A hospital radiology manager runs X-ray and CT. They schedule the techs, keep the machines safe and inspected, and manage the contract with the remote radiologists who read the images. The manager here also does exams, takes call, and plans for new equipment with the CFO.
By the HireBus team · Updated · Pay data: BLS, May 2025
We're hiring a radiology manager to run imaging at our critical access hospital: X-ray and CT, plus [ultrasound, mammography or MRI] if we offer them. You'll schedule and lead the technologists, keep equipment safe and inspected, manage the teleradiology contract, and still do exams and take call yourself. You'll also plan the imaging budget and equipment replacement with the CFO.
2. Essential Duties and Responsibilities
Schedule technologists so the ED has imaging around the clock, including call for nights, weekends and holidays.
Hire, train and check the competency of technologists, including CT cross-training.
Keep X-ray and CT equipment registered with your state's radiation control program, and schedule the physicist surveys your state and accreditor require.
Run the radiation safety program: dosimetry badges, CT dose checks and shielding, and act as radiation safety officer if the hospital names you.
Manage the teleradiology contract: read times, critical result calls, and credentialing of remote radiologists with the medical staff office.
Track repeat rates, report turnaround and radiologist feedback on image quality, and act on problems.
Plan the imaging budget and equipment replacement, such as a new CT scanner, with the CFO and CEO.
3. Key Tasks / Daily Activities
Check the day's schedule, add-on exams and call coverage.
Do X-ray and CT exams when the schedule or a call-out needs you.
Review overnight exams, delays and patient complaints.
Follow up on equipment errors and downtime with the service vendor.
Answer provider questions about which exam to order and how patients should prepare.
4. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
ED imaging turnaround time: [your target].
Teleradiology report turnaround: [your target].
Outpatient imaging volume: [your target].
Equipment downtime: [your target].
Call shifts left uncovered: [your target].
5. Required Qualifications and Skills
ARRT registration in radiography, plus a state license where your state requires one.
ARRT certification in CT, or [2+] years of CT experience.
[5+] years as a radiologic technologist, including [2+] years as a lead or supervisor.
Working knowledge of radiation safety rules, equipment quality control and PACS.
Experience building schedules and managing a department budget.
6. Preferred Experience
Certified Radiology Administrator (CRA) from AHRA.
Bachelor's degree in radiologic science, health administration or business.
Experience with ACR accreditation, and with MQSA mammography rules if you offer mammography.
Experience leading imaging in a small or rural hospital.
7. Physical Requirements
Stand and walk for much of the day, and wear a lead apron for portable and fluoroscopy exams.
Move portable X-ray units and help transfer patients with coworkers or lift devices.
With or without reasonable accommodation.
8. Work Environment and Schedule
Weekday schedule: [hours], with call for nights and weekends: [rotation].
Radiation exposure from imaging equipment, monitored with dosimetry badges.
Exposure to infectious disease in the ED and patient rooms, with PPE provided.
9. Compensation and Benefits
Pay: [range and hourly or salary basis].
Additional pay: [overtime, bonus or incentive terms, or none].
Benefits: [health, dental, vision, retirement, paid time off, and when they start].
10. Company Culture and Overview
[Two or three sentences on what your company does, the area you serve, and the support a new radiology manager gets in the first 90 days.]
11. How to Apply
[Apply link or email]. Our process: [phone interview, in-person interview, and next steps]. Contact [hiring contact] if you need an accommodation during the application process.
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What's different about running imaging at a critical access hospital
Radiology managers anywhere hire techs and watch turnaround. In a rural hospital, the radiologists are remote, the techs are few, and the manager is one of them.
Remote radiologists, your state's license
Reads here usually come from a teleradiology group or a partner hospital. Medicare lets a critical access hospital rely on that group's checks of each doctor's training and privileges, but only under a written agreement. Each radiologist must hold a license your state issues or accepts. To use that option, the hospital reviews each radiologist's work and sends back every adverse event and complaint tied to their reads. The manager tracks these with the medical staff office. Source: 42 CFR 485.616: agreements, including telemedicine credentialing.
Radiation safety is a Medicare condition
Medicare's critical access hospital rules require X-ray staff who are qualified under state law, and imaging must not put patients or staff at risk from radiation. Surveyors look for dose badge checks on staff, lead aprons that are kept up and inspected, and records of each unit's inspections and repairs. The manager runs that program, goes over CT dose settings with the physicist, and acts as radiation safety officer if the hospital names them. Source: CMS State Operations Manual, Appendix W: critical access hospitals.
Check your state's X-ray machine rules
Machine registration and inspection rules come from your state's radiation program, so look them up there. In Virginia, for one, the state registers X-ray machines, and hospital machines must be inspected every year. A private inspector the state approves does the work, and regional state staff audit those inspections. The manager keeps the registration current as units come and go, and books each inspection before it is due. Source: Virginia Department of Health: about the X-ray program.
Mammography brings federal certification
To offer mammograms, the hospital needs an MQSA certificate, which comes after an approved body accredits it. A medical physicist, or someone they directly supervise, must test the equipment at least once a year. An inspector also visits each year. Each tech who does the exams needs extra mammography training. Plan who will cover those exams before you add the service. Source: 21 CFR Part 900: mammography.
The manager is on the call list too
A small department may run on a few full-time techs plus some as-needed (PRN) staff who fill night, weekend and holiday shifts. When someone calls in sick or quits, the manager takes the shift. To stay off the schedule, cross-train techs in CT early, keep a short list of PRN techs who live close, and track call hours so the same people don't carry every holiday.
How much hospital radiology managers make
The closest BLS group for hospital radiology managers is medical and health services managers. Medical and health services managers who work for general medical and surgical hospitals earned a median of $134,050 a year ($64.45 an hour) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s above the $123,860 median for medical and health services managers in all industries. About 158,730 of the 597,080 medical and health services managers in that survey work for general hospitals.
Salaried, sometimes with a call stipend or an hourly rate for exams done after hours. The BLS figures cover every medical and health services manager, healthcare executives included, so local offers are a better guide.
General hospitals
$134,050$134,050 median Middle half $107,390–$172,180 10th–90th $92,480–$223,600
All industries
$123,860$123,860 median Middle half $94,700–$166,100 10th–90th $73,390–$224,340
$50k$75k$100k$125k$150k$175k$200k$225k$250k
10th–90th percentileMiddle halfMedianAnnual pay, May 2025. Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics.
Annual pay by percentile
Group
10th
25th
Median
75th
90th
General hospitals
$92,480
$107,390
$134,050
$172,180
$223,600
All industries
$73,390
$94,700
$123,860
$166,100
$224,340
These figures cover general medical and surgical hospitals of every size. Rural hospitals often pay less than city hospitals. Post a real range for your market in the ad.
Skills to hire for, and what you can teach
Hire for these
Does X-ray and CT exams well enough to cover any shift
Builds a call schedule that keeps the ER covered without leaning on the same few techs
Reads a physicist's survey and acts on what it finds
Holds a teleradiology vendor to its read times, in plain terms
Puts together a capital request with real costs, service quotes and exam volumes
Teach these on the job
Your state's radiation control rules and registration forms
Teleradiology contract terms and credentialing steps with the medical staff office
Your hospital's budget calendar and capital request process
ACR accreditation steps, if you pursue it
Your RIS, PACS and image-sharing tools
The department runs on a RIS or the EHR's radiology module, a PACS that sends images to the reading group, dose reports from the CT scanner, and image-sharing tools for transfers. Tell candidates whether a CT replacement is coming, since they may be the one to plan it.
Hospital radiology manager interview questions
They have their own page: 6 questions that test this job, what strong and weak answers sound like, and a work exercise to run with your finalists.
Draw each target from your own exam counts and call logs. Agree on read-time targets with the teleradiology group before you hold them to one.
ED imaging turnaround time
Minutes from order to images in PACS for ER patients, from RIS time stamps. Split in-house shifts from call shifts, since a tech driving in from home changes the number.
Teleradiology report turnaround
Time from images reaching the reading group to a final report in the chart. Compare each month with the read times in the contract, with stat and routine studies tracked apart.
Outpatient imaging volume
Outpatient exams by type each month, from the RIS. Track which clinics order them, and how often patients went elsewhere because no slot or exam type was open.
Equipment downtime
Hours each unit was out of service, from service tickets and the downtime log. Note whether ER patients had to be sent elsewhere and how long the vendor took to respond.
Call shifts left uncovered
Count call shifts posted without a named tech, and shifts filled only by the manager. Review them before each schedule posts, not after the gap shows up.
Does a radiology manager need to be a technologist?
At a hospital this size, nearly always. The manager covers exams and call, so they need the ARRT registration in radiography the template asks for, and a state license where your state requires one. A manager from outside imaging could run budgets and staff, but couldn't fill a shift or judge an image. Larger hospitals sometimes hire a director who isn't a tech to run several departments.
How much does a hospital radiology manager make?
Medical and health services managers who work for general medical and surgical hospitals earned a median of $134,050 a year ($64.45 an hour) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The middle half earned between $107,390 and $172,180 a year. Pay also depends on your local market, experience and bonus terms.
What is the CRA, and should we ask for it?
CRA stands for Certified Radiology Administrator, a credential for imaging leaders. To sit for the exam, a candidate needs seven points. Each year managing or supervising in imaging earns points, if the job covered money, people, equipment, operations and communication. School and a current imaging credential add more. They need at least one school point, or ten years of that work. In a small hospital, list it as nice to have.
Can we reward doctors who send outpatient imaging our way?
Be careful. Under the federal Anti-Kickback Statute, it is a crime to knowingly and willfully give a doctor something of value, cash or not, to win or reward patient referrals. The Stark law bars doctors from referring Medicare or Medicaid patients for imaging and lab work to a hospital they have a financial tie to, unless an exception applies. Grow volume with short waits, easy scheduling and fast reports. Run any arrangement with a referring doctor past a healthcare attorney before anyone signs.
Who decides when to replace the CT scanner?
The manager builds the case, and the CEO, CFO and board decide. Bring the scanner's age, service history, downtime, repair quotes and exam volume, plus what the ER loses when it's down. Ask the vendor for its end-of-support date in writing. Start early, because buying a scanner and preparing the room can take many months.
How is a radiology manager different from a lead technologist?
A lead tech runs a shift. They assign exams, answer questions and check image quality. The manager owns the department: hiring, the call schedule, the budget, the reading contract, state registrations and survey readiness. Here, one person may start as lead and grow into the manager job, so look for someone who has done some of both.
