Defining the Pediatric Radiology Workforce in the United States Using Insurance Claims Data.

Abstract

Objective: To determine the number of pediatric radiologists in the United States using professional imaging claims of children between 2016 and 2023 in a private payor claims database.

Methods: From 2016 to 2023, using private payer claims data (Inovalon Insights, LLC), all claim lines for radiology professional services billed by radiologists were identified. Each claim was assigned a work relative value unit (wRVU) in accordance with the CMS valuation for the claim year. Each radiologist's pediatric and adult wRVUs were calculated annually (radiologist-year) and overall. Pediatric radiologists were defined by ≥50% pediatric wRVUs, with ≥25% and ≥75% thresholds tested as lower and upper limits.

Results: Among 109,077 unique radiologists (mean 46,315 unique practicing radiologists per year), 9,198 (8.4%) unique providers met the ≥50% pediatric wRVU threshold over the entire study period. Annual unique pediatric radiologist count decreased from 2,190 (2016) to 2,032 (2023), as did their proportion as a percentage of all radiologists, declining from 6.4% to 4.6%. Using the ≥25% and ≥75% thresholds, the number of unique pediatric radiologists identified for the entire study period was 13,532 (12.4%) and 7,456 (6.8%), respectively. The median percentage of wRVUs attributed to pediatric radiology among nonpediatric radiologists never rose above 0%, across all years and when using any of the three threshold percentages.

Conclusions: Using a large claims database, we identified US radiologists dedicating ≥50% of their professional effort to pediatric patients, revealing the number of pediatric radiologists declined from 2016 to 2023, despite rising demand for imaging services.