A workforce paper for imaging IT and radiology leaders dealing with burnout and subspecialty coverage gaps.
Burnout was first described in the 1970s and is still measured at high rates in radiology today. Rising exam volume, post-pandemic backlogs, less control over the worklist and isolation from peers are pushing radiologists to cut hours or leave altogether. At the same time, residency output stays roughly flat while imaging volume grows, so the gap widens from both ends.
Two responses dominate the conversation: AI triage, and the shift to remote or hybrid reading. This paper examines what each can and cannot do today, why decades-old PACS and proprietary workstations stand in the way of flexible coverage, and how a cloud-enabled, vendor-neutral reading model lets you staff subspecialty coverage across sites permanently instead of buying locum reads to cover gaps.