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Top 2026 Radiology Trends, RT Students Dip, and Imaging Affordability
January 8, 2026
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Together with
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“Looking into 2026, the radiologist shortage remains acute. Imaging demand will continue to outpace training output, burnout will drive attrition, and AI won’t offset capacity gaps fast enough.”
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Jay Gurney of recruiting firm Projectus.
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This year marks a historic milestone for Canon – five decades of pioneering CT innovation that has transformed the landscape of healthcare. In this article, learn about the company’s industry-first technologies that have set new standards in diagnostic imaging.
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As we did in 2025, The Imaging Wire asked key opinion leaders in medical imaging to provide their predictions on the technologies, clinical applications, and regulatory developments that will shape the specialty for the next 12 months. Here’s what they said…
3 Key Radiology Trends for 2026: Three fundamental trends will drive the radiology industry in 2026: 1) AI-based workflow will become more widespread and harder to differentiate. 2) Technology and services will increasingly be bundled to drive care-pathway product solutions. 3) Intense competition will continue, with partnering and M&A growing at a faster pace as healthcare spending tightens and price pressures get worse. Steve Holloway, CEO of Signify Research
AI Consolidation Shifts to Multi-Product Platforms: Radiology AI consolidation will continue and accelerate the shift from point solutions to multi-product platforms. A few vendors will emerge as market leaders, leveraging deeper workflow integration to deliver more value, offer broad bundles at lower prices, and scale adoption. Pure intermediary platforms will compete with vertically integrated players that have become platforms. OEMs will embed more AI through partnerships or acquisitions and enter the race. Finally, in a sustained AI bull market, more startups will reach nine-figure valuations. Amine Korchi, MD, radiologist and founder of Singularity Consulting
AI Vision Language Models Impact Radiology Reporting: Use of AI vision language models for draft report generation will be a major trend. Chest X-ray models are already seeing growing real-world evaluation – VLMs for modalities like CT and MRI are the next wave. Also watch for advancements in volumetric foundation models. Winning solutions will seamlessly streamline radiologist review-and-correction workflows. The real differentiator: multimodal fusion that integrates longitudinal clinical context with imaging. Woojin Kim, MD, CSO/CMIO at HOPPR and CMO at ACR Data Science Institute
Breast Density Loopholes to Close: Dense breast reporting is now a national standard, and many states have expanded insurance coverage for breast imaging. The federal Find It Early Act would close state-specific loopholes and include federal plans. The next challenge is educating women and providers about increased or high-risk factors and guiding appropriate supplemental screening and clinical choices. JoAnn Pushkin, executive director, DenseBreast-info
Breast Imaging Moves to Risk-Based Screening: Breast imaging will continue to move toward risk-based screening, optimizing screening intervals and modalities personalized to the individual, based on risk models that combine breast density, family history, genetics, and AI-derived imaging biomarkers. AI-enhanced risk stratification will continue to gain traction, using mammographic features such as density patterns, texture, and parenchymal complexity to refine a woman’s future cancer risk. This will allow women to be triaged into personalized screening pathways: high-risk patients directed to MRI/abbreviated MRI, or intermediate-risk women to modalities such as ultrasound and contrast-enhanced mammography. Stamatia Destounis, MD, managing partner, Elizabeth Wende Breast Care
CT Lung Cancer Screening Will Save More Lives: In 2026, CT lung cancer screening will save more lives than ever before. More countries will start screening programs (e.g., Germany), and more healthcare systems will achieve the “intersection of the curves”: More early-stage than late-stage lung cancer at diagnosis. Sebastian Schmidt, head of strategy, innovation, and medical affairs for CT at Siemens Healthineers
What Will Make MRI Safer? Last year the fatal Long Island MRI accident showed us just how tenuous our safety gains are. In 2026, more conversations should take place about which specific practices would make MRI safer, and how we go about making those standard across our profession, through regulation, licensure, or accreditation. Tobias Gilk, founder of Gilk Radiology Consultants
Opportunistic Screening Adds Value: 2026 will witness a rapid expansion of published studies demonstrating the added clinical value of AI-enabled opportunistic CT screening. Furthermore, the increasing clinical availability of these automated AI tools for cardiometabolic assessment should ultimately herald their routine use in value-added patient care. Perry Pickhardt, MD, chief of gastrointestinal imaging at the University of Wisconsin
Radiation Dose Management Tools: Practices will continue to become more comfortable using dose management tools to evaluate their dose data, benchmarking their doses for a given task against their peers. Diagnostic medical physicists play a crucial role in investigating and addressing dose outliers, and their important role in dose management will continue to grow. Cynthia McCollough, PhD, professor of medical physics and biomedical engineering at Mayo Clinic
Radiologist Shortage Will Continue: Looking into 2026, the radiologist shortage remains acute. Imaging demand will continue to outpace training output, burnout will drive attrition, and AI won’t offset capacity gaps fast enough. Workforce pressure shifts from volume coverage to subspecialist scarcity, keeping recruitment and retention firmly center stage. Jay Gurney, director of radiology for Projectus
Regulation and Reimbursement: As hospital-based interventional procedures face their steepest revenue declines, groups with a strong IR background are recognizing the value of expanding into office-based labs as a necessary step to protect and diversify their revenue streams. Sandy Coffta, VP of client services at Healthcare Administrative Partners
Theranostics Emerges as Primary Treatment Option: Theranostics will continue to shed its reputation as a last-ditch treatment option, and dosimetry will become more routine. This upstream migration will be accelerated by emerging medium axial-field-of-view PET/CT scanners (~24-48 cm), which will increasingly deliver the sensitivity needed to reveal micrometastases missed by standard PET/CT systems, justifying earlier deployment of molecular therapies. Eliot Siegel, MD, professor, University of Maryland and co-founder of United Theranostics
The Takeaway
As healthcare’s most dynamic medical specialty, radiology is sure to continue its rapid pace of evolution in 2026. Rest assured that you can read about all the year’s top radiology trends in The Imaging Wire.
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Financial Planning for Radiologists
Every stage of a radiologist’s career brings new financial challenges and opportunities. Watch this on-demand webinar from Medality to learn how to take control of your future through smarter financial planning, decision-making around RVU-based compensation, productivity models, and private-practice economics.
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Radiology Case Report
A man in his 50s presented with syncope with minor head trauma and unassociated risk factors. Find out how MRI helped provide a diagnosis in this case study.
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- RT Student Enrollment Dipped in 2025: The number of students entering U.S. radiologic technologist programs dipped in 2025 after several years of growth. That’s according to the latest figures from ASRT’s comprehensive year-end report on RT education trends. For the year, total U.S. radiography enrollment dipped 1.4% (19,547 vs. 19,815), while radiation therapy enrollment fell 16% (1,397 vs. 1,663) and sonography enrollment was basically flat (5,501 vs. 5,511). Bucking the trend were nuclear medicine technology, up 13% (1,585 vs. 1,403) and MRI, up 26% (1,261 vs. 1,004).
- Affordability Varies for U.S. Imaging: Medical imaging affordability varies greatly across U.S. states, a major issue as patients pay for more of their own care. In a new study in Clinical Imaging, researchers compared prices to household income for three radiology studies (brain MRI, pelvic CT, and abdominal ultrasound). The states with the worst affordability were Alabama, California, Nevada, and New Mexico, while the most affordable were Arkansas, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, and Rhode Island.
- Transparency in Radiology AI: Should radiologists disclose when they use AI to interpret medical images, and if so, how should they do it? Researchers in European Radiology proposed a framework for AI transparency that’s based on a rating system already used to describe autonomy levels for self-driving vehicles. The system would use a six-point scale to describe AI involvement in drafting radiology reports, ranging from 0 (no AI used) to 5 (full AI autonomy with radiologists supervising). Such a system could provide a quantitative metric for AI utilization.
- FDA Guidance on CDS Software: The FDA this week issued guidance on how it plans to regulate clinical decision support software. The guidance states that if a CDS application meets all of four criteria (one of which is that it does not acquire, process, or analyze medical images), it does not qualify as a medical device and therefore would not be regulated under the FDA’s more stringent rules for devices. The guidance should give clarity to developers of CDS software.
- Consolidation in Imaging Services: Consolidation in the imaging services segment is off to a hot start in 2026 with two major acquisitions. RadNet expanded its position in southwestern Florida by acquiring Radiology Regional, previously a division of Lucid Health that operates 13 imaging centers. Separately, Envision Radiology of Colorado is acquiring Rezolut, which operates 42 imaging centers in six states. Envision Radiology is not related to Envision Healthcare of Nashville, which divested its radiology business to Radiology Partners last year.
- Akumin Restructures Debt: Imaging center operator Akumin continues on the path to stabilizing its finances after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2023. The company said it reached an agreement with holders of its debt to exchange existing notes for new senior secured notes due in 2031 while also converting a revolving credit line to preferred equity. Akumin’s lead investor, PE firm Stonepeak, agreed to invest $154.5M into Akumin on completion of the debt restructuring.
- 4DMedical Lands UC San Diego: 4DMedical continues to add U.S. luminary sites to its customer base for CT:VQ, the company’s recently cleared lung analysis solution. University of California, San Diego is now the fourth U.S. academic center using CT:VQ, which analyzes lung CT scans to provide functional ventilation and perfusion information. Other CT:VQ sites include Stanford University, University of Miami, and Cleveland Clinic.
- Viz.ai Taps First Chief Medical Officer: AI company Viz.ai tapped its first chief medical officer: radiation oncologist Tim Showalter, MD. Showalter most recently was CMO at oncology AI biomarker developer Artera AI, and also founded radiation therapy device firm Advaray, which was acquired by CQ Medical in 2023. Showalter will advise Viz.ai as it expands from its core focus in imaging AI into new clinical applications, as exemplified by the company’s launch of its Viz Assist agentic AI for patient summaries in October 2023.
- Aidoc Names CMO: Aidoc also announced a new chief medical officer this week: Jesse Ehrenfeld, MD, an anesthesiologist and clinical informaticist who recently completed a term as AMA president. Ehrenfeld has focused on healthcare innovation and patient safety, and while serving in the U.S. Navy contributed to its efforts to develop a more digital and personalized healthcare system.
- International Isotopes Changes Name: Radioisotope developer International Isotopes changed its name to Radnostix, a reflection of the growing importance of theranostics in nuclear medicine. The company will continue to use the International Isotopes branding to cover its high-energy sources, bulk radioisotopes, and stable isotopes, while also retaining its other brands including Radqual, Radvent, Easyfill, and others under the Radnostix umbrella.
- Private Payors Start Covering AI Plaque Analysis: Now that AI-based plaque analysis has a Category 1 CPT code, private insurance companies are starting to loosen their reimbursement purse strings. Aetna became the latest private payor to implement coverage, joining Humana, Cigna, and UnitedHealthcare. The moves are benefiting developers of AI plaque analysis algorithms, including Heartflow, Cleerly, Elucid, and others.
- BrightHeart Raises €11M: BrightHeart raised €11M ($12.9M) in a Series A round to further commercialize its AI technology for detecting congenital heart defects on prenatal ultrasound exams. The company has received five FDA clearances and is ramping up its penetration of the U.S. market, with several clinical sites using the software.
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Innovative Mobile Radiography Solutions
The University of Vermont Medical Center prioritizes patients when it comes to advanced diagnostic imaging tools. Read how they rely on Philips for innovative mobile radiography solutions, prompt response times, and a community focus to deliver superior patient care.
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It’s Time to Make AI Adoption Simple
Gleamer unifies a fragmented AI landscape into a single, simple, powerful platform with GleamerOS. Discover an AI ecosystem where everything is designed to be intuitive, consistent, and scalable, making AI adoption simpler than ever.
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Every Image Tells a Story
Intelerad’s enterprise image management solutions are empowering radiologists and patients while transforming radiology workflows. Learn about the technologies they highlighted at RSNA 2025 for empowering imaging professionals.
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- How to Standardize CT Images: The quality and appearance of CT scans can vary considerably. In this white paper from Riverain Technologies, find out how image normalization can standardize CT images, making them easier to analyze and interpret.
- Elevating Breast Cancer Detection: Breast Suite from DeepHealth is a new package of AI-powered solutions delivering increased breast cancer detection rates, risk stratification tools, and viewing and reporting workflow acceleration. Find out how it can benefit your practice today.
- Transform Imaging Data into Actionable Predictions: When you choose Quibim, you get more than a partner for detecting and diagnosing prostate cancer on MRI scans. Learn how they can help you transform imaging data into actionable predictions by booking a demo today.
- The Power of a Smooth Go-Live: Don’t gamble on your healthcare institution’s go-live: take control of your PACS migration with ENDEX from Enlitic. Discover how ENDEX uses AI to standardize, normalize, and cleanse your imaging metadata before migration
- The Next Generation of Universal Remote Imaging: Step into the next generation of universal remote imaging with LUMINOS Q.namix R from Siemens Healthineers. Designed for intuitive operation and patient comfort, this award-winning system sets a new standard in fluoroscopy. Explore its precision and efficiency.
- AI Handheld Echo for Preoperative Assessment: Read this overview of an ASE 2025 paper on the feasibility of handheld echo equipped with Us2.ai software for assessing left ventricular diastolic dysfunction in preoperative patients and how it compared to cart-based systems.
- A New Era of Imaging Technology: MosaicOS is the cloud-native and AI-native operating system from Mosaic Clinical Technologies designed to expand capacity, cut reporting time, and deliver faster, smarter patient care. Discover how it can improve your radiology operations today.
- Interpretation Efficiency in Radiology – A Critical Strategy: Healthcare institutions are at a critical stage, where an emphasis on interpretation efficiency needs to be a priority. Check out this white paper from Visage Imaging and Signify Research on strategies to optimize your interpretation efficiency.
- Bring Your Radiology AI into Your Clinical Workflows: CARPL enables healthcare providers and researchers to develop, test, and deploy their own AI models within existing clinical infrastructure. From seamless data ingestion and de-identification to model training, packaging, and live deployment, CARPL provides an end-to-end environment tailored for radiology.
- Workflow Orchestration to Revolutionize Imaging: Intelligent teleradiology solutions can combat radiologist shortages with smarter workflows that reduce burnout and improve patient care. Find out how workflow orchestration solutions from Merge are making it possible.
- Cut Repetitive Manual Tasks: Discover how Rad AI’s radiology reporting software helps you speak less and say more by reducing dictation times up to 50% and words dictated up to 90%. Join 9 of the top 10 radiology practices using Rad AI to improve efficiency.
- Optimize Radiology Workflows: Harness cloud and AI technology to help your radiology teams unlock insights, increase efficiencies, and improve patient care. Learn more about an integrated approach to AI in radiology in this e-book from Microsoft.
- A Passion for Change: United Imaging’s passion for change was on display at RSNA 2025 with the launch of new products across multiple modalities, including the new uSonique ultrasound family shown as works-in-progress. Find out what drives the company on this page.
- Connected Imaging. Empowered Flow: Know those rare and indescribable moments at work when distractions melt away? AGFA HealthCare’s Enterprise Imaging Platform is designed to keep you in that hyper-focused state of mind all day long. Learn more about their solutions today.
- AI-Centric Radiology Reporting: KailoAir is a new AI-centric radiology reporting solution from Kailo Medical that combines real-time voice dictation, AI-powered prior study analysis, and structured reporting in a seamless browser-based workspace. No installation and no compromise.
- Taking Flight at RSNA 2025: What were RSNA 2025 highlights at Mach7 Technologies? Watch this video to learn how the company debuted new customer engagement initiatives like the Flight Crew, as well their new Flamingo Architecture, to help customers achieve success.
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