Top Problems in Radiology

A ranked assessment of the structural failures facing diagnostic radiology — ranked by patient reach and monetary cost, and sourced from peer-reviewed journals, medical societies, and federal data.

Severity Index
P + M

References

  1. American Medical Association. "Medicare Physician Payment Has Plummeted Since 2001." AMA, 2025.
  2. American Medical Association. "Prior Authorization Requirements, Burden, and Delay Survey 2024." AMA, 2024.
  3. Association for Advancing Physician and Provider Recruitment. Physician Recruitment Benchmarking Report 2024. AAPPR, 2024.
  4. Banerjee, Imon, et al. "Reading Race: AI Recognises Patient's Racial Identity in Medical Images." Journal of the American College of Radiology 20, no. 8 (2023): 776–785.
  5. Beesley, Brent, et al. "FIND: An Automated Follow-Up and Notification Dashboard for Radiology Findings." Journal of Imaging Informatics in Medicine 36 (2023): 894–902.
  6. Berlin, Leonard. "Failure of Radiologic Communication: An Increasing Cause of Malpractice Litigation and Harm to Patients." Applied Radiology 39, no. 5 (2010): 17–23.
  7. Berlin, Leonard. "Malpractice and Radiologists." American Journal of Roentgenology 189, no. 6 (2007): 1238–1246.
  8. Brenner, David J., and Eric J. Hall. "Computed Tomography — An Increasing Source of Radiation Exposure." New England Journal of Medicine 357, no. 22 (2007): 2277–2284.
  9. Bruno, Michael A., William A. Walker, and Hani H. Abujudeh. "Understanding and Confronting Our Mistakes: The Epidemiology of Error in Radiology and Strategies for Error Reduction." RadioGraphics 35, no. 6 (2015): 1668–1676.
  10. Eberth, Jan M. "Lung Cancer Screening in Rural America." RSNA News, June 2021.
  11. Forsberg, Danielle, et al. "Radiologist Workload Trends: Analysis of 46.4 Million Exams Across 167 Practices." Journal of the American College of Radiology 22, no. 3 (2025).
  12. The Imaging Wire. "FDA Radiology AI Clearance Tracker." The Imaging Wire, March 2026.
  13. Itri, Jason N., and Larry A. Yeh. "Recognizing and Preventing Errors in Diagnostic Radiology." RadioGraphics 38, no. 6 (2018): 1719–1731.
  14. Kaiser Family Foundation. "Medicare Advantage Prior Authorization: Analysis of CMS Prior Authorization Data, 2021–2023." KFF, January 2025.
  15. Kohli, Marc, and Ronilda Lacson. "Radiology AI Deployment and Assessment Rubric (RADAR)." npj Digital Medicine 5, no. 1 (2022): 1–5.
  16. Koontz, Nicholas A., et al. "Mobile Imaging Units as a Solution to Rural Radiology Access Gaps." Journal of the American College of Radiology 21, no. 8 (2024): 1234–1241.
  17. Krevsky, Benjamin, et al. "The Impact of Prior Authorization on Patient Access and Clinical Outcomes." PMC / National Library of Medicine, 2024.
  18. Larson, Paul A., et al. "Actionable Findings and the Radiology Report." Radiology 262, no. 2 (2012): 393–399.
  19. McDonald, Elizabeth S., et al. "Racial Disparities in Diagnostic Delay Among Women with Breast Cancer." Journal of the American College of Radiology 18, no. 11 (2021): 1520–1528.
  20. Moy, Ernest, et al. "Imaging Use in the United States: Disparities by Race/Ethnicity and Insurance Status." Journal of the American College of Radiology 19, no. 1 (2022): 53–61.
  21. National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements. Ionizing Radiation Exposure of the Population of the United States. NCRP Report No. 160. Bethesda, MD: NCRP, 2009.
  22. Nicola, Gregory N., et al. "Radiologist Workforce Projections 2024–2055." Neiman Health Policy Institute, 2024.
  23. Ortega, Mario, et al. "Racial Disparities in Abdominal Imaging Utilization in Older Adults." PMC, 2025.
  24. PMC / NCI. "Socioeconomic Status and Imaging Access Delays in Oncology." PMC, 2025.
  25. Reyes, Andres M., et al. "Radiology Services Availability and Inter-Facility Transfer Rates in Rural Hospitals." PMC, 2017.
  26. Rouzrokh, Pouria, et al. "Mitigating Bias in Radiology Machine Learning: 1. Data Handling." Clinical Radiology 78, no. 2 (2023): 100–108.
  27. Siewert, Bettina, et al. "Trends in Radiology Workload and Reimbursement." Journal of the American College of Radiology, 2024.
  28. Smith-Bindman, Rebecca, et al. "Projected Cancer Risks From Computed Tomographic Scans Performed in the United States in 2023." JAMA Internal Medicine, April 14, 2025.
  29. Smith-Bindman, Rebecca, et al. "Radiation Dose Associated with Common Computed Tomography Examinations and the Associated Lifetime Attributable Risk of Cancer." Archives of Internal Medicine 169, no. 22 (2009): 2078–2086.
  30. Sodickson, Aaron, et al. "Recurrent CT, Cumulative Radiation Exposure, and Associated Radiation-Induced Cancer Risks from CT of Adults." Radiology 251, no. 1 (2009): 175–184.
  31. Waite, Sandra, et al. "Disparities in Breast Cancer Diagnostics: The Challenges and Approaches to Equal Care." Radiology 301, no. 2 (2021): 390–400.
  32. Waite, Scott, et al. "Tired in the Reading Room: The Influence of Fatigue in Radiology." American Journal of Roentgenology 208, no. 2 (2017): 247–254.
  33. Yun, Brian J., et al. "Trends in Radiology Practice Consolidation and Financial Impact, 2014–2023." American Journal of Roentgenology 223, no. 4 (2024).