New health professionals and older persons.

Because the number of aged persons in the population is increasing and localized maldistributions of health care manpower persist, it has been suggested that new health professionals might provide health services for older persons who would otherwise face problems in obtaining health care. In this study, the authors tested the degree to which older persons know about and are accepting of care by new health professionals. They found that older persons know less about and accept less NHP care than do younger persons, although they are still mostly accepting of such care. In addition, older persons are more satisfied with their current care providers. Taken together, these findings indicate that older persons do not currently provide a source of expressed demand for NHP services.