Training opportunities, expanding virtual access needed to address rheumatologist shortage
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PHILADELPHIA — Addressing the rheumatology workforce shortage will require not just new fellowship opportunities, but also creating patient-centered communities and expanding virtual access to care, said a presenter here.
“It is not just about starting new training programs,” Jennifer Moody, a partner with ECG Management Consultants, who acted as the moderator for a roundtable discussion on the rheumatology workforce shortage at ACR Convergence 2022, told attendees. “It is also about supporting the ones that we already have and increasing their ability to put rheumatologists and pediatric rheumatologists out into the workforce.”
According to the panelists, there has been a lot of interest recently in expanding opportunities to accommodate more trainees.
“We have had a lot of interest over the last many years of increasing the pipeline, getting people interesting in rheumatology,” Beth Jonas, MD, the division chief of rheumatology, allergy and immunology at the University of North Carolina School of medicine, said during the roundtable. “I think the work we have done over the last few years in increasing interest in rheumatology has been quite good.”
One of the bottlenecks that exists in training new rheumatologists is found not in a lack of interest, but in the fact that there are too few training slots to accommodate all who are interested in the specialty, Jonas said.
“Although we have increased programs and increased numbers of training slots, every year we leave about 100 people on the playing field,” she added.
One key to increasing access is working with existing programs to add training slots and capacity, Jonas said.
Regarding workforce development and community care, the panelists stressed “sustainability.”
“There are lots of wonderful things planned to increase the number of health care professionals taking care of patients, but they need to stick around,” Sean Fahey, MD, a rheumatologist from Piedmont Healthcare, in Mooresville, North Carolina, said. “The only way they can stick around is if it is financially feasible for them to provide care for patients.”
Partnering with payers, Fahey said, may offer new ground to promote value-based care through transparency.
Finally, expanding access of education and training materials to non-rheumatology physicians and health care providers may help to ease the burden facing the current rheumatology workforce. Digital education and training programs are currently being developed, according to Janet Poole, PhD, OTR/L, an occupational therapist of the University of New Mexico.
“There is also a program called Project Echo, and that’s a way we will be able to do remote mentoring, and it will complement this virtual training program and the online library that is being developed,” Poole said.
Moody added: “I think this is just a great example of how all of the different interventions together really can have long-term and sustainable impact.”
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Battafarano D, et al. Discussion with workforce solutions committee members. Presented at: ACR Convergence 2022; Nov. 11-15, 2022; Philadelphia (hybrid meeting).
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