Aug. 4, 2026 — A new study from the Harvey L. Neiman Health Policy Institute found that the time between an imaging scan and its interpretation for office/hospital outpatient imaging increased 27% between 2023 and 2024. The study, based on 2.9 million office/hospital outpatient Medicare imaging studies, published in the Journal of the American College of Radiology, was an update to previous Neiman Institute study of turnaround times through 2023.
Extending the Medicare claims analysis through 2024 with data released this year, the authors found that turnaround times increased 177% over the 2014-2024 period with 92% of that increase occurring in the 2022-2024 period. The previous study found that turnaround times increased 113% over the 2014-2023 period with 87% of that increase occurring in 2022 and 2023.
“The finding that turnaround times continued to increase in 2024, on top of the sharp increase in 2023, tells us this is a genuine, persistent trend. Turnaround times were largely flat through 2021 and then climbed sharply each year since, especially in 2023 and 2024,” stated Eric Christensen, PhD, Research Director at the Neiman Institute and study senior author. “Overall, the 2024 percentage increases in turnaround times were less (27%) than in 2023 (60%) but this in part reflects a comparison to an already elevated rate.”
“It's striking is that these increases were already measurable well before radiologists began anecdotally reporting the problem in 2024,” said Christoph Wald, MD, Professor of Radiology at the Mayo Clinic, Chair Board of Chancellors of the American College of Radiology, and study coauthor.
“With radiologists already in short supply amidst rising imaging utilization, our results amplify existing concerns about the ability of the current and future radiologist workforce to provide patients with timely results without a solution to dampen growing imaging demand,” stated Greg Nicola, MD, Hackensack Radiology Group, Vice Chair Board of Chancellors of the American College of Radiology, and study coauthor.
Imaging Modality
The authors found that turnaround time increases varied by modality with increases over the 2023-2024 period of 49.1% for ultrasound, 35.4% for radiography/fluoroscopy, 11.6% for CT, and 4.5% for MR. While the 2024 increases for CT and MR were the smallest, the increases over the 2014-2024 period were largest for CT (381%) and MR (278%) compared with radiography/fluoroscopy, which was the smallest (126%).
“Why the trends differ by modality is unknown,” said Dr. Wald. “It is possible that practice leaders may have made operational adjustments to mitigate increases and prioritized CT and MR. But even so, turnaround times continued to climb, suggesting that adjustments weren’t sufficient to overcome the underlying trend.”
October 05, 2026 
