Monday, October 19, 2015

A terrifying factoid about healthcare in the US

In a recent talk, Ken Dychtwald produced some fascinating and terrifying stats.

I think the one that is the scariest is this: Currently 85% of all the doctors and nurses who will graduate this year (in the US) will not have taken even one elective in geriatric medicine. Of the 140 or so medical schools in this country, only 13 have departments of geriatrics.

Is it any wonder why there is a crisis in the provision of healthcare. But remember the full force of population ageing is yet to hit the healthcare industry.

The UK is in no better situation - if anything worse.

This means that the public provision of healthcare to older people is going to be stretched beyond breaking point, which will generate a massive demand for private healthcare. This is not a prediction it is a plain statement of the facts. Dick Stroud



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