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Gus Iversen, Editor in Chief | July 09, 2026
Interventional radiology-related work has become increasingly concentrated among a smaller share of U.S. radiologists over the past 15 years, according to a study published in the Journal of Vascular and Interventional Radiology.
Researchers from the Harvey L. Neiman Health Policy Institute analyzed Medicare claims from 46,533 radiologists, representing 476,688 radiologist-years between 2008 and 2023. They found that the proportion of radiologists performing any interventional radiology (IR)-related work declined from 66.9% in 2008 to 49.6% in 2023.
At the same time, radiologists who continued to perform IR-related procedures devoted a larger share of their practice to that work. The percentage whose workload consisted primarily of IR-related services increased from 12.6% to 18.5% over the study period. Those with more than 90% of their work tied to IR more than doubled, rising from 4.1% to 8.8%.
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“These temporal trends coincide with IR’s evolution from a procedural component of diagnostic radiology to a clinically oriented specialty providing minimally invasive, image-guided therapies for a wide-range of vascular and nonvascular disease,” said Luke Wilkins, professor of vascular and interventional radiology at the University of Virginia and the study's lead author.
The authors noted that the introduction of integrated IR/diagnostic radiology residency programs in 2016 may have contributed to the changing distribution of IR-related work.
Among radiologists performing IR-related services in 2023, younger physicians aged 25 to 34 were more likely than those age 65 and older to have practices dominated by IR work. However, researchers found that the increase in highly concentrated IR practice occurred across age groups, with older radiologists showing a steeper rise in supermajority IR workloads.
Similar trends were observed across academic and nonacademic practices, urban and rural settings, and practices of varying sizes.
The researchers said the findings underscore the continued need for flexibility in practice models. While IR has become more specialized since gaining formal recognition as a specialty, many physicians continue to maintain mixed IR and diagnostic radiology roles rather than practicing exclusively in interventional radiology.
