Meeting Demand for New HIV Care Providers Emphasized at IDWeek 2016

NEW ORLEANS — Meeting the growing demand for HIV specialists is a challenge that must be addressed, according to a speaker at IDWeek 2016. 

Carlos Del Rio, MD, of Emory University Rollins School of Public Health, discussed a recently published study by John Weiser, MD, MPH, who is a medical epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, that looked at supply and demand issues for HIV care providers.

Dr Weiser and colleagues surveyed 2023 HIV care providers, of which 1234 responded, and they then estimated patient demand for HIV physicians. 

The results of that survey found that only 37% of those providers said they “were satisfied/very satisfied with salary/reimbursement,” and 33% “were satisfied/very satisfied with administrative time.” 

“This is our problem,” Dr Del Rio told the audience of ID specialists.

Dr Weiser and colleagues noted in their study that “an estimated 190 more full-time equivalent providers (defined as 40 HIV clinical care hours per week) entered practice in the past 5 years than are expected to leave in the next 5 years. If these rates continue, by 2019 patient care capacity will increase by 65,000, compared with an increased requirement of at least 100,000.”

Dr Del Rio said these findings, coupled with other polls that are indicating demand may outstrip supply of HIV providers in the future, prompted officials with the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) and the HIV Medical Association to join forces and tackle the challenging issue of recruiting new specialists to the ID field in a town hall meeting scheduled for Friday evening. 

During this event, they will present data from a recently conducted survey that demonstrated although salary is an important consideration in choosing ID as a specialty, exposure to the ID field and mentorship play just as big a role in getting younger clinicians to choose ID.

Hear more about this discussion in the video below, featuring Wendy Armstrong, MD, chair of the IDSA’s Recruitment Task Force.

References

1. Del Rio C. What’s hot in HIV clinical research? Presented at: IDWeek 2016. October 26-30, 2016; New Orleans, LA. 

2. Weiser J, Beer L, West BT, et al. Qualifications, demographics, satisfaction, and future capacity of the HIV care provider workforce in the United States, 2013-2014.  Clin Infect Dis. 2016;63(7):966-975.