Category: Radiologists

What Now for the USPSTF?

Posted on by Brian Casey

After not meeting for over a year and undergoing major turnover, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. last week announced new members of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force – including the USPSTF’s first-ever radiologist. 

USPSTF was created in 1984 as a panel of experts tasked with producing evidence-based advice on preventive medical care, like cancer screening guidelines. 

  • But it’s that last responsibility that’s drawn the USPSTF into controversy. The group in 2009 changed its blanket recommendation regarding screening mammography for women aged 40 to 50, instead recommending women consult with their doctors. This sparked a backlash that persisted until 2023, when it said it would lower the age back down to 40. 

Indeed, the USPSTF has often been accused of being too conservative in recommending new technologies that have life-saving potential. 

  • For example, its implementation of the new mammography screening guidelines neglected to recommend supplemental dense breast screening, despite the demonstrated connection between dense breasts and cancer risk.

Enter RFK, Jr., who as HHS secretary has appointment authority over the panel’s 16 members (who, it should be noted, serve as volunteers rather than as federal employees).

  • He’s held the USPSTF with the same suspicion he reserves for the rest of the U.S. medical establishment, and on his watch the group has gone a year and a half without a meeting. He also removed both of the panel’s vice chairs in May. 

RFK, Jr. hadn’t revealed much about his intentions for the panel, but that ended on September 17, when HHS announced a new slate of appointments. 

  • He tapped eight new members, including a number of medical specialists, addressing a frequent criticism that the USPSTF was too heavily weighted toward primary care and lacked specialty experience. 

And in what is a first, he named a radiologist to the USPSTF: Dennis Wulfeck, MD, of MBB Radiology, a Radiology Partners-affiliated practice in Jacksonville, Florida. 

  • Wulfeck earned his MD at Wright State University, performed his residency at the University of Louisville, and completed a fellowship in nuclear medicine at the University of Cincinnati. Wulfeck has published research in nuclear medicine and has been involved in radiology practice issues. 

What now for the USPSTF? While the new appointments seem to represent physicians from U.S. medicine’s mainstream, their work will be closely scrutinized for signs of politicization, particularly around RFK, Jr.’s pet issue of childhood vaccines. The USPSTF hasn’t said when its next meeting will take place. 

The Takeaway

Radiology has long had a complicated relationship with the USPSTF, mostly due to its conservative stances on cancer screening and the adoption of new imaging technologies. Will that change with a radiologist now serving on the panel? We shall see. 

VA Radiologist Exodus ‘Tip of Iceberg’

Posted on by Brian Casey

A “mass exodus” of radiologists from the VA’s medical center in Washington, DC, represents just the tip of the iceberg for the health system’s radiology personnel woes. Other VA centers are reported to have seen similar departures, and the VA’s teleradiology program appears to be buckling under the strain. 

News about radiologist staffing problems in the VA came to light in July with the publication of news articles claiming that the Trump administration’s 2025 ban on remote work for federal employees had prompted most radiologists at the VA Washington DC Medical Center to quit.

  • While the ban was later rescinded for radiologists, the edict reportedly “spooked” many radiologists who were already chafing under VA salaries that were far lower than what they could find in the private sector.  

An investigation by the VA’s Office of Inspector General confirmed the Washington, DC, medical center’s problems, documenting the departure of four of the facility’s five full-time radiologists as well as its chief of radiology.

  • But the question remained – how widespread are the VA’s radiologist staffing woes, and have the same problems occurred at other VA medical centers?

Indications are that it’s a growing problem. A VA employee who contacted The Imaging Wire reported that VA radiology departments around the U.S. “got decimated,” with some losing 50% of their radiologist staff.

  • This includes VA medical centers in Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio, and a number in Florida. 

Interestingly, the source claims that the return-to-office edict has only been a “minor” contributor to the exodus, instead attributing the departures to a vicious cycle of lower salaries and higher workload. 

  • The VA’s salary cap of $400k simply isn’t competitive with private-sector radiology, where a recent compensation survey pegged average U.S. radiologist compensation at $610k – a 53% difference. 

The shortage of in-person radiologists is prompting the VA to lean more heavily on its National Teleradiology Program, an operation headquartered in Menlo Park, California, that employs dozens of radiologists to interpret imaging studies overnight and on weekends.

  • But NTP is facing a personnel exodus of its own, especially after NTP officials required daytime radiologists to pick up the slack by also working nights and every other weekend. The source estimated that, at its peak, NTP had about 120 radiologists. That number now stands at 62.

What impact are the departures having on VA patient care? The VA mandates a one-hour turnaround time (TAT) for STAT imaging exams. 

  • But the source claims that TAT has ballooned to as high as 10 hours. “Imagine not getting critical diagnoses for ER patients until 10-12 hours later!” the source said.

The Takeaway

The new revelations suggest that the problems reported at the VA Washington DC Medical Center are actually endemic throughout the VA system. And given the growing gap between VA and private radiologist salaries, they aren’t likely to recede anytime soon, regardless of the agency’s work-from-home policies.

Radiology Salary Growth Beats Other Specialties

Posted on by Brian Casey

Radiologists enjoyed faster salary growth than physicians overall in the latest salary survey from Doximity. Radiologists also moved up several positions on the list of highest-paid doctors. 

Doximity operates a widely used digital platform that counts around 85% of U.S. physicians as members. 

  • The company’s annual salary survey is a closely watched barometer of physician compensation, as well as other trends like compensation by metro area and physician specialty. 

The 2026 survey found that radiologists had an average annual salary of $610k, up 6.6% compared to $572k in the last survey. Radiology’s growth exceeded the 2% average growth rate for all physician specialties. 

  • Radiology moved up three positions to occupy the #8 slot among highest-paid specialties, compared to #11 in last year’s survey. 

Despite radiology’s progress, salary growth in the specialty actually slowed a bit compared to Doximity’s 2025 survey, when it rose 7.5%. 

  • Back then, radiology had the fourth-fastest salary growth among medical specialists. 

Count yourself lucky if you’re an interventional radiologist. The field saw the largest increase in annual compensation among all physician specialties – 10.8%, bringing average compensation to $635k.

Besides just compensation, the 2026 survey also queried physicians about other employment-related topics, finding…

  • 85% reported that the physician shortage had affected their clinical practice.
  • 76% said the shortage and other pressures had compromised the quality of care they deliver.
  • The gender salary gap remained at 26% for the second straight year as men made an average of $122k more than women.
  • At 10%, radiology actually had one of the smallest gender pay gaps.

The survey also drilled down into physician attitudes toward artificial intelligence, which is being proffered as a potential solution to the workforce shortage, finding that…

  • 66% reported using AI on a daily or weekly basis.
  • 23% expected AI to boost their compensation within the next year.
  • 67% thought that doctors who stay current with AI tools will have an earnings advantage over physicians who don’t.

The Takeaway

The new Doximity physician survey showed that despite workload challenges, radiology remains one of the best-compensated physician specialties. It also highlights physicians’ changing attitudes toward AI, as what was once seen as a competitive force is now viewed as a complementary and even beneficial technology for doctors.

VA Probes Radiologist ‘Mass Exodus’

Posted on by Brian Casey

A new federal investigation confirms that a “mass exodus” of radiologists occurred at the VA hospital in Washington, DC, causing a backlog of imaging exams. The departures occurred in response to “return-to-office” requirements implemented in the early days of the second Trump administration. 

Reports began surfacing in late July of turmoil among VA radiologists that centered on the Washington DC VA Medical Center.

  • The departures were linked to changing federal policies on remote work, which has become commonplace in radiology.

The VA supported remote radiology work dating back to the COVID-19 pandemic under a policy that began as a temporary measure and subsequently “became standard practice” as radiologists were allowed to work from home several days a week. 

  • Indeed, teleradiology and remote radiology interpretations “have become factors in employment decisions for many radiologists, influencing recruitment and retention strategies across the industry,” noted a report issued in early August by the VA’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) investigating the turmoil. 

But all that changed on January 20, 2025, when a presidential memo was issued ordering heads of all federal departments and agencies to “take all necessary steps to terminate remote work arrangements and require employees to return to work in-person at their respective duty stations on a full-time basis.”

  • This sparked the departure of most of the Washington DC VA’s diagnostic radiologists, as four of the facility’s five full-time radiologists – including the chief of radiology – resigned over the next six months. 

The OIG report confirms that the return-to-office memo was a “tipping point” that “spooked” radiologists into leaving the Washington DC VA. 

  • While the VA later issued an exemption allowing remote work for radiologists, it wasn’t clear whether the exemption would be extended beyond one year, creating uncertainty and undermining the VA’s ability to recruit new radiologists. 

The turmoil has had several ramifications…

  • Body MRI scans were shut down in July 2025.
  • A backlog of CT exams developed in September 2025.
  • Imaging exams were sent out to community imaging centers.
  • The delays created the risk of patient harm, with the OIG report identifying six patient cases of particular concern.

The Takeaway

The new OIG report on radiologist departures from the VA provides a stunning look at the turmoil caused within one VA hospital by misguided government policies. The question is whether the facility’s challenges in retaining radiologists are just the tip of the iceberg, and whether similar problems extend throughout the VA health system.

Radiology Report Turnaround Slows

Posted on by Brian Casey

Radiologists are taking longer to interpret medical images than they did 10 years ago … and it’s a problem that appears to be getting worse. New data from the ACR’s Neiman HPI group, published in JACR, show that report turnaround times rose 27% between 2023 and 2024.

Report turnaround time (commonly referred to as TAT) is a closely watched barometer of radiologist productivity, and longer TAT could indicate radiologists are struggling to keep up with growing imaging volumes.

  • Another Neiman HPI study on TAT released earlier this year discovered a “hockey stick” effect, with turnaround times jumping sharply starting in 2022. 

But that study only tracked TAT through 2023. Meanwhile, anecdotal reports have surfaced of a “rapid increase” in turnaround times in late 2024.

  • So the updated research adds more recent data, analyzing newly available Medicare fee-for-service claims from 2024.

Researchers analyzed data from 2.9M office and hospital outpatient claims from 2014 to 2024, finding that TAT…

  • Grew just 14% in seven years from 2014 to 2021 (0.091 to 0.104 days).
  • But then rose at double-digit annual rates in 2023 (60%) and 2024 (27%).
  • Reached 0.251 days by the end of 2024, a 177% increase over 10 years. 
  • Increased at different rates by modality over the 10-year period, including CT (381%), MRI (278%), ultrasound (267%), and X-ray (126%). 

Why did TAT growth decelerate in 2024 over the year before? The Neiman HPI authors weren’t sure, but they said practice leaders may have taken steps to meet higher demand, like moonlighting and reactivating retired staff.

  • But these aren’t long-term measures that can meet the mismatch between supply and demand, suggesting instead that “the radiology workforce may be operating at or near maximum capacity.”

The Takeaway

The new data on slower radiology report turnaround times confirm fears that radiologists are struggling under rising imaging volumes and a stagnant workforce. While slower TAT growth in 2024 is a bit of a silver lining, it does little to hide the growing storm clouds on the horizon.

Rads Flee VA After Agency Banned Remote Work

Posted on by Brian Casey

A new report claims that radiologists fled the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs health system after the agency eliminated policies allowing remote work in 2025. While the VA has since rescinded the ban, the article in The American Prospect claims that plummeting morale continues to plague the health system’s radiologists.

The VA’s Veterans Health Administration operates one of the largest health systems in the U.S., serving some 9.1M veterans through 170 VA medical centers and affiliated outpatient sites across the country.

  • While there are no official figures, estimates suggest the VA employs at least 1.5k radiologists, or 4%-5% of all active U.S. radiologists.

While radiologist salaries at the VA don’t approach levels found in the private healthcare sector, many imaging specialists are drawn to the system thanks to perceptions that it offers more job security and stability, as well as its mission in serving the nation’s veterans.

  • But the VA’s image of stability began changing in January 2025, the article claims, when the Trump Administration ordered federal employees to return to working in offices.

The order hit VA radiology particularly hard. Thanks to PACS and teleradiology, remote image interpretation has become a staple of the average radiologist’s workday.

  • Remote reading is even seen as a possible solution to radiology’s rising imaging volume and stagnant workforce. 

So it’s no surprise that VA radiologists recoiled against the new policy, which “ignored the realities of radiology work” and caused morale to plummet among the health system’s imaging specialists.

  • The VA eventually recognized its mistake and rescinded the in-office requirement for radiologists. But by then the damage was done. 

The article claims that VA radiology has experienced ongoing repercussions from the turmoil…

  • Many radiologists have left for the private sector, where average salaries are over 40% higher. 
  • Workloads for the remaining VA radiologists have skyrocketed.
  • Primary care physicians are reporting it now takes “days, not hours,” to get imaging results.
  • VA medical centers are being forced to outsource some specialized scans like amyloid PET exams, for which turnaround times are stretching to two or three months.

The Takeaway

It’s hard to tell exactly how many radiologists have left the VA health system, but any job loss is significant for a provider with a mission as important as the VA’s. While the agency’s turnaround on remote work is welcome, it’s likely that the country’s veterans will bear the brunt of the VA’s misguided policy change for years to come.

Radiology’s ‘Zombie Jobs’ Go Unfilled

Posted on by Brian Casey

Is radiology’s workforce shortage really just a matter of “geographic inconvenience?” A new report suggests that job shortages are mostly isolated to areas that radiologists consider to be less desirable geographically, where “zombie jobs” go unfilled for months.

The workforce shortage in radiology (and healthcare for that matter) has become a common refrain, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic. 

  • Exam volumes are rising steadily with an aging population, but the radiology workforce remains static. 

At least, that’s how the story goes. But a new study from RadBoard.io challenges that narrative, claiming that many radiologist openings are going unfilled because they are in geographically undesirable areas. 

  • RadBoard’s Kirill Lopatin analyzed 20.8k job postings in the U.S. over 78 days that represented 11k unique job ads (at least 47% of ads were just re-posts of the same role, but the number is probably much higher). 

The study found that of the postings with complete “lifespans” (from initial posting to deactivation)…

  • 25% were filled in less than one week, and another 12% in 7-14 days.
  • 28% took 31-60 days to fill.
  • 2.3% took 61-90 days (and maybe even longer).

So nearly one-third of radiology job ads were open longer than a month, leading RadBoard to conclude that radiology didn’t have a single fill rate for open positions – “it has two markets layered on top of each other.” 

  • RadBoard called radiologist job ads open for more than 60 days “zombie jobs,” with some markets having higher “stuck rates” as calculated by ads open longer than 60 days divided by total open job ads. 

States with the worst job markets by stuck rate included Nebraska (68%), Minnesota (41%), and Washington state (35%). 

  • At the other end of the spectrum were Florida (18%), Texas (15%), and New York (14%). 

This led RadBoard to conclude that the radiologist shortage was not a national problem – it was concentrated in areas where radiologists didn’t want to live.

  • Also, jobs in stuck markets paid $175k less than those in faster-cycling markets ($550k vs. $725k) – the opposite of what might be expected in a scarce market.

The Takeaway

The new numbers offer an eye-opening look at the narrative around the radiologist shortage, indicating that it may be more nuanced than previously thought. And the subtext to the data hints at the divide in U.S. healthcare between rural areas and metropolitan regions.

Radiologist Tapped As Surgeon General

Posted on by Brian Casey

Could America’s next top doctor be a radiologist? The radiology world – and the rest of U.S. healthcare – was stunned late last week when the Trump Administration nominated radiologist Nicole Saphier, MD, to be surgeon general, replacing previous nominee Casey Means, MD.

If confirmed, Saphier’s nomination would be the first time a board-certified radiologist has held the position, which typically goes to physicians with experience in public health rather than medical specialists.

  • Trump nominated Means for the position in May 2025, but the nomination languished over concerns about Means’ experience, her lapsed medical license, and her tepid support for vaccines.

On the other hand, Saphier is an actively practicing radiologist who serves as director of breast imaging at Memorial Sloan Kettering Monmouth in New Jersey.

  • She’s also been a frequent contributor to Fox News, where she appeared on the conservative network’s “Fox & Friends” morning show as an expert on public health policy. 

Saphier was born and raised in Arizona, where she completed her radiology residency and was involved in efforts in 2014 to pass breast density notification legislation in the state. 

  • She moved to New Jersey later that year and worked in a private-practice breast imaging center before taking the position she currently holds at MSK Monmouth. 

Saphier has always been active on social media (her X account has 364.4k followers), due to her belief that radiologists should be more visible to patients.  

  • It was that presence that initially drew the attention of Fox News producers, and Saphier began appearing on the network in 2016 to comment on public policy issues (her involvement with Fox ended with the nomination announcement).

Saphier’s nomination is already drawing critics who are combing over her history of statements on vaccines and the government response to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

  • In general, Saphier has expressed skepticism about government involvement in healthcare, but most of her beliefs fall within the mainstream of U.S. public health policy, which should bode well for her nomination.

ACR issued a statement supporting Saphier’s nomination, noting her work with the group on several public policy issues and observing that if confirmed, “Saphier would be the highest-ranking radiologist ever in government service.”

The Takeaway

Politics aside, Saphier’s ascension as surgeon general could have huge benefits for radiology in general and breast imaging in particular. Saphier has consistently supported mammography screening and issues like breast density awareness, and should her nomination succeed, radiology would find itself with an ally at the highest levels of the U.S. government. 

Physician Burnout Eases – But Remains High in Radiology

Posted on by Brian Casey

Physician burnout rates continue to drop after peaking during the COVID-19 pandemic, but radiology remains one of the medical specialties with the worst burnout problem. That’s according to a new AMA survey that underscores a continuing trend toward improved physician satisfaction.

Physician burnout has been a cause of concern for the past decade. Burnout rates accelerated dramatically during the COVID-19 pandemic as doctors struggled with long hours and crushing patient volume. 

The new AMA survey confirms the trend. The organization surveyed 19k U.S. physicians throughout 2025, finding…

  • An overall physician burnout rate of 42% in 2025, down compared to 2024 (43%) and 2023 (48%), and sharply down from the peak in 2021 (63%).
  • Physician job satisfaction rose to 77%, stable compared to 2024 (77%) and up compared to 2023 (72%) and 2022 (68%).
  • The burnout rate in radiology was 45%, making it the fifth-worst among specialties after emergency medicine (50%), urological surgery (50%), hematology/oncology (49%), and OB/GYN (46%). 

How well do the AMA’s numbers reflect radiology’s reality?

  • Unfortunately, the AMA hasn’t included radiology-specific numbers in previous years of its survey, making it hard to directly compare year-over-year changes.

But in a recent thread on radiology bulletin board RadHQ.net, members anecdotally reported that burnout is becoming less prominent for radiologists, for several reasons…

  • Higher compensation that makes radiologists feel more valued. 
  • More flexible arrangements – like teleradiology – that support working from home or more flexible shifts.
  • Increased job mobility due to the radiologist shortage, with the flexibility to leave toxic practices for new ones.

The Takeaway

So which is it – is radiology burnout higher than other specialties, or is it declining? Ironically, both statements could be true – while radiologist burnout remains high relative to other physicians, at least it’s trending in the right direction.

Radiologist Salaries Grow 9%

Posted on by Brian Casey

It’s not quite double-digit growth, but it’s pretty close. The latest physician salary report from Medscape reveals that radiologist salaries grew 9% in 2025, with medical imaging seeing the third-highest growth rate among the specialties tracked. 

The new Medscape report found that radiologists had an average annual salary of $571k in 2025, up 9% compared to $520k in 2024 and $498k in 2023.

  • Radiology ranked #3 among the 29 physician specialties tracked by the survey, trailing only orthopedic physicians and surgeons ($611k) and cardiologists ($575k). 

Radiology’s numbers mark the second straight year of strong salary growth for the specialty, a welcome trend given anemic growth in 2023, when salaries rose only 3.1% – not enough to keep ahead of inflation.

  • Indeed, industry experts analyzing the new Medscape numbers called the figures a “return to normalization” for physician pay gains. 

Medscape reported a generally “positive vibe” to the survey compared to a year earlier, with more respondents saying they felt fairly paid (53% vs. 48%), and eight specialties reporting average annual compensation over $500k. Other important findings included…

  • Technology-driven efficiency appears to be helping physician productivity, enabling doctors to see more patients and generate more work-related relative value units.
  • Rising demand for services in orthopedics, radiology, and cardiology is driving pay growth, especially given the static supply of physicians.
  • The new data – and improving physician sentiment – could indicate that medicine is climbing out of the trough of doctor burnout that bottomed out during the COVID-19 pandemic. 
  • The gender gap between salaries for male and female physicians was $102k, worsening slightly compared to last year (31% vs. 29%). 
  • The average workweek shortened slightly (49 vs. 50 hours).

The Takeaway
Medscape’s new salary survey findings are positive news for radiologists – and indeed all physicians – and are a welcome departure from the days of burnout and stagnant wage growth. So far, predictions that AI will take jobs from radiologists remain far in the future.

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