AN ESTIMATED 31 MILLION AMERICANS— 16 percent of the population—have a form of CKD and 506,000 Americans are being treated for ESRD. Unfortunately, the nephrologist population isn’t keeping pace with the exploding CKD and dialysis patient population.
The Numbers Game
There is a gap between the rate of growth of ESRD patients and nephrologists, said Mark E. Mazak, vice president, DaVita Practice Strategy Group. He added that the number of ESRD patients is increasing 5.8 percent each year, whereas the number of nephrologists is “generously estimated” to be increasing about 3 percent each year.
According to Martin Osinski, president of NephrologyUSA and past president of the National Association of Physician Recruiters, the projected increase in the number of CKD and ESRD patients will have a big affect on the quality of care a patient receives because, while there is a small increase in the overall number of nephrologists, the numbers are not keeping up with the growth in CKD and ESRD. This means physicians will be stretched and not as available to patients when needed.
“I think you are going to see more forced dependency on extenders,” he said. “As the physicians are overstretched the issue of maintaining a high quality of care becomes a concern.”
With more patients, and less doctors to care for them, nephrologists feel greater stress with the shortage, Mazak said. The increasing number of patients simply means a higher patient load for each nephrologist. He added that these increased demands “complicate the ability of some nephrologists to meet [the] needs of [the] CKD population.”
