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Workforce shortages in long-term care A growing problem in Minnesota By Patti Cullen, MA
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etween now and 2030, Minnesota will experience an increase in people aged 65 and older, with 414,000 older adults joining that age segment. Implications from this demographic are significant: • Older adults have less savings to pay for future long-term care needs. • Aging Minnesotans will need more services (especially as they reach age 85 and beyond). • There will be a proportionately smaller labor force to provide services of any kind.
Reporting child maltreatment and abuse What every physician should know By Alice Swenson, MD, FAAP; Chris Derauf, MD, FAAP; and Sarah Lucken, MD, FAAP
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ne of the toughest challenges that primary care physicians face is what to do when confronted with a child who may have been maltreated. This may occur in the inpatient setting when a child is hospitalized with suspicious injuries or failure to thrive. Or it may occur in an outpatient setting, such as an emergency room or clinic, derailing an otherwise routine day and requiring immediate action.
• Since this demographic has fewer children, there will be a shortage of both formal and informal (unpaid) caregivers. • A ll of these facts mean increased costs for both health care and longterm care. It also means that the current workforce shortage we are seeing in MinWorkforce shortages in long-term care to page 12
Physicians often have questions about who is mandated to report, which acts trigger mandated reporting, and to whom a mandated report must be made. These topics are addressed in more detail in the Minnesota Reporting of Maltreatment of Minors Act in Minnesota (Statute 626.556).
Reporting child maltreatment and abuse to page 10