Social & Community

Caring for an Aging Population — Preparing for the Coming Challenge
The UAB Health Care Workforce Conference 2008

With the “baby boomer” generation beginning to enter senior adulthood, America’s population is rapidly changing. Did you know that by the year 2030, more than 70 million Americans will be over the age of 65? That’s more than double the number of senior adults in our population in the year 2000.

The changing face of our population is bringing with it a significant challenge — the sharp rise in the number of older adults in our country means a growing percentage of our population will require health care resources as they age. “Because older adults have specialized health care needs, policy makers and health care professionals are turning increased attention to whether our nation will have the resources needed to provide quality health care services to this group,” explains Julie Locher, PhD, MSPH, director of the UAB Public Policy and Aging Program, a part of the UAB Center for Aging and Lister Hill Center for Health Policy.

A Forum for National Geriatric Thought Leaders

“A key emerging health care policy issue is the anticipated national shortage of formal and informal caregivers needed to provide care for older adults in the coming years,” observes Dr. Locher. “This will be a great challenge that we face as a nation.”

To address this critical issue, the UAB Center for Aging — in partnership with AARP Alabama — sponsored a recent conference entitled, “The Future Health Care Workforce for Older Americans.” Held April 22, 2008, the conference provided a forum for more than 100 geriatric thought leaders from Alabama and across the country to identify and discuss the health care needs of the rapidly growing and diverse population of Americans over age 65.

“A primary focus of the conference was to determine how state governments, universities, and municipalities can best partner together in preparing a work force to provide care for this group,” adds Dr. Locher. “Attendees included leading community experts and national experts from the Institute of Medicine, AARP, and the VA.”

Presenting National and Regional Challenges, Identifying Possible Solutions

“Each of the distinguished speakers at the conference thoughtfully identified and addressed important emerging issues regarding the challenge of providing health care to our older population in the coming years,” Dr. Locher says. A key issue that was presented is the current and anticipated shortage of geriatricians, nurses, and other health care professionals needed to provide care for the elderly. “A possible solution that was proposed at the conference is to ensure that all health care professionals, regardless of specialty, receive some degree of geriatric training,” explains Dr. Locher. “Also, one of our speakers discussed the role of advanced practice nurses and how they might help to fill the anticipated gaps in providing care to senior adults.”

At the conclusion of the conference, all of the speakers engaged in a public dialogue about issues that will likely pose challenges to providing health care to our growing senior population. “As part of the dialogue, the speakers discussed the possible results of the expected shortage of health care professionals in the coming years,” says Dr. Locher. For example, Dr. Michael Morrisey, Director of the Lister Hill Center for Health Policy, speculated that we might expect wages for most health professions to increase as a result of demand. Also, there will likely be a greater emphasis in the future on self care as well as technologies that will make it possible for older adults to monitor certain aspects of their health at home.

Dr. Locher says she anticipates that the success of the conference will spark further policy-oriented discussions regarding the challenges of providing quality health care to our growing senior population. “Through innovative forums such as this, the UAB Center for Aging is playing a key role in identifying and shaping key policy issues affecting older Americans now and into the future.”