To meet the rising demand for radiologists, systems are funding some of their own residency slots, Medscape reported Dec. 11.
Although a record number of medical students are pursuing radiology, a bottleneck of education training positions for radiology has remained flat for 30 years — preventing many from becoming radiologists.
“In 2023, there were 1,084 more applicants to diagnostic and interventional radiology than available positions, up from 570 excess applicants in 2020,” James Milburn, MD, vice-chair of the Ochsner Health Department of Radiology, New Orleans, told Medscape.
Some universities and systems are increasing residency positions, and most are self-funded.
"My own radiology department at the Ochsner Clinic has decided to self-fund two additional positions in recent years, and I believe this is an increasing trend in many hospitals," Dr. Milburn said. "Because so many of our faculty hires arise from our own residencies, departments should consider [funding] resident positions as a good way to improve the future recruitment pool."
These residency slots can cost an estimated $400,000 per four-year residency position. For now, it appears to be the only option for systems.
The American College of Radiology has proposed legislation in 2023 that would increase the number of federal funded residency positions by 2,000 annually for seven years, but, as yet, no progress on passing it has been made.