Last week the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services posted a tentative Physician Fee Schedule for 2023. Initial reactions from radiology were muted. That changed this Wednesday.

“CMS couldn’t have picked a worse time to cut Medicare payments to physicians,” said RBMA Executive Director Bob Still.

To subspecialize or not to subspecialize? That’s a crucial question for radiology trainees who are finishing their residency but have yet to settle on a lifelong career path.

An analysis of CMS data has shown radiology had little to do with increases in Medicare costs over a 10-year period ending in 2019.

Unique to radiologists is that their workloads have not yet declined to the pre-pandemic levels seen in 2019 like other specialties have started to witness.

Diagnostic radiology saw its median compensation rise just 1.6% from 2020 to 2021. On the other hand, interventional radiology enjoyed a 9.9% raise. 

MRI techs earned an average of $76,177 in 2019 and are making $82,395 in 2022. In fact, radiologic technologists across all modalities enjoyed a collective raise of 11.2% during that window.

Harvard researchers have piloted a curriculum for instructing radiology trainees in the business of modern medicine. The teaching team says its program is adaptable by any academic radiology operation.