< Back to front page Text size – +

New model for geriatric care needed, Gawande says

E-mail | Print | Comments () Posted by Elizabeth Cooney December 29, 2008 03:47 PM

Facebook
E-mail

Brigham and Women’s Hospital surgeon Dr. Atul Gawande questions how the nation's healthcare system pays the declining number of doctors trained to care for older people.

"There’s been a drastic decline in the number of geriatricians — and just 300 new ones are being trained each year — yet the number of people over 65 will double in the next 20 years," Gawande told the New York Times in a story posted today. "Those who work in geriatric care are among the worst paid in the health care system. Is the time I spend as a surgeon excising a patient’s cancer worth 10 times more than the time the primary care doctor spent finding the cancer in the first place?"

Facebook
E-mail

« Back to front page

About white coat notes

White Coat Notes covers the latest from the health care industry, hospitals, doctors offices, labs, insurers, and the corridors of government. Chelsea Conaboy previously covered health care for The Philadelphia Inquirer. Write her at cconaboy@boston.com. Follow her on Twitter: @cconaboy.

Daily Dose | More Health&Wellness

health answers

Long-term health consequences to being born prematurely? It's estimated that each year nearly 500,000 babies in the United States are born prematurely, or before 37 weeks of pregnancy. Submit question | More answers