Despite the growing need for doctors who are specially trained to treat the complexities of an aging body, the country is experiencing a shortfall of geriatricians, experts say.

“They are few and far between,” said Sally Brewer, area program director for the Alzheimer’s Association’s regional office in Chattanooga.

Board-certified geriatricians are physicians in family medicine or internal medicine who complete additional training to become certified in geriatrics. In the U.S., there is a ratio of one geriatrician for every 2,500 Americans 75 or older. That ratio will fall dramatically to about one for every 4,254 elderly Americans as the elderly population booms, according to the association.

Financial compensation is actually deterring young medical students’ interest in the field.

Geriatrics is one of the only specialties for which an extra year of fellowship training guarantees a lower salary, said Dr. John Standridge, director of the geriatric medicine fellowship program at the UT College of Medicine in Chattanooga.

Geriatricians rely on Medicare reimbursements — which have been on the decline — and also see fewer patients in a day, since elderly patients move slower and have numerous conditions that must be evaluated and discussed, he said.

The statewide Alzheimer’s Task Force is pushing for more incentives for doctors go into geriatrics and across-the-board basic training in geriatric care for all physicians, said Sheryl Ludeke-Smith, director of the Alzheimer’s Association in Memphis.

Geriatricians are vital resources particularly for people with Alzheimer’s, Ms. Brewer said. The specialists are equipped to diagnosis the disease in the early stages and to coordinate long term medical management care of a number of conditions, she said. They are also particularly attentive to ensuring one drug won’t interfere with another medication for Alzheimer’s or worsen the patient’s cognitive abilities, she said.

“All doctors just don’t know that, but a geriatrician knows how the whole body works together for an elderly patient,” she said.

There are about six geriatricians serving the Southeast Tennessee area, Dr. Standridge said.