American College of Cardiology (ACC) President Edward T.A. Fry, MD, an interventional and general cardiologist at Ascension St. Vincent Hospital in Indianapolis, spoke to Cardiovascular Business about the need to better develop the cardiology workforce as the subspecialty faces a looming shortage of cardiologists. The discussion took place at the American Heart Association (AHA) 2022 meeting.
There is already a growing shortage of cardiologists, as well as other specialities, across the U.S. This has been made up largely by doctors from other countries who immigrate to the U.S. to fill open jobs. This shortage has been aggravated in the past year or so by many cardiologists re-evaluating their lives and jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic as part of the "great resignation" and moving to better jobs, or resigning from clinical work to take jobs with vendors.
"We are just seeing the ripples of what will be a tsunami," Fry explained.
He said the number of training slots needs to be increased to get more doctors into cardiology programs.
"We know just from the demographics in cardiology that were are going to lose about 500 cardiologists net, per year, for the next 10 years," Fry said. "So it will be a 10-year deficit of 5,000 cardiologists at a time when the population is aging rapidly and have greater needs. So we are going to have to take care of more people with fewer cardiologists and at a lower cost."
The shortage is not just physicians, but also includes all types of clinicians, technologists and especially nurses. While more slots are needed to train additional nurses, Fry said this is also largely dependent on the availability of nurse educators and having enough preceptorships available to train the nurses going through training programs.
Fry said the ACC has been advocating for more graduate medical education (GME) funding, exploring new ways to bring people into the workforce and increasing the educational pipeline.
"We are also looking at practice operations and efficiencies so that people are working at the top of their license," Fry explained.
Increasing the use of advanced practice providers (APPs) to help augment the clinical care teams is also needed to help free up cardiologists to handle more complex issues.
"That is all on the supply side. On the demand side, it comes back to prevention and reducing the need for more care," Fry said. "If we have fewer people who are having heart attacks and strokes, and have fewer risk factors for coronary disease, we might be able to to reduce the things on the demand side of the ledger."
Other Discussions With Fry:
Q&A: New ACC President Edward Fry discusses the past, present and future of cardiology
VIDEO: Factors responsible for cardiologist burnout
VIDEO: ACC president says Medicare cuts should be a call to action across healthcare
VIDEO: ACC President Edward Fry outlines disparities in care seen during the pandemic
VIDEO: Key technology trends in cardiology, as seen at ACC.22
VIDEO: ACC president shares his key takeaways from ACC 2022
Find more AHA meeting coverage
Dave Fornell has covered healthcare for more than 17 years, with a focus in cardiology and radiology. Fornell is a 5-time winner of a Jesse H. Neal Award, the most prestigious editorial honors in the field of specialized journalism. The wins included best technical content, best use of social media and best COVID-19 coverage. Fornell was also a three-time Neal finalist for best range of work by a single author. He produces more than 100 editorial videos each year, most of them interviews with key opinion leaders in medicine. He also writes technical articles, covers key trends, conducts video hospital site visits, and is very involved with social media. E-mail: dfornell@innovatehealthcare.com