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Glaucoma specialists face ‘tsunami’ of new patients in coming decade
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WAIKOLOA, Hawaii – Glaucoma specialists need to prepare for an impending “tsunami” driven by an aging population and increasing demand for care, a speaker told colleagues here.
“In the tsunami hazard zone, you go inland, you go to high ground. But if you’re smart, you might want to take your surfboard and head for the beach and make something of the tsunami,” Cynthia Mattox, MD, said at Hawaiian eye. “The status quo is not an option.”
Cynthia Mattox
According to the Association of American Medical Colleges, there were 18,317 ophthalmologists practicing in the U.S. in 2013, 47.5% of whom are older than 55 years, Mattox said.
There will be a shortfall of 31,000 surgeons across medicine, including a shortfall of 7,000 ophthalmologists, in 2025, Mattox said.
The pool of optometrists is growing but most young optometrists feel under-utilized and under-paid, she said.
The U.S. population older than 65 years is projected to increase 46% by 2025, Mattox said.
“What does that mean for us for glaucoma? Obviously, the glaucoma population is going to increase dramatically,” she said.
The number of patients developing glaucoma is expected to increase 50%, to 4.3 million, by 2032 and Hispanics will make up a larger proportion of the glaucoma patient population, Mattox said.
Medicare expenditures totaled $613.3 billion in 2014. Spending for Medicare Part B is expected to grow 6.7% per year and Part D drug spending is expected to increase 10.9% per year over the next 5 years, Mattox said.
Spending on health care in the U.S. is expected to grow 5.8% per year between 2014 and 2024 and is projected to comprise 19.6% of the gross domestic product in 2024, up from 17.4% in 2013, she said.
“All of us are going to have to think hard about this and figure out how to make it work. How are we going to be ready? We need to ensure patient access, maintain the quality of care that we’re giving and deliver better outcomes. My prediction is that we’re going to have to restructure care delivery in order to achieve that,” Mattox said.
Glaucoma specialists should prepare for the influx of patients by redefining the roles of practice personnel, restructuring workflow, predicting the need for care and improving communication, Mattox said. —By Matt Hasson and Patricia Nale, ELS
Reference:
Mattox C. The impending tsunami: the glaucoma practice of the future. Presented at: Hawaiian Eye; Jan. 16-22, 2016; Waikoloa, Hawaii.
Disclosure: Mattox receives research support from Allergan and Transcend Medical.