The Challenge of Addressing the Rheumatology Workforce Shortage

Abstract

The rheumatology workforce faces a deficit of physicians trained to provide high-quality care to patients with rheumatic diseases, and this deficit is projected to worsen over the next 10 to 15 years in many countries and regions around the world. Rheumatology workforce studies carried out in the US, Canada, and in Europe have revealed expected shortages driven by projections for increased demand; changes in demographics among providers, including increasing proportions of women and part-time clinicians as well as high levels of expected retirements; and geographic maldistribution of providers.1,2,3,4,5 In the last 2 years, practice changes caused by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic have affected, and likely exacerbated, workforce limitations.