The number of active diagnostic radiologists is expected to decline in the next decade as a slight majority become eligible for retirement.¹ Their departure will only worsen an existing gap between growing healthcare needs and a shrinking talent pool to provide them.

“This gap between demand and supply of diagnostic radiologists has been going on for a while,” said BreAnne Buehl, Director of Healthcare and Life Sciences Solutions for VMware by Broadcom, a cloud computing and virtualization technology company that helps healthcare organizations modernize their IT infrastructure.

Radiology caseloads per full-time radiologist had already increased by some 78% between 2008 and 2018, according to Buehl, and hospitals expect a further caseload increase of more than 50% over the next three to five years. An aging population and greater emphasis on preventative care and early detection are driving demand for imaging services. At the same time, more radiologists are quitting due to job burnout, and fewer medical students are replacing them.

The answer to serving more patients with fewer diagnostic radiologists lies in advanced imaging technology that leverages the cloud, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to speed up the diagnostic process, reduce administrative burden and support an increasingly remote workforce. 

This kind of advanced technology can optimize the distribution of workloads and image interpretation among fewer radiologists. It can conduct more scans with fewer technicians and can even serve to recruit and retain talent.

“Radiology is one of the main revenue generators for a hospital and directly influences patient outcomes across nearly all disease areas, so efficiency improvements will go a long way,” Buehl pointed out. “Technologies that can reduce administrative work, like documentation, or speed up a diagnosis will be important.”

That also includes teleradiology solutions that can save hospitals considerable equipment- and human resource-related costs through contracting with remote radiologists or offering remote work options for their own radiology staff. Vendors like VMware by Broadcom are leading the way with network optimization tools such as SD-WANs and edge network intelligence solutions that empower newer IT solutions to work without interruption and scale as needed.

“In many ways, we have a chicken-and-egg issue,” Buehl said. Hospitals must invest in innovative technologies to help cut costs and fill resource gaps. At the same time, network improvements and AI integrations require their own upfront costs.

Buehl recognizes that some hospitals are better positioned to adopt these technologies than others, but says those who fail to invest will likely pay a price.

“I think we will see extreme pressures on current full-time employees and their expected workloads and turnaround times,” she said. “That’s going to lead to more burnout and, ultimately, more errors, because statistically, the more burnt out employees are, the more errors they make. We’ll see longer waiting times for patients and a dip in patient outcomes. We’ll see an upset in referral patterns, and, across the board, we’ll see hospital revenues continue to fall. So, there’s real potential for a snowball effect if we don’t include some interventions.”

Buehl does see some hospitals that are providing a blueprint for how to meet future patient care within all departments, including radiology. “I think once we see positive news and outcomes from those leaders, then the rest of the nation’s hospitals will have an easier time adopting what has been proven out across healthcare,” she concluded.

Reference

1. Henderson, M. May 10, 2022. Radiology facing a global shortage. Radiological Society of North America (RSNA). https://www.rsna.org/news/2022/may/global-radiologist-shortage.