An aging society: implications for health care needs and impacts on allied health practice

The first report of the National Task Force on Gerontology and Geriatric Care Education, excerpted herein, raises many more questions than it answers. Through its broad-brush articulation of the health care needs of older people, the report sets the environment for gauging the impact of these needs on allied health practice. Responses to a number of the implications for health care needs are now underway, yet much remains undone. In the coming year the task force will develop an action plan that addresses directly the many implications for allied health.