Opportunities are still there. In many cases, more than ever. But what is changing is how radiologists are making decisions about those opportunities.

If you work in regional or rural radiology in Australia or New Zealand - or you are considering a move - you already know how stretched many services feel.

Most radiologists don’t worry about audits — until they have to. And when audits do happen, the outcomes often surprise people. Not because of concerns about clinical competence, but because of small gaps in documentation, assumptions about who is responsible, or professional plans that no longer reflect how someone is actually practising.

Every January, radiology enters a familiar rhythm: updated Medicare rules, revised item numbers, and fresh compliance requirements that shape how we work for the rest of the year. But 2026 brings more than a routine refresh. This year’s changes place greater emphasis on documentation quality, clinical justification and consistent reporting practices.

2025 has been a year of real movement for radiology across Australia and New Zealand. Some of that movement has brought welcome innovation. Some of it has brought pressure. And all of it points to a more complex, regulated and competitive landscape as we head into 2026.

Demand for imaging keeps rising, yet the workforce isn’t keeping pace. In rural areas, scan wait times are stretching. In metro hospitals, burnout is climbing. The “workforce crunch” has shifted from a prediction to a present reality.

Automated breast ultrasound (ABUS) allows for reproducible breast imaging without variation based on which sonographer performs the exam. It also can help centers where they are short on qualified breast sonographers.  Breast ultrasound can help identify cancers, or benign cysts, even in women with very dense breast tissue.

An investigational PET imaging agent, identified clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) with high sensitivity and specificity, according to results from the phase III ZIRCON trial.

Prior chest imaging can sometimes be just as predictive of adverse events after surgery as updated imaging, according to new data set to be presented at the annual conference of the American College of Cardiology on March 5. 

The bivalent COVID-19 booster targeting BA.4/5 showed high levels of protection against COVID-19 hospitalisation in older adults, an observational cohort study out of Israel showed.