The Radiologist Assistant: What Radiologists Need to Know Now

States are increasingly considering legislative and regulatory avenues to establish the role of radiologist assistants (RAs) under current state medical practice acts or state radiation control regulatory programs. It is critical that radiology practices be cautious to comply with federal and state laws and regulations to ensure that these advanced practice professionals provide the appropriate services under the appropriate level of supervision. For quality-of-care reasons, the ACR remains concerned about the scope of practice of radiology practitioner assistants and some misinformation that has spread to state officials about the assistants' role in radiology practice. Another potential source of confusion may be the fact that physician assistants and nurse practitioners are being increasingly used in many areas of health care (including radiology) and may derive delegated authority (from physicians) to perform services that physicians determine nurse practitioners or physician assistants to be qualified to perform. The authors in particular emphasize current federal and state legislative activities and describe possible exposure and risks associated with the extension of the scope of practice by radiologic technologists without commensurate changes in state statutes and regulations.