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Radiologist Training Stagnates, YouTube Wins, and Cochrane Questions
April 20, 2026
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Together with
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“Every mammogram should be supported by 3 different AIs for improved detection of cancer, prevention, and risk of heart disease. At no cost to patients.”
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Eric Topol, MD.
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Don’t miss our next webinar on Wednesday April 22 at 12 pm ET/9 am PT as we discuss new agentic AI solutions for improving radiology operations by streamlining the coordination work that goes into preparing every scan. We’ll be hearing from PocketHealth executives on why radiology is tailor-made for agentic AI.
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The number of new radiologists being trained in the U.S. has largely stagnated, even as concerns grow over workforce shortages. A new analysis in JACR underscores the challenges facing efforts to train more radiologists to meet the rising volume of imaging exams.
The growing imbalance between the radiologist workforce and surging imaging volume has been generating headlines as frontline radiologists struggle with overwork and burnout.
- And a recent effort to boost the number of U.S. physicians by adding federal funding for more resident training slots has overlooked radiology, which is getting few of the new positions being offered.
In the new study, researchers analyzed the number of U.S. resident positions in diagnostic and interventional radiology using data from the NRMP, ACGME, and other sources, finding…
- The number of radiology residency positions grew 33% from 2010 to 2025 (from 1,090 to 1,449), while total medical residency positions grew 69%.
- The total number of radiology residents rose 23% from 2010 to 2024 (from 4,584 to 5,630).
- But the number of practicing radiologists only grew 12% from 2010 to 2022 (from 34.3k to 38.3k).
- And the ratio of radiologists per 100k population was stagnant (from 11.1 to 11.5 radiologists).
It’s this last number that’s key to the analysis. Over the last 15 years, the ratio of radiologists to the U.S. population has barely changed, even as imaging exams become more complex.
- And even more importantly, the Baby Boom generation has aged and now requires more healthcare services per capita – including imaging – relative to when they were younger (a previous study found the average radiologist workload doubled from 2008 to 2018).
The researchers conclude that the radiologist training pipeline “has barely kept pace” with the increasing U.S. population, and when coupled with growing complexity and per capita imaging use, this raises questions about the sustainability of increasing imaging utilization.
- They recommend more federal support for radiologist training positions, perhaps through Medicare programs that specifically target medical imaging.
The Takeaway
The new study on stagnant radiologist training gives ammunition to radiology advocates who are lobbying for more federal funding to expand radiology residency slots. The question is whether anyone is listening.
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Address Your Imaging Needs Today
With so many options at their disposal, imaging leaders must navigate to the solutions that meet their needs today and set them up for success tomorrow. Discover how solutions from Merge can help you achieve your vision.
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Driving Efficiency in Radiology
Radiology’s workforce is under pressure. Discover evidence-based strategies for driving efficiency without burning out your staff in this e-book from Riverain Technologies.
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Reimagining Radiology Operations
Kailo Medical’s KailoFlow reimagines radiology operations. By combining intelligent automation, modular AI-driven insights, and seamless integration, KailoFlow empowers radiology teams to work faster, smarter, and more consistently. Request a demo today.
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- YouTube Wins for Radiology Education: YouTube was the social media platform used most for radiology education by a wide majority of respondents to a new survey in Current Problems in Diagnostic Radiology. Of the 320 respondents, 73% said they used YouTube the most to learn about radiology, with Instagram (49%) and Facebook (39%) also highly mentioned. In all, 80% of respondents said they use social media daily or several times a week, and many said they learned more from social media than traditional sources.
- Cochrane Questions Alzheimer’s Drugs: Research review group the Cochrane Collaboration appears to have found a new target. The group last week published a meta-analysis claiming that the new generation of anti-amyloid Alzheimer’s drugs “show no clinically meaningful effect.” The negative review could impact use of the drugs, and by extension imaging exams for beginning and monitoring treatment. But the group’s influence appears to have waned over the years amid questions about whether its methodologies – such as its grouping of failed anti-amyloid drugs with approved ones in the new study – accurately reflect real-world medical practice.
- PET Predicts Breast Cancer Treatment Response: PET scans performed as soon as two weeks after treatment starts can predict response in breast cancer patients. In the IMPACT-MBC study in JAMA Oncology, researchers performed FDG-PET scans in 200 patients with metastatic breast cancer at two weeks, finding that those without progressive disease on PET had longer median progression-free survival (19 vs. 4 months) and longer overall survival (39 vs. 19 months). PET could improve use of standard CT for assessing patient outcomes.
- ACP Backs Conservative Mammo Guidelines: The American College of Physicians last week released new guidelines on mammography screening that are largely identical to the conservative approach the group previously backed. While some of the verbiage is new, the ACP still only recommends biennial screening mammography for average-risk women ages 50-74, while advising that women 40 to 49 should discuss breast screening with their doctors. The ACP’s position on screening women in their 40s conflicts with most other medical societies, as well as the USPSTF’s most recent screening update in 2024.
- ScreenPoint Raises $16M: ScreenPoint Medical raised $16M in a funding round intended to fuel the next phase of the company’s growth, including further penetration of the U.S. market for its Transpara Breast AI solutions. The funding includes $14M from existing investors Siemens Healthineers and Insight Partners, and comes as ScreenPoint rides a wave of positive research studies for Transpara, including papers in The Lancet, Nature Medicine, and npj Digital Medicine.
- Patients Reject Doc Grading Criteria: Clinicians shouldn’t be graded on how many of their patients attend screening exams like mammography. That’s according to patients surveyed in a JAMA Health Forum study that assessed screening rates as a performance metric for grading physicians. In all, 1.9k people responded to the survey, with 51% saying doctors shouldn’t be scored using patient screening rates, while 21% said they should. Screening rates have been proposed as a metric to encourage guideline-concordant care – a proposal that patients seem to oppose.
- Lunit Touts Americas Growth at SBI 2026: Lunit’s 2024 acquisition of Volpara was intended to jump-start the company’s penetration of the U.S. market, and at last week’s SBI 2026, Lunit offered evidence of the effort’s success. In the past year, Lunit has expanded to over 330 screening sites in the Americas, supporting 1M mammograms annually. The company also announced FDA clearance of version 1.2 of its Insight DBT AI algorithm, which supports comparisons with prior images and has three selectable thresholds for sensitivity and specificity.
- DBT’s (Lack of) Economic Variation: In good news for breast screening, a new JACR study found little variation in digital breast tomosynthesis availability between rich and poor neighborhoods. In a survey of 220 facilities in neighborhoods with different area deprivation index ratings, 92% reported having a DBT system, and there was no statistically significant difference between low and high ADI neighborhoods (89% vs. 94%, p = 0.178). But more low-deprivation areas offered DBT on weekends (50% vs. 23%), and were also more likely to offer online self-scheduling.
- GE, DeepHealth Expand Mammo AI Alliance: GE HealthCare and DeepHealth have expanded the mammography AI alliance they first debuted in 2024. Under the expansion, the companies will collaborate internationally in matching GE’s Pristina Via mammography system with DeepHealth’s Breast Suite cloud-based mammography AI offerings. The agreement also covers new DeepHealth applications like ProFound Pro for breast cancer detection and automated density assessment, as well as Safeguard Review, an optional AI-powered workflow that flags suspicious cases that could benefit from secondary review.
- Paltry Payments for Radiology Research: With federal research funding drying up in the U.S., researchers are looking to alternative sources. Unfortunately, radiology’s share of industry-funded research is small and getting smaller. A new analysis in JACR found that in 2024, radiology only garnered 1.06% ($90.4M) of total industry-funded research, and that share had fallen since 2019 (1.34%). In radiology’s hottest sector – artificial intelligence – AI-specific research payments to radiologists totaled just $1.04M, or 1.1% of all radiologist payments, which could impact AI’s clinical effectiveness.
- Radiopharma Therapy Grows 20X: U.S. procedure volume for radiopharmaceutical therapy has grown 20X over the past 10 years, evidence of growing interest in theranostics. In a new analysis, researchers tracked radiopharmaceutical therapy use in Medicare from 2013 to 2023, finding that volume grew over the period (from 529 to 12.4k procedures), a 37% compound annual growth rate. By specialty, most of the use was in diagnostic and interventional radiology (45%), followed by nuclear medicine (37%) and radiation oncology (15%).
- Elucid Launches Lesion Tool for Plaque-IQ: Elucid released new functionality for its Plaque-IQ software that helps clinicians better visualize coronary and carotid plaque lesions. The Lesion Inspection Tool enables physicians to inspect lesion composition and plaque burden in vessels that can complement overall plaque metrics and quantify features like lipid-rich necrotic core that can indicate higher risk of rupture.
- 3DR Labs Partners with Combinostics: 3DR Labs partnered with Combinostics to make that company’s brain quantification solutions available within 3DR’s AI Labs platform. Combinostics developed the cMRI, cDSI, cPET, and cDAT software for analyzing and quantifying neurological conditions like dementia and multiple sclerosis, and clinicians will be able to use Combinostics’ offerings within their existing workflows thanks to the partnership.
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Accelerating Imaging Workflows in Radiology and Cardiology
Radiology and cardiology are turning to enterprise imaging platforms to break out of silos and benefit from shared medical image management. Join AGFA HealthCare to discover what this looks like in a live discussion on Tuesday, May 19 at 12 pm ET.
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Power at the Point of Care
The uDR 380i Pro from United Imaging is a high-performing and agile mobile X-ray system with an ultra-narrow body design, a high-voltage generator, and the uVision Remote Console that redefines the workflow for point of care imaging.
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An Early Detection Pathway for ATTR-CM
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- Five Years Into the Cloud – And Just Getting Started: John Muir Health in California needed help dealing with its data deluge, which became acute with the adoption of 3D breast tomosynthesis. Find out how they turned to Sectra and their cloud-based enterprise imaging management for a solution.
- A Comprehensive Suite of Tools in a Single Platform: UnityVue from Mach7 Technologies offers a comprehensive suite of tools in a single platform, streamlining the entire radiology process from image acquisition to reporting. Discover what it can do for you today.
- Next-Generation 1.5T MRI: Echelon Synergy from Fujifilm Healthcare Americas is a powerful and affordable next-generation 1.5T MRI system featuring Synergy DLR deep-learning reconstruction, fast exam times, and patient-friendly design. Discover how it can help you achieve faster workflow and improved image quality.
- A Breakthrough in Imaging Data Standardization: Enlitic’s Ensight 2.2 is a breakthrough in imaging data standardization that gives health systems a clearer, more detailed understanding of imaging data, accelerating the path from implementation to impact. Find out what it can do for you today.
- Visit Visage at SIIM 2026: At this year’s SIIM 2026, Visage Imaging will demonstrate its Visage 7 solution operating across the entire Apple ecosystem, including on Apple Silicon-powered workstations with multiple Studio Display XDRs. Book a priority demo today.
- 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.
- Lights, Camera, Action! Philips in The Pitt: The Philips Radiography 7000 M mobile X-ray system played a role as a key imaging tool within the emergency department in a recent episode of HBO’s medical drama “The Pitt.” Find out how it can star in your imaging facility.
- 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.
- From Radiology Resident to Company Founder: In this episode of Medality’s The Radiology Report Podcast, Dor Shoshan, MD, founder and CEO of ContrastConnect, shares how he went from radiology resident to founder of a platform for virtual contrast supervision now used by hundreds of imaging centers nationwide.
- AI-Powered Population Health: DeepHealth is assembling radiology’s largest portfolio of AI-enabled radiology solutions for population health. Learn more about their focus and their recent acquisition of Gleamer in this video interview.
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- A Next-Generation Oncology Ecosystem: Quibim launched their next-generation oncology ecosystem platform at RSNA 2025. Find out how QP-Prostate provides a comprehensive, end-to-end management workflow for prostate cancer care, supporting clinicians from the earliest stages of image acquisition through diagnosis, patient management, and follow-up.
- Latency Is a Daily Tax: A two-second delay doesn’t sound like much, until it happens hundreds of times a day. Experience faster, modern radiology reporting. Book a demo with Rad AI to find out how much latency is costing you.
- What Can 3D Offer Your MSK and Trauma Workflow? Explore clinical applications and real-world insights in this whitepaper from Siemens Healthineers about distortion-free X-ray imaging in sagittal, coronal, and axial planes plus rendered bone volumes that can support confident diagnoses without magnification issues.
- Building Bridges Across Imaging Informatics: Visit Medicom at Booth #615 at SIIM 2026 to see how their automated workflows move every image to where it needs to go, connecting patients, providers, EHRs, and research teams without manual workarounds. Book your demo today.
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