Who is Radiology in 2017?

ACR’s annual analysis of the radiology workforce reveals telling trends about the profession, and this year’s survey has an especially powerful finding: the number of radiologists is expected to increase.

The 2017 ACR Commission on Human Resources Workforce Survey analyzes the anatomy of the radiology workforce and predicts hiring trends for the coming year. In 2017, researchers expect to see a 14.1% increase in hiring from 2016. The higher end of predicted job openings, 2,370, is a 68% increase from the number of hires made in 2012. In the infographic below, we highlight some of the noteworthy data from this year’s survey.

Background
Practice leaders completed an electronic survey asking them to self-identify their type of practice and the makeup of their groups. Twenty-six percent of practice leaders responded to the survey, which the ACR deemed to represent 33% of all practicing radiologists in the United States. This was a decrease in the 39% of practicing radiologists represented in the 2015 and 2016 studies.

Women
The makeup of females in radiology continues to be a topic of discussion. About 21% of radiologists are female, 8% of which are practice leaders. This is not statistically significant when compared with the gender distribution of all full-time radiologists, according to the study.

Age and Retirement
Radiologists continue to pay close attention to retirement trends. A quarter of practice leaders reported having a radiologist retire in 2017, and 50% of retirees were older than 65. Sixty-two percent of all radiologists are between the ages of 35 and 55.

Subspecialty
Since 2012, the percentage of general radiologists has dropped significantly: 32.5% of radiologists reporting as general radiologists in 2012 and only 10.4% reporting as general radiologists in 2017. Body imagers make up the largest subspecialty, general interventional radiology and neuroradiology are close seconds.

Notable Trends
Other notable trends, according to the study authors, is the number of part-time radiologists (16%) and the number of practices employing part-time radiologists (76%). Researchers also attribute increasing consolidation to the decrease in the number of practices registered with the Practice of Radiology Environment Database.
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