Since the aging of the U.S. population will have a major impact on the practice of medicine and future health care costs, efforts to document the status of past and current geriatrics training for physicians is critical. Since July 2000, the Institute for the Study of Health has been conducting a longitudinal study of training and practice in geriatric medicine for the Association of Directors of Geriatric Academic Programs (ADGAP). The ADGAP Status of Geriatric Workforce Study tracks progress in faculty development, growth of medical school based academic programs, and teaching programs for medical students, residents, and fellows, as well as the practice of geriatrics.

Data from our study can be used to determine whether recently implemented programs have strengthened physicians' geriatrics training and practice across the United States; to help guide future national policy; and to increase recognition of the importance of geriatric research and training programs.

Recent Publications

• Training & Practice Update: Geriatricians and Compensation. Geriatrics, which has one of the lowest percent of graduates of United States medical schools in its fellowship training programs, has one of the lowest salaries compared to other specialtes.

What's New

• Retooling for an Aging America. The Institute of Medicine (IOM) released its long-awaited report concerning the readiness of the nation's healthcare workforce to meet the needs of an aging society on April 14, 2008. The report, "Retooling for an Aging America; Building the Health Care Workforce", concludes that the future workforce "will be woefully inadequate in its capacity to meet the large demand for health services for older adults if current patterns of care and of the training of providers continue." The number of older Americans will nearly double to 70 million by 2030, when youngest of the baby boomers reach retirement age. A PDF of the prepublication copy of this report is now available for FREE downloading by clicking Read Online below.

• Check out our new FAQ Sheet about geriatricians and the shortage of geriatrics healthcare providers.
• Tables on fellowship programs updated to include data from the recent National Survey of GME Programs published in JAMA in September 2007. There was a 14.5% decrease in the number of first year fellows (from 296 to 253) from 2005-06 to 2006-07.  In 2006-07, there were only 34 fellows enrolled in advanced training.

Recent PowerPoint Slides

• Geriatric Medicine in the United States - 2008 Update.