Health Care Workforce Experts Available to Comment on IOM Report on Aging Baby Boomers and Impending Medical Sys...( Physician Assistants will play a ...),Health

Physician Assistants will play a role in addressing the problem

ALEXANDRIA, Va., April 14 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The American Academy of Physician Assistants (AAPA), the only national organization representing physician assistants (PA) in all medical and surgical specialties, has experts to weigh in on the challenges outlined in the Institute of Medicine report released today on the health care workforce and aging baby boomers. There are an estimated 68,124 PAs in clinical practice in the United States.

Freddi Segal-Gidan, PA-C, Ph.D., director of postgraduate training for PAs in geriatrics at the University of Southern California Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center, said Monday that PAs are an important component of comprehensive solutions to the problem because PAs can be readily trained for the changing needs of the workforce.

As you pursue analysis and perspectives on this story, please consider these AAPA experts. If you need assistance in contacting these resources, please call our office.

-- Freddi Segal-Gidan, PA-C, Ph.D., director of postgraduate training for PA geriatrics at Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center, University of Southern California, and a member of the American Geriatrics Society. Reach her at 562-401-8130, or segagi@usc.edu.

-- Steven D. Johnson, PA-C, president of the Society for PAs Caring for the Elderly and a geriatrics care educator, has been involved in the care of older Americans for more than a decade. Reach him at 650-853-4837, or johnsot5@pamf.org.

-- Ellen Rathfon, AAPA director of professional affairs, can provide some analysis and insight into PAs and geriatrics. Reach her at 703-836-2272, ext. 3210, or ellen@aapa.org.

Physician assistants are licensed health care professionals who practice medicine as members of a team with their supervising physicians
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