Physician Baby Boomer Bust

Millennials now outnumber boomers.

The problem is that when given longer life expectancies and there’s little or no middle ground for senior practitioners to practice anything but full time medicine, we are ignoring a large cadre of boomer physicians who have a lot to contribute, not the least of which is years of clinical judgment that is ignored.

The medical profession has not done a good job of helping retirement eligible docs make the transition and take advantage of what they have to offer.

However, here are some ideas:

1. Offer career-transitioning onboarding for retiring docs, not only advice on how to sign up for Medicare.

2. Connect them to younger docs badly in need of mentors

3. Create part time positions

4. Engage them in entrepreneurial projects

5. Make it easier for them to teach in medical schools and become adjunct professors

6. Help them with post-retirement career development advice

7. Give them positions that take advantage of their clinical judgment

8. Showcase their accomplishments as examples and champions

9. Get them involved in K-12 and undergraduate STEM education

10. Develop them as philanthropreneurs

We are ignoring senior physicians and wasting a large reservoir of talent. It is a disgrace that there is no CPT code for clinical judgment since it is the most effective way to control costs.