Presently there is just one geriatrician in the U.S. for every 5,000 seniors; about half of what there should be, according to the American Geriatrics Society.
The problem is that fewer medical students are choosing this subspecialty because treating older patients who have multiple, complex problems makes it difficult for a doctor to make a living as they require significantly more time to treat. Medicare doesn’t progressively compensate for an extended 45-minute appointment with a dementia patient. Says Dr. Bruce Robinson; “These patients require the most time and pay the worst.”
Consequently, the shortage of geriatricians is also worsening. While medical students elect other more lucrative specialties than geriatrics, the population of those over 65 is accelerating faster than ever in our nation’s history with one in every eight an Alzheimer’s victim. The American Geriatrics Society estimates that by 2030, there will be a shortage of 36,000 geriatricians in the U.S., up from 7,000 today.
Alzheimer’s disease has reached crisis proportions in the United States, with incidence, prevalence, and mortality all on the rise. Today there are now more than 5.3 million people with Alzheimer’s disease. The Alzheimer’s Association has projected an increase of 12-14 million new cases by 2030 as there is no cure for the disease. With rising medical and assisted living costs, the burden of daily care for these ravished victims rests most often with the more than 10 million unpaid family caregivers.
These staggering statistics do not take into account the additional cost of monitoring and retrieving the 60% of the afflicted that will wander off and become lost. If not recovered within hours their fragile health will fail rendering them a mortality statistic and a significant expense for the municipality that will be called in to search for them.
Using 2 way personal GPS Tracking technologies it will be possible in just a few months for caregivers to enjoy the 24×7 peace of mind that comes with knowing where their loved-ones are with a push of a button on a Smart Phone. While medicine cannot yet pinpoint the cure, GPS Personal Location Services technology can now pinpoint the person.