The growth in the demand for long-term care services and accompanying cost implications have spurred interest in alternatives to nursing homes. The rationale for such alternatives is a mixture of prevention, displacement, and deinstitutionalization; none may result. The alternative may prove to be additive rather than substitutive. (Author)

Demographic and utilization date are used to project the need for physicians to provide care for the elderly over the next 50 years. The quantitative estimates are coupled with qualitative analyses leading to recommendations for means to deliver the needed services. Estimates are that the United States will require about 8,000 geriatricians by…