2007 survey of radiologists: practice characteristics, ownership, and affiliation with imaging centers

The ACR conducts periodic surveys to assess the status of radiologists and their practices. The most recent survey was in 2007. One purpose of the survey was to obtain up-to-date data on top-line parameters on radiologists and their practices. That is the focus of this article, the first of two JACR articles highlighting the survey's findings. The 2007 survey was a stratified random-sample telephone quota survey of ACR radiologist members and practice leaders conducted in May and June 2007. In total, 601 responses were received from currently practicing radiologists. The response rate was 20%, and the margin of error was +/-4.3% at the 95% confidence level. Survey results presented in this article fall into 3 areas, which include characteristics of radiologists and their practices, ownership of imaging equipment, and the affiliation of radiologists with nonhospital imaging centers. Some highlights are as follows: interventional radiology and neuroradiology were the most frequently reported subspecialties; the mean practice size was 20 full-time radiologists; radiologists worked an average of 50 hours per week, took 8 weeks of vacation per year, and performed 14,000 imaging studies annually; slightly more than half of radiologists owned imaging equipment, with magnetic resonance and computed tomographic scanners being the most likely equipment to be owned; nearly one-half said that they had equity interest in centers, 36% provided services to centers under contract, fewer than 5% were employees of centers, and the remaining nearly one-third reported no affiliation of any kind.