Everyone has heard the saying, “It’s all about money.” We at Medical Imaging were curious to see if the phrase holds true in this industry by compiling our first-ever salary survey.
Throughout May and June, we hosted a survey on our Web site that asked respondents to share information about demographics and compensation. The response was fantastic?thank you! More than 600 industry professionals, representing a more than 10% response rate, filled out the survey in full, and the findings are quite interesting.
The charts and graphs really tell the story here, but we’ve highlighted some of the results below. In the end, varied salaries, benefits, years of experience, job satisfaction, workload acceptance, and more were revealed in our first?and now annual?salary survey.
Who Are You?
We asked survey-takers to answer a handful of questions relating to demographics. The largest percentage of respondents (19%) were from the East North Central region. The largest salary average, however, was from the South Atlantic region: $126,851. (See Figure 1 for complete regional details.)
A little more than half (58%) of respondents were male. Most respondents fell into the 41?50 (43%) and 51?60 (24%) age groups (see Figure 4). And education was high all around: AAS (27%), BS (26%), MD (13%), MS (9%), military training (3%), and other (22%)?see Figure 3. Respondents completed an average of 40 hours of CME in the past year.
Of the survey respondents, 59% have been in the field for 16 or more years (see Figure 6). In terms of length of time with their current employer, respondents varied greatly, with 26% employed there for 16-plus years, and 25% employed there for 1?3 years. The bulk of respondents (40%) were radiology administrators, directors, or managers (see Figure 2). Other job titles include technologists and chief technologists (17%), radiologists (9%), PACS/RIS administrators (9%), chiefs of radiology (4%), technicians (1%), and other (20%).
Most respondents (74%) work in hospital settings, but others work in freestanding imaging or surgical centers (14%), group practices (5%), cardiac cath labs (1%), radiation oncology centers (1%), and other (5%)?see Figure 5. In that setting, the majority of respondents (93%) work the first shift, with 2% working second shift, 1% working third, and 4% rotating shifts. More than half (65%) do not work weekends; however, 23% work one weekend, 8% work two, 1% work three weekends, and 3% work four.
Benefits appear to be good for everyone. Most respondents (94%) have health insurance, 85% have a retirement plan, 79% have dental coverage, and 78% have life insurance. Tuition reimbursement and compensation is available to 63% of respondents. Profit sharing is benefited to 21%, and 4% have a company car. Although four lucky respondents have all seven of these benefits, most respondents have health, dental, retirement, and life. Other benefits that respondents disclosed are mobile phone allowances, childcare reimbursement, short- and long-term disability insurance, mileage reimbursement, and parking.
We were most pleased, of course, to learn that 71% use magazines as a main source for gaining information about the profession. (That’s Medical Imaging, right?) Other sources include journals (76%), meetings and conferences (66%), and the Internet (65%). Respondents also say they rely on networking, colleagues, company-provided information, newsletters, and word of mouth to stay up to date.
Are You Happy Now?
We were inspired to see such an overwhelming number of respondents who are content with their compensation and workload levels, and would recommend their profession to others. Says one male radiology administrator for a hospital in Tifton, Idaho, “The future of medical imaging looks brighter than it ever has from a technology and salary perspective and the need for qualified healthcare providers.”
In terms of salary, we asked respondents to rank, on a scale of 1 to 5 (with 5 being best), how satisfied they are with their compensation. With an average salary of $134,825, 17% are very satisfied (5). With a $116,251 average salary, 38% were quite satisfied (4). And with an average salary of $90,597, 28% were satisfied (3). Oddly, with a higher average salary ($98,368) than those respondents choosing “satisfied,” 12% were not satisfied (2). And at $82,749, 5% were very unsatisfied with their salaries (1).
We also asked respondents how fairly they think their compensation is relative to their years of experience and their level of education. See Figure 8 for all of the details, but in general, the more years of experience a respondent has, the higher the salary and the higher the level of satisfaction. The findings were similar for level of education.
When it comes to workload, most respondents (70%) feel as though theirs is acceptable. Of that 70%, 96% would recommend the profession to others. According to one male radiology administrator in a hospital in Havre, Mont, “I have learned how to prioritize my work. There will always be more work than I can ever get done, even with doubling my time on the job. The less important issues eventually either fall to the bottom or frequently become nonissues.” Says a male CT/MRI technologist in a Brooklyn, NY-based group practice, “We have enough cross-training available to have other technologists learn and progress into more experienced healthcare workers.”
Still, not everyone is happy with their workload?30%. Most explanations were the same: Too much work with not enough time to complete it, nor the resources (ie, staff) to help. For example, says one female radiology administrator at a group practice in Colorado Springs, Colo, “I am the only manager for 40-plus employees at five facilities. I have no assistant, nor do I have float coverage for emergencies. I also have to cover the techs and reception when they are short.” Nevertheless, of our respondents who are dissatisfied with their workload, 84% still would recommend the profession to others. According to one female supervisor in a St Cloud, Minn-based hospital, “It is an interesting, exciting, and always-changing field. Medical jobs will always be in demand, even though there is an ebb and flow to various fields.” Adds a female PACS administrator in Pensacola, Fla, “It’s such a rewarding experience. The field is constantly changing and updating with new technology.”
What would help ease our respondents’ workloads? It’s simple?staff. And one male radiologist in a Norfolk, Va, group practice has the solution: “Proper compensation from payors for studies so that it would be financially feasible to hire additional radiologists to better staff the positions relative to the workload.” Also, respondents aren’t just looking for additional technologists and radiologists; many are desperate for administrative assistants to help ease the paperwork load.
Fortunately, despite workload and staffing issues, 93% of respondents would recommend their profession to others. The reasons vary from being challenging, to having great growth potential, to being rewarding. One male PACS administrator in a Twin Cities, Minn, hospital put it perfectly: “This field provides great opportunities to see emerging technology and work directly with it to improve patient care and safety.”
Final Thoughts
The responses to and in this survey were very encouraging. We thank all of you for your participation. We hope that by providing this information, we’re helping you to benchmark your compensation and, hopefully, to maintain the high level of job satisfaction that most of you seem to have. One female radiology business manager for a freestanding imaging center in Walnut Creek, Calif, has a handle on the importance of loving your work: “Vision, hard work, and dedication will get you a career that you love. My profession offers long-term growth, flexibility, and creativity. I love what I do, and I love going to work. How many people truly love their job? I know I do.”
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And the Winner Is … Congratulations to these three respondents who were randomly chosen to receive a $100 gift certificate to Amazon.com. Happy shopping!
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Andi Lucas is the editor of Medical Imaging.
