Imaging advocates want nuclear medicine technologists reclassified as healthcare professionals

Imaging advocates want nuclear medicine technologists to be reclassified as healthcare professionals, reflecting the occupation’s growing scope and importance.

The Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging made its case in a Aug. 12 letter to the Office of Management and Budget. SNMMI believes the current classification does not support the “critical” roles and responsibilities of nuclear techs, which include safe use of radiation for molecular imaging and handling radiopharmaceutical therapies.

Since the office last made its classification in 2018, the field of nuclear medicine and theranostics has continued to advance. This has forced nuclear techs to expand their scope of work “tremendously,” particularly in areas that require continuing education in diagnostics and therapeutics.

“These advancements have provided more strategic personalized medicine creating a greater emphasis on patient care as well as radiation safety, reflecting the increased expectations placed on nuclear medicine technologists in today’s healthcare environment,” SNMMI President Cathy Sue Cutler, PhD, and Julie Dawn Bolin, who leads the society’s technologist section, wrote Monday. “Recognizing nuclear medicine technologists as professionals is essential to align with these higher standards and the critical contributions they make to patient care.”

SNMMI is proposing the formal occupational title of “nuclear medicine technologist and therapist.” It believes this new designation would “clearly delineate” the difference between a technician, who does not treat patients, and a technologist. The latter, it noted, holds education, training, experience and critical thinking to perform diagnostic and therapeutic procedures, and to be “fully integrated in the patients’ management teams.”

There are currently 21,614 active certified nuclear medicine technologists with an additional 600-plus sitting for the exam each year, according to the Nuclear Medicine Technologist Certification Board. The American Registry of Radiologic Technologists reported there are 11,597 active registered nuclear medicine technologists as of this year.

SNMMI leaders also laid out several other aspects of the profession, including types of employers, education and training, licensing, and certification requirements.

“The continuous learning, critical thinking, and professional judgment of nuclear medicine technologists are indispensable to the advancement of personalized precision medicine and high-quality patient care,” SNMMI wrote to OMB’s Jeongsoo Kim. “We respectfully urge the Office of Management and Budget to recognize the importance of designating nuclear medicine technologists as professionals by supporting efforts to formalize their status within the healthcare industry with a reorganization of the current [Standard Occupation Classification] system.”