|
6 Solutions to the RT Shortage | Imaging IT Slowdown?
July 18, 2024
|
|
|
|
|
Together with
|
|
|
|
“You know every time you call to ask if your film’s been read? I move it to the bottom of the list.”
|
|
Healthcare humorist Dr. Glaucomflecken, playing the role of a hospital’s only on-call radiologist.
|
|
|
|
Earlier this week, we described the looming shortage of radiologists in the US; this week the focus turns to radiologic technologists. A new report from the ASRT and other groups suggests the shortage of RT positions is severe, but offers some solutions.
The healthcare industry has suffered in the post-COVID era as the need for medical services has surged due to the aging population while the number of personnel has dropped as staff leave because of retirement, burnout, and other reasons.
- At the same time, fewer trainees are entering healthcare, a phenomenon that’s particularly problematic with allied health personnel like nurses and technologists.
The numbers are dire, based on previously collected data …
- Vacancy rates for all medical imaging and radiation therapy professionals are at the highest levels since the ASRT began tracking staffing in 2003
- The radiographer vacancy rate nearly tripled in 2023 compared to 2021 (18% vs. 6.2%)
- The number of people taking the ARRT’s radiography certification exam in 2022 fell 18% compared to 2006 (14.3k vs. 17.5k)
To address the problem, ASRT collaborated with 17 other radiological sciences groups including ARRT and JRCERT to first conduct a survey of 8.7k medical imaging and radiation therapy professionals to assess their work environment.
- The groups then convened a two-day meeting in February at ASRT headquarters in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
They agreed on six major solutions to address the workforce crisis …
- Raise awareness through campaigns such as via social media to attract new students
- Articulate clear career pathways so professionals can choose careers in clinical practice, management, or education at different levels and roles. This would include a new entry-level role, imaging medical aide (IMA), that would be offered by high schools and community colleges as a stepping stone to RT status
- Create a pipeline from educational programs to the workplace, and make AI a mandatory part of the educational curriculum
- Build a career ladder that defines different clinical titles for professionals in clinical and leadership roles
- Expand educational opportunities such as in rural and underserved communities, and create a one-stop-shop portal for educators
- Improve workplace satisfaction through tools such as awards programs and CE opportunities on workplace satisfaction
The Takeaway
Trying to work against powerful demographic trends can sometimes seem like swimming upstream. But the new report is a good first start toward a more organized and unified response to the radiologic technologist staffing shortage.
|
|
|
Focus on Actionable Data for Lung Abnormalities
The volume and complexity of imaging interpretation are exploding. Find out how ClearRead CT with Clear Visual Intelligence from Riverain Technologies can help you focus on actionable data for lung abnormalities in this article.
|
|
Improving Your Mammography Workflow
Want to learn how AI can relieve pressure in your mammography department? Watch this on-demand webinar hosted by Blackford featuring a panel discussing the importance of assessing breast density, image quality reporting, and prioritizing studies.
|
|
- Upcoming Imaging IT Slowdown? Is a slowdown coming for the medical imaging IT market? A new article by Signify Research predicts that growth for enterprise imaging and related technologies will slow to the low single digits in 2025 and 2026, putting pressure on small and medium-sized vendors to seek consolidation or additional funding. The report sees cloud adoption as being another major trend, and it also notes that digital pathology was a hot topic at the recent SIIM 2024 meeting, with imaging IT companies looking for pathology partners.
- CCTA Reveals Lp(A) Risk: Coronary CT angiography showed that patients with elevated lipoprotein(a) levels had higher risk of developing high-risk rupture-prone plaque over 10 years. In a paper in JAMA Cardiology, researchers performed CCTA scans with Cleerly AI analysis of 267 patients, finding that those with Lp(a) levels of 125 nmol/L or higher had more atheroma volume (6.9% vs. 3%), and every doubling of Lp(a) increased the odds of low-density plaque at baseline (OR=1.23) and 10-year follow-up (OR=1.21).
- AI of Dementia Progression: An AI model that analyzes MRI scans and other clinical factors performed well in predicting how quickly people with mild cognitive impairment will progress to Alzheimer’s disease. In a paper in eClinical Medicine, UK researchers describe their AI algorithm that uses structural MRI scans and first-assessment cognitive tests to predict conversion to AD. In tests on 900 people, the model had a higher hazard ratio in comparison to conventional tests like gray matter atrophy and cognitive scores (HR=3.42) or clinical diagnosis (HR=2.84).
- New Dedicated Brain PET: Swiss nuclear medicine developer Positrigo has received FDA 510(k) clearance for NeuroLF, a compact dedicated brain PET scanner for neurological applications like diagnosing and monitoring epilepsy, brain tumors, and Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. Positrigo is banking that dedicated brain PET scanners will become as successful as dedicated nuclear cardiology systems; recent FDA approvals of Alzheimer’s treatments should work in the company’s favor as it offers a lower-cost alternative to whole-body PET scanners. Positrigo expects European approval later this year.
- SHINE Gets $32M for Mo-99 Production: SHINE Technologies has received a $32M grant to advance development of a U.S. supply of molybdenum-99 from the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration. Mo-99 is the precursor to technetium-99m, a widely used medical radioisotope, but is only produced at a handful of nuclear reactors worldwide. SHINE is developing Chrysalis, a site in Janesville, Wisconsin, to create a stable supply of Mo-99 that can meet U.S. and international needs.
- Downstream Costs Rise for PSA Screening: PSA screening can lead to downstream tests like medical imaging that require a significant amount of out-of-pocket spending for patients – creating access barriers. In a new paper in Cancer, researchers tracked spending for 40k men who underwent diagnostic testing after having a second PSA test with elevated levels. Over 75% experienced out-of-pocket costs that went up during the 2010-2020 study period, such as for biopsy only ($79 to $214), imaging only ($81 to $490), and imaging plus biopsy ($353 to $620).
- Annalise Lands German Site: Annalise.ai has landed a contract to deploy its AI applications at Raya Diagnostics, a teleradiology provider in Germany. Raya applies AI to over 80k diagnoses per year and uses its RayaONE radiology workflow platform to network between sites. Raya becomes the first teleradiology provider in the German-speaking DACH region to use Annalise solutions.
- DBT+SM Radiation Dose: The TOSYMA study in 2022 found that DBT with synthesized mammography had higher cancer detection rates than conventional full-field digital mammography, but also higher radiation dose. In a follow-up analysis of 99.7k women in European Radiology, researchers found that DBT+SM’s mean average glandular dose was lower in women with extremely dense breasts compared to fatty breasts (1.89 vs. 2.41 mGy), while AGD was mostly unchanged with digital mammography (1.51 vs. 1.46 mGy). The findings could support broader screening with DBT+SM.
- Mammography Decision ‘Aid?’ Mammography skeptics continue to look for ways to convince women to skip breast screening. In a new study in Annals of Internal Medicine, researchers describe how they conducted pre-screening discussions with women using a “decision aid” with information about the benefits and harms of screening mammography starting at age 40 (the USPSTF’s new recommended starting age). The number of women choosing to wait until 50 to start screening rose after the sessions (27% to 39%). Mission accomplished.
- Subtle Scores Synthetic Clearance: Subtle Medical has received FDA 510(k) clearance for SubtleSYNTH, a deep learning algorithm for MRI that generates synthetic STIR images from T1- and T2-weighted contrasts. STIR is a valuable MRI sequence for fat suppression but can be time-consuming to acquire; SubtleSYNTH works on MRI scanners from any vendor and was validated in an AJNR study last year.
- Fujifilm Ships 0.4T MRI: Fujifilm Healthcare Americas has begun US shipments of Aperto Lucent, a new 0.4T MRI scanner first introduced at RSNA 2023. The scanner features a permanent magnet in a single-pillar design that improves patient access and reduces claustrophobia. It includes Fujifilm’s RADAR motion-compensating pulse sequence technology and IP-Recon iterative reconstruction algorithm for producing high-quality images under challenging conditions. The launch exemplifies growing interest in low-field MRI at field strengths under the standard 1.5T and 3T levels.
- This Is Your Brain on Shrooms: A new study in Nature used functional MRI to analyze the impact of psilocybin – magic mushrooms – on the brain. Researchers had 18 volunteers take either high doses of psilocybin or methylphenidate (Ritalin) – and ran them through a scanner. Psilocybin caused “profound and widespread” brain changes, in particular desynchronizing the default mode network. Most of the effect faded when the drug wore off, but small differences persisted for weeks. The findings suggest psilocybin could be used to treat mental illnesses like depression and PTSD.
|
|
5 Things to Know about Cloud PACS
The cloud doesn’t need to be hard. Visage 7 from Visage Imaging delivers simplicity with proven experience. Learn about the five things you need to know about cloud PACS in this video.
|
|
Top Takeaways from SIIM
Don’t miss the top themes and insights from SIIM 2024. PocketHealth Co-Founder and CEO Rishi Nayyar shares challenges, opportunities, and trends that were discussed by industry experts at SIIM. Read the article here.
|
|
Data Standardization and Patient Care
Standardization of patient data is a crucial aspect of healthcare. It helps make practices more efficient, but it also benefits patients by improving outcomes and patient satisfaction. Learn how data standardization can help improve your practice in this article from Enlitic.
|
|
- An End-to-End AV and AI Solution: Never buy separate AV and AI solutions again. Get in touch with TeraRecon to find out how your health system can benefit from all the Intuition clinical features you need, plus a growing list of exclusive subscription-only content that leverages the power of AI.
- Delivering on PACS Innovation: For over 20 years, Merge by Merative has delivered on PACS innovation. Merge PACS simplifies physicians’ reading activities, helps scale care delivery, and improves reading workflows across the enterprise. Learn more about Merge PACS and keep your eyes peeled for an update later this year.
- Enterprise Imaging for Cardiology: Discover how AGFA HealthCare’s Enterprise Imaging for Cardiology solution can revolutionize cardiologists’ workflow in this webcast at 12:30 pm ET on July 18. You’ll learn how it can foster collaboration, streamline operations, and optimize your practice.
- Best in KLAS for Image Exchange: With over 15k connected facilities and a dedicated outreach team building new connections every day, it’s no wonder Nuance PowerShare Image Sharing was named #1 Best in KLAS 2024 for image exchange. Learn more about this award-winning solution.
- The UK’s Lung Cancer Screening Rollout: The UK has launched a targeted lung cancer screening program to improve lung cancer outcomes through earlier detection. Learn how DeepHealth’s Saige Lung is the preferred AI solution in this case study.
- Top-Tier Care at Rural Hospitals: Holzer Health System in Jackson, OH, treats local patients like family. In this video, learn how United Imaging equipped Holzer Health with its uMR 570 MRI scanner, helping them to offer top-tier care.
- Presenting Unboxing AI: Check out CARPL’s video series, Unboxing AI, featuring experts discussing AI and its future in radiology. The next episode on July 19 features Kevin Harris of CureMetrix – reserve your seat today.
- Re-Examining Radiology: A Look to the Future: What will the future of radiology look like? In this downloadable white paper from Optum, learn how a constellation of challenges and pressures have come together to change healthcare – and radiology.
- Making Advanced Cardiac CT Accessible Everywhere: How do you bring cardiac CT to high-risk patients in rural areas? Watch this video from Siemens Healthineers to learn insights into setting up a cardiovascular CT program in a rural area – and how to overcome associated challenges.
- Leveraging a Proven Echo AI Platform: Us2.ai has developed a promising new pathway for bringing custom echo AI applications into widespread clinical and commercial use – historically a challenge for algorithms produced by health systems and academic institutions. Find out how it worked in Uganda in this article.
- Radiology’s Changing Training Needs: Radiology is getting more sub-specialized — but is that contributing to the growing workforce shortage? And how can radiologists get the training they need to match changing requirements? We talked about these trends with Daniel Arnold, founder and CEO of Medality, in The Imaging Wire Show.
- Start at the Source to Improve MRI: Looking for ways to improve MRI speed and image quality while addressing broader concerns in healthcare? The answer may lie in proven MRI physics in your existing scanner – learn how to unlock it with STAGE from SpinTech MRI.
- Automated Weight-Bearing Foot Measurements: Learn how Gleamer’s BoneMetrics AI software was able to provide automated measurements on weight-bearing radiographs with high levels of accuracy in a paper published in Skeletal Radiology.
- Improving Cancer Screening by Empowering Radiologists: Learn how the use of AI-based tools for cancer screening holds immense promise for addressing the lack of trained radiologists in this downloadable eBook from Bayer.
- Reimagine What’s Next with Intelerad: Every journey in healthcare is about seeking and providing answers. Intelerad is sharing a refined brand identity that encapsulates its commitment to simplifying the search for answers for both clinicians and patients. Learn more about what’s next today.
|
|
|
|
|
