Increasing—Yet Varying—Radiologist Workforce Attrition Across Subspecialties

<b>Background:</b> Prior work identified greater workforce attrition among subspecialist radiologists than among generalist radiologists. Further variation among subspecialties could yield gaps in patient access to subspecialty radiologic care. <b>Objective:</b> To evaluate associations of individual radiologist subspecialties with workforce attrition. <b>Methods:</b> This retrospective study used a subset of subspecialist radiologists (analyzed by individual radiologist-year observations) from an earlier study of a national sample of Medicare-enrolled radiologists from 2014 to 2022. The prior analysis determined radiologist characteristics, practice characteristics, and designations of radiologist attrition (i.e., a clinically active radiologist's workforce exit based on lack of subsequent claims in a Medicare fee-for-service-dataset or a commercial, Medicare Advantage, and Medicaid dataset). The present analysis assigned radiologists to one of seven subspecialities (abdominal imaging, breast imaging, cardiothoracic imaging, musculoskeletal imaging, neuroradiology, nuclear medicine, vascular and interventional radiology [VIR]) using Medicare fee-for-service claims data, weighted by work relative value units, and a classification based on the Neiman Imaging Types of Service. Independent associations with attrition were identified by multivariable logistic regression analysis. Nonlinear regression models were used to estimate attrition as a function of years of practice and thereby estimate mean career lengths. <b>Results:</b> The analysis included 159,490 radiologist-years for 29,770 subspecialist radiologists. The attrition rate over the study period was 2.2% and varied across subspecialties from 1.0% (VIR) to 4.3% (cardiothoracic imaging). Year-by-year attrition rates increased from 1.4% in 2014 to 2.7% in 2022 and also increased over time for each subspecialty (percentage-point increase ranging from 0.4% [musculoskeletal imaging] to 2.1% [cardiothoracic imaging]). Adjusted odds of attrition, compared with abdominal imaging, were significantly higher for breast imaging (OR=1.31) and cardiothoracic imaging (OR=1.81), significantly lower for VIR (OR=0.78), and not significantly different for other subspecialties. Mean estimated career length was 1.1 years and 1.5 years greater for men than for women among academic and nonacademic radiologists, respectively; these gender differences were smaller within individual subspecialties (academic: 0.4-0.6 years; nonacademic: 0.2-0.5 years). <b>Conclusion:</b> Attrition increased over time for each subspecialty but varied among subspecialties. <b>Clinical Impact:</b> Recruitment and retention initiatives are needed broadly across the workforce to avoid departure cycles that potentially exacerbate individual subspecialty shortages.