Across the healthcare industry, allied health has become one of the most difficult areas to staff, particularly in a post-COVID world. While hospitals and health systems continue to focus on nurse and physician shortages, the demand for allied health professionals has grown just as steeply. For example, according to Radiology Business, outpatient imaging volumes are forecast to grow by about 10 %, and advanced imaging (CT, MRI, PET) by 14 % over the next decade. These roles are critical to patient care delivery, from imaging technologists to therapists and lab staff. Yet healthcare leaders everywhere are struggling to fill them.
So, why are allied health roles so hard to hire right now? The answer lies in a combination of rising demand, supply limitations, and structural challenges in allied health education, geographic distribution, and workforce sustainability. Here’s a closer look.
Rising Demand Outpaces Workforce Growth
Healthcare organizations are feeling pressure from record-high patient volumes, delayed diagnoses, and the long tail of COVID-19. These factors have created surging demand for allied health services, particularly in diagnostic imaging.
- 60% of healthcare leaders say diagnostic imaging is their most difficult allied area to staff (Advisory Board, 2024).
- 70% of imaging centers report increased scan volume post-COVID due to delayed diagnoses and chronic care complications (Radiology Business, 2025).
- CT and MRI utilization has increased 20–25% in the past two years—much faster than workforce growth (American College of Radiology).
The challenge is clear: as utilization soars, the supply of trained allied healthcare professionals struggles to keep up.
Education Pipelines Are Constrained
A major driver of this shortage is the allied health education pipeline. Many schools face faculty shortages, limited clinical training sites, and declining enrollment. For diagnostic imaging in particular:
- Only 3,500 MRI techs and 7,000 CT techs enter the workforce annually, nowhere near enough to meet demand (ARRT Registry Data, 2023–2024).
- Fewer than 10% of diagnostic imaging programs operate at full enrollment capacity post-COVID, largely due to faculty and clinician site shortages (ASRT, 2024).
This creates a bottleneck: even as demand climbs, training programs can’t graduate enough new professionals. The result of this allied health education bottleneck is a widening gap between what patients need and the number of allied health staff available to provide it.
Geographic Variability Deepens the Challenge
Not every community experiences allied health workforce shortages the same way. Urban centers with large hospital networks may have more resources to attract and retain allied health professionals, while rural and underserved areas often struggle the most.
For example:
- Smaller facilities may lack the compensation packages or career development pathways to compete with larger systems.
- Geographic maldistribution means certain regions have more open positions than trained professionals available, creating bidding wars for limited talent.
- Even when allied health services exist in an area, long patient travel times and limited access can delay care.
This variability leaves healthcare leaders in many markets scrambling to fill essential roles, making it harder to hire professionals for these roles.
What Healthcare Organizations Can Do
The market pressures are real, but there are steps healthcare leaders can take to adapt. Partnering with the right workforce solutions provider can help bridge gaps and strengthen resilience. At Medical Solutions, we’ve seen three of our approaches work exceptionally well for healthcare leaders:
- Maximize the Value of Your Entire Talent Base
Rather than focusing solely on permanent hiring, organizations can benefit from leveraging travelers and contingent staff as a long-term strategy. With the proper support, these professionals can supplement permanent teams and even become permanent hires.
- Expand the Pipeline with Educational Partnerships
Facilities and healthcare organizations can help address the allied health education gap by partnering with schools to expand training opportunities. Offering clinical placements, faculty support, or even tuition assistance programs can strengthen the pipeline and encourage more students to enter high-demand fields, like diagnostic imaging—one of the most in-demand allied health roles.
When schools can’t graduate enough allied health professionals, hospitals compete for a limited pool of candidates. That shortage drives up demand, increases costs, and makes hiring harder. Supporting education and workforce development can help stabilize the pipeline and ease future staffing challenges.
- Build Internal Resource Pools
As healthcare evolves, so does the workforce model. More clinicians are interested in flexible, gig-style assignments rather than traditional full-time roles. Hospitals can retain existing staff, provide more scheduling flexibility, and tap into gig-economy workers by creating internal float pools or resource pools.
Addressing the Allied Health Shortage and Building a Resilient Workforce
The shortage of allied health professionals is not a temporary trend—it’s a structural challenge that will continue shaping healthcare delivery in the years ahead. High demand for imaging and other allied health services, coupled with constrained education pipelines, and geographic variability means the workforce gap will persist unless leaders take proactive steps.
By leveraging innovative staffing strategies—contingent labor, international direct hire, and internal resource pools—healthcare organizations can better navigate today’s hiring challenges while building a more resilient workforce for tomorrow. Allied health roles may be in high demand and hard to hire, but the solutions are within reach.
With the right staffing strategies and the right staffing partner, healthcare leaders can ensure patients continue to receive the high-quality allied health services they depend on. Contact Medical Solutions today to learn more!
