The last is dedicated to grant support, facilitating applications for grants for underserved areas and community practice, promoting existing ACR and Rheumatology Research Foundation grants, coordinating and tracking external grant activities, and establishing and managing new grants on workforce issues.
Training Slots
Beth Jonas, MD, chief of rheumatology, allergy and immunology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, who has worked on workforce issues for several years, said progress has been made.
“The work that we have done, actually, over the last few years in increasing interest in rheumatology has been quite good,” she said. Over recent years, the number of rheumatology fellowship programs has increased from 108 to 123, but it hasn’t been enough.
“There’s a lot of interest in rheumatology now, but not enough training slots, so although we’ve increased programs and increased numbers of training slots, every year we leave about 100 people on the playing field who want to become a rheumatologist.”
The committee is working on places that are ripe for opening new fellowships and expanding their current programs. More training of primary care physicians and sports medicine physicians in musculoskeletal medicine is also an area of opportunity, she said.
Colleen Correll, MD, MPH, assistant professor in pediatric rheumatology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, and the lead author of the paper on the pediatric rheumatologist shortage, said the issue in pediatrics is different.
“We have a very small workforce—there are about 300 providers in the United States,” she noted. “But different from the adult rheumatology fellowships, pediatric rheumatology only fills about 70% of their slots, so about 30% go unfilled. We recognize this is an issue.”
The committee’s work involves “making sure all of those slots are filled,” she said.
“We’re really focusing on increased exposure, especially during medical school and pediatric residency, and really focusing on promoting the specialty.”
Thomas R. Collins is a freelance medical writer based in Florida.
References
- Battafarano DF, Ditmyer M, Bolster MB, et al. 2015 American College of Rheumatology workforce study: Supply and demand projections of adult rheumatology workforce, 2015–2030. Arthritis Care Res (Hoboken). 2018 Apr;70(4):617–626.
- Correll CK, Ditmyer MM, Mehta J, et al. 2015 American College of Rheumatology workforce study and demand projections of pediatric rheumatology workforce, 2015–2030. Arthritis Care Res (Hoboken). 2022 Mar;74(3):340–348.
- IHS Markit Ltd. The complexities of physician supply and demand: Projections from 2019 to 2034. Washington, D.C. Association of American Medical Colleges. 2021.
