The critical care crisis in the United States: a report from the profession.

T he care of the critically ill patients accounts for 1% of the gross domestic product in the United States.1 The aging of the American population in the next 2 decades will increase the burden of acute and chronic illness and the demand for critical care services.2 The Leapfrog Group, a consortium of Fortune 500 companies, has identified critical care as a major factor in health-care quality.3 Leapfrog has promoted wider use of critical care physicians because such staffing improves patient outcome.4 These imperatives come at a time when the resources supporting critical care services are strained. Most alarming is the impending shortage of the critical care professional. Based on current practice, a shortfall of critical care physician specialists will occur within the next 10 years.2 If Leapfrog recommendations are implemented, the physician shortage will be immediate, highlighting the vulnerability of the system that also has a shortage of pharmacists and declining number of critical care nurses. This article describes these challenges and recommends steps to prevent a crisis in the delivery of critical care services. Impending Crisis in Critical Care Delivery