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Some Rads Are Working Harder, AI’s Value, and Missed Screenings
January 12, 2026
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Together with
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“Our model suggests that radiologist job loss due to AI is unlikely in the next 5 years. The productivity gains from AI are likely to be offset by continued growth in imaging volumes, causing continued growth in the need for radiologists, albeit at a slower rate.”
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Curtis Langlotz, MD, PhD, in a new analysis of AI’s impact on radiologists’ workload.
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If you feel like you’re working harder than your colleagues, you might not be wrong. New data on changes in imaging volume in the U.S. before and after the COVID-19 pandemic show that while volume grew faster than the supply of radiologists, those reading the most imaging exams shouldered most of the burden.
Medical imaging volume has become a closely watched barometer as radiologists struggle to manage a rising tide of imaging exams with a workforce that’s largely stagnant.
- Various technologies – especially AI – have been suggested as possible solutions by enabling radiologists to work more efficiently and churn out more cases per day.
The COVID-19 pandemic complicated efforts to track imaging volume over time, as exam volumes dropped dramatically in 2020 before eventually rebounding.
- So how much is imaging volume growing, and how hard are radiologists working to meet demand?
The new JACR study compared imaging volumes, radiologist workforce growth, and corresponding workload for 1.6k radiologists from 167 U.S. practices before and after the pandemic (December 2017 to February 2024). The researchers found…
- Imaging exam volume grew 31% over the entire seven-year period, at a 4.6% compound annual growth rate.
- The number of working radiologists grew 24%, at a CAGR of 3.6%.
- There was little change in the overall number of exams radiologists read per day over the study period (49.1 vs. 49.4 exams).
- But the top quartile of radiologists by reading volume was reading 31% more exams/day by the end of the study (from 57 to 74 exams).
- While bottom-quartile radiologists saw their productivity decline 32% (from 79 to 54 exams).
As a side note, researchers concluded that the COVID-19 pandemic ultimately had a “modest effect” on the number of working radiologists, although rates of part-time work were higher during the pandemic.
The Takeaway
The new findings on imaging volume and radiologist productivity have fascinating implications. In aggregate, it seems that radiologists are keeping pace with rising volumes. But a closer look shows that the burden is falling disproportionately on those radiologists who are most productive – a trend that contributes to burnout among the very professionals the discipline should be working hardest to keep.
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AI Tools for Lung Cancer Screening
CT lung cancer screening is gaining momentum around the world. Learn about AI-based nodule detection tools that can improve the accuracy of low-dose CT scans in this video from Riverain Technologies.
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Cut Repetitive Manual Tasks
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- AI Will Reduce Radiologist Workloads: Meanwhile, a new economic modeling analysis led by Stanford University’s Curtis Langlotz, MD, PhD, predicts that AI will meaningfully reduce radiologist workloads. The preprint article on medRxiv analyzed published studies on AI utilization to conclude that AI will reduce radiologist work hours by 33% (range of 14-49%) in five years. AI’s biggest impact will be on radiology report drafting for all imaging modalities, followed by exam triage in radiography and mammography. But radiologists’ jobs are still secure due to growing volume (see above).
- AI Reduces Breast Screening Workload: In a similar vein, Norwegian researchers in European Radiology found that using AI instead of a second radiologist to double-read screening mammograms would cut workloads by 50%. They analyzed radiologist workloads in the BreastScreen Norway program, finding that using a radiologist and AI instead of double reading would cut in half the number of radiologist work-years required to read mammograms (from 6.5 to 3.3 years). More aggressive use of AI – such as for case triage – could cut workloads even further.
- 50 Years of CT Innovation: This year marks a historic milestone for Canon – five decades of pioneering CT innovation that has transformed the landscape of healthcare. From introducing industry-first technologies to setting new standards in diagnostic imaging, Canon continues to lead the way in delivering solutions that matter. Learn more about the CT technologies the company is developing in this article.
- Physician Shortage Strains U.S. Healthcare: U.S. healthcare is under strain from the ongoing physician shortage, a situation only likely to worsen in coming years. A report from recruiting firm Medicus outlines how an aging population and stagnant workforce are putting pressure on physicians, with areas like rural healthcare particularly at risk. While radiology is one of Medicus’ 10 most-searched specialties (a sign of high demand), the field does not rank among those with the highest burnout rates (neurology, urology, emergency medicine, and family medicine).
- HeartLung Gets Clearance for AI-CVD: HeartLung received FDA clearance for AI-CVD, the company’s flagship AI opportunistic screening solution that analyzes chest and abdominal CT scans for multiple conditions, ranging from heart disease to stroke to osteoporosis. AI-CVD can be used to analyze CT scans acquired for other clinical indications, and is applicable to nearly 40M CT scans performed annually in the U.S. HeartLung sees AI-CVD as leading a shift in CT use from a diagnostic tool into a more preventive role.
- FDA Clears New Siemens Helium-Free MRI: The FDA cleared a new helium-free MRI platform from Siemens Healthineers that has a wider magnet bore than previous models. Magnetom Flow. is a 1.5T platform with 70cm bores, an upgrade from other Siemens helium-free scanners, which include the 1.5T Magnetom Flow.Ace (60cm) and the 0.55T Magnetom Free. The scanners require only 0.7 liters of liquid helium for cooling, versus over 1k liters for conventional MRI magnets, and don’t require quench pipes.
- Medicaid Cuts and Cancer Screening: The One Big Beautiful Bill Act’s Medicaid work requirements will dramatically affect cancer screening over the next two years. That’s according to a JAMA Oncology study estimating that 405.7k women will miss mammography screenings, resulting in 1.1k undetected breast cancers leading to 70 additional deaths. Some 67.2k lung cancer screening exams will be missed, leading to 538 undetected cancers and 35 deaths. The numbers are even higher for colorectal cancer, at 679.7k missed screenings, 748 undetected cancers, and 50 excess deaths.
- How Accurate Are Breast Screening TikTok Videos? A new analysis of TikTok videos about breast screening found that – shockingly – videos created by physicians and private clinics were more reliable than those of non-physicians. In a new study in Clinical Imaging, researchers used the DISCERN tool to analyze the quality of 75 TikTok videos, finding 36% higher mean scores for those created by physicians than non-physicians (3.12 vs. 2.29). Videos based on the creator’s personal experience scored the lowest.
- AI Improves Accuracy: Using AI to detect cervical spine fractures on CT scans improved radiologist accuracy with only a marginal expense increase in a new study in European Radiology. Researchers analyzed radiologist performance with and without Aidoc’s AI algorithm in 2.3k patients. They found that by catching 23 fractures radiologists missed, AI improved sensitivity 11 percentage points (from 88% to 99%) and boosted specificity to 100%. The cost of more accurate diagnoses was a total of €60.1k ($70.3k), or €26 ($30) per patient.
- Carestream Splits in Two: Carestream Health has undergone another corporate transformation, splitting into two separate businesses after selling its international operations to Chinese technology company Midea Group. Carestream will retain the company’s U.S. operations, as well as film manufacturing in Mexico and film operations in China. Its other international operations will operate as Carestream Healthcare International under Midea’s ownership.
- RefleXion Upgrade Gets FDA Nod: Radiation therapy company RefleXion Medical received FDA clearance for the newest generation of its PET-guided treatment platform. RefleXion X2 with Scintix has wide field-of-view PET detectors that quadruple the system’s field of view (from 5 to 20 cm) and support 20X the sensitivity of the previous version, a key feature as the technology uses PET data to direct radiation beams to tumors for more precise treatment. The X1 version got FDA clearance in 2023.
- Flywheel Closes $27.5M Funding Round: Flywheel closed a $27.5M funding round in December that capped what the company said was a successful year as it expanded from its original focus on supporting core lab research and into an enterprise image management platform for clinical trials, medical device development, and AI innovation. During the year the company added video viewing and annotation tools, and recently launched Flywheel Validated to help researchers analyze clinical trial imaging data while maintaining regulatory compliance.
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A New Direction at Mach7
Enterprise imaging company Mach7 Technologies has embarked on a new direction with recently appointed CEO Teri Thomas at the helm. Learn about the new focus in this Imaging Wire Show.
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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. Download this white paper from Visage Imaging and Signify Research on strategies to optimize your interpretation efficiency.
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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.
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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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- 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.
- Solving Burnout through Teleradiology: Is your radiology staff facing burnout? Check out this case study to find out how Northern Light Medical Management addressed burnout with teleradiology solutions from Merge.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
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- Reimagining Cloud-Native Cardiology Workflow: Find out how Intelerad’s next-generation cloud-based InteleHeart solution delivers an all-in-one cardiology platform that unifies viewing, reporting, analytics, and workflow orchestration.
- Mobile X-Ray Designed for Going Places: The Philips Radiography 7000 M mobile radiography system was designed for going places. Read how technologists at the University of Vermont Medical Center rely on its long battery life to go a whole shift without re-charging.
- Will Radiologists Lead or Be Led? Radiology is facing a defining moment. In this episode of The Radiology Report, host Daniel Arnold of Medality sat down with Frank Lexa, MD, to talk candidly about what comes next for the specialty.
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