When it comes to delivering healthcare, how old is too old? That's the question patient safety experts and hospital administrators are asking, as they try to ensure older doctors are competent to treat patients, The Washington Post and Kaiser Health News reported. The answer could affect the looming physician shortage, especially in rural areas, where doctors and their patients are both aging, according to the Associated Press. In Nebraska alone, the number of rural doctors older than 65 has jumped by 78 percent during the past five years. Nationwide, about 42 percent of the 1 million physicians are older than 55, and 21 percent are older than 65. --Read the full story from FierceHealthcare