to find a doctor who would take Medicare.

On the other hand, Forbes, the same year, had an article maintaining that doctors were not declining Medicare patients and that the number of doctors who would take elderly patients was really on the rise.

So it may be where you live might make the difference.  Because news in 2013 found that there is a reduced number of primary physicians in rural areas to take patients in general--of any age and especially the elderly who may have more health complaints.  And that's true even though it has been found that in some places in California those doctors who work in rural areas make more money than those in San Francisco.