U.S. healthcare not ready for baby boomers

WASHINGTON, April 14 (UPI) -- The U.S. healthcare work force will be too small and unprepared to meet the needs of 78 million baby boomers who are getting ready to retire, researchers said.

The report by the Institute of Medicine said that by 2030, one out of five Americans will be 65 or older, and Medicare, Medicaid and other health plans will need to pay higher rates for the services of geriatric specialists and direct-care workers to attract more health professionals to geriatric careers.

There is a high turnover rate among nursing assistants and personal care aides, many of whom earn wages below the poverty level, the report said.

"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 healthcare providers with the knowledge and skills to care for them capably," John W. Rowe of the Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, in New York said in a statement.

Between 29 million and 52 million family members, friends and others tend to aging parents or other older individuals and the report calls for training programs to help family caregivers.