Radiology training stalls

The number of new radiologists entering U.S. training has barely kept up with population growth, even as imaging demand rises and workforce shortages persist. (theimagingwire.com) A Journal of the American College of Radiology analysis cited by The Imaging Wire found radiology residency positions rose 33% from 1,090 in 2010 to 1,449 in 2025, while total U.S. residency positions grew 69% over the same period. The total number of radiology residents increased 23%, from 4,584 in 2010 to 5,630 in 2024. (theimagingwire.com) The same analysis found practicing radiologists increased 12%, from about 34,300 in 2010 to 38,300 in 2022, and the ratio per 100,000 people was nearly flat at 11.1 to 11.5. The report said the training pipeline “has barely kept pace” with U.S. population growth. (theimagingwire.com) Radiologists are the doctors who read scans such as CT and MRI and often guide needles into small targets during biopsies. When too few are available, hospitals can see longer waits for imaging reads, image-guided procedures, and subspecialty coverage. (acr.org) The American College of Radiology said in February 2026 that radiology workforce shortages and rising imaging volume remain a major practice challenge. It cited a federal Health Resources and Services Administration projection that physician supply would meet 88% of demand in 2038, with radiology at 90% adequacy. (acr.org) For cytology services, the pinch point is often the image-guided fine-needle aspiration, a biopsy that uses a thin needle to collect cells from a mass. Many of those procedures depend on radiology scheduling, radiologist time, and same-day coordination with cytopathology. (aapc.com, houstonmethodist.org) Rapid on-site evaluation, or ROSE, is the quick adequacy check done during a biopsy to see whether the sample is usable before the patient leaves. Pathology references describe ROSE as a way to reduce nondiagnostic sampling, cut repeat procedures, and triage material for molecular tests or flow cytometry. (pathologyoutlines.com, pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov) That makes radiology capacity a practical issue for pathology labs, not just an imaging workforce story. If scanner slots, procedure rooms, or interventional radiologists get harder to book, cytology teams can end up juggling more add-on cases, more rescheduling, and more repeat biopsies when sampling is limited. (pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov, acsjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com) The training picture is not uniformly static year to year. NRMP data for March 2026 showed radiology programs offered 1,478 diagnostic and interventional radiology positions, up from 1,412 in 2025, but applicant counts and fill rates both slipped from recent peaks. (radiologybusiness.com, nrmp.org) The longer-range concern is that small annual gains do not change the basic math if demand keeps climbing faster than training capacity. The same workforce projections cited by ACR estimate imaging growth through 2055 ranging from 17% for MRI to 25% for CT if current trends hold. (acr.org, jacr.org) The policy ask in the JACR analysis was more federal support for radiology training slots, including Medicare-backed positions tied to medical imaging. Until that changes, the bottleneck is likely to show up first in appointment books, procedure schedules, and the handoffs between radiology and cytology that keep biopsies diagnostic on the first pass. (theimagingwire.com, pathologyoutlines.com)