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VA Probes Radiologist ‘Mass Exodus,’ FDA and Gen AI, and FDA Petition
August 20, 2026
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Together with
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“[T]he return to in-person work requirement was the ‘tipping point’ and contributed to the loss of radiologists. Specifically, the initial message that mandated a return to in-person work, ‘spooked’ the radiologists.”
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VA OIG report on radiologist turmoil at the Washington DC VA Medical Center.
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It seems like nobody’s happy with how the FDA is regulating AI these days … possibly even folks at the agency itself. But FDA staffers should look on the bright side – at least they’re not working at the VA right now. – Brian Casey, Managing Editor
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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.
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- The VA’s Growing Radiologist Gap: Just how many radiologists have left the Veterans Health Administration in the wake of the “return-to-office” debacle? A chart released by the VA’s Office of Inspector General (see above) provides some insight, showing a widening gap between monthly radiologist gains and losses since the January 2025 policy was announced. From January through September 2025, the VA system saw a net loss of 87 radiologists, representing 6% to 7% of the health system’s total workforce (estimated at 1.2k-1.5k radiologists).
- VA Hospital Hiring for Chief of Radiology: Meanwhile, the Washington DC VA Medical Center posted a job ad for a new chief of radiology to replace the previous chief, who left after the Trump administration banned remote work in federal offices. The requirements for the new position indicate that it is “telework eligible” on an ad hoc basis “as determined by the agency policy.”
- FDA Moves Toward Clarity on Gen AI: The FDA may be moving toward a clearer approach to how it regulates medical devices using generative AI. The agency this week published a discussion paper that outlines the considerations involved in a future regulatory approach, including risk assessment, AI evaluation, and lifecycle oversight, as well as foundation models and agentic AI. The agency has yet to clear any generative AI algorithms for radiology, although one company outside the specialty (UpDoc) claimed it was the first to get clearance, for its patient-facing generative AI algorithm.
- Mosaic’s FDA Petition on VLMs: Imaging vendors may be getting impatient waiting for the FDA to clarify its position on new AI technologies like generative AI and vision language models (VLMs). Mosaic Clinical Technologies this week filed a petition with the FDA asking the agency to “take action to clarify the regulatory status” of commercially available VLMs for medical image analysis. The FDA held meetings on generative AI regulation in November 2024, but no new rules have been forthcoming.
- Study Questions FDA AI Clearances: While we’re on the subject of AI regulation, a new paper in PLOS Digital Health questions the methodology the FDA uses to clear AI-enabled medical products. Researchers analyzed 1.4k authorizations for AI-based devices, finding that only 34 had been included in registered clinical trials, only 12 had results posted, and just three were tested on patient outcomes. “Clearance tells you a device resembles something already on the market. It does not tell you it helps anyone,” the authors concluded.
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- FDA Approves Lantheus Alzheimer’s PET Agent: Lantheus received FDA approval for Tauklarify (florquinitau fluorine-18), a PET radiopharmaceutical for detecting tau neurofibrillary tangle accumulation related to Alzheimer’s disease in adults with cognitive impairment. Lantheus gained rights to the agent through its 2023 acquisition of Cerveau Technologies, which was developing it as MK-6240. The approval expands Lantheus’ portfolio of commercialized PET agents as it prepares to be acquired by Curium for up to $8B.
- Cortechs PET AI Gets Clearance: Clinicians are getting a new AI solution for analyzing PET exams following FDA clearance of NeuroQuant PET from Cortechs.ai. The algorithm provides automated quantification and regional analysis of PET data from amyloid tracers for assessing cognitive impairment and other neurological conditions, while also supporting structured reporting. NeuroQuant PET joins other applications in Cortechs’ portfolio like NeuroQuant for MRI.
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