1. How will the Baby Boomer generation impact health care organizations?

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1. How will the Baby Boomer generation impact health care organizations?

The baby boomers are an aging population, many of whom are starting to turn 65 this year, which, according to the Committee on the Future Health Care Workforce for Older Americans, “will create multiple challenges for the health care system” (IOM 2008). The aging population is expected to enjoy an increased life expectancy. However, an increase in life expectancy does not necessarily correlate with a decrease in illnesses associated with aging. It is expected that older people will suffer from at least one chronic condition and therefore there will be an increase in a dependency on health care services to provide for these conditions and other needs faced by the aging baby boomers (IOM 2008). In addition, this aging generation is more diverse in terms of racial and ethnic backgrounds, education and families that are widely dispersed and so it is anticipated that their needs will also be different to reflect this diversity (IOM 2008). Taking the health care demands of this aging generation into account, it is estimated that U.S. health care expenditure will be in excess of $4 trillion by the year 2016 (Niles 2011, p. 2). Much of this has to do with the fact that baby boomers are facing “a health care workforce too small and unprepared to meet their needs” (The Gerontological Society of America, 2008). Training …