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Radiation Oncology Search · Vacancy Cost Report

What an Empty Dosimetry Seat Costs

An open seat is not free while it waits. Enter your own billable rate or delay cost, and compare what a faster fill avoids with a 25% placement fee.

Cost of Vacancy Calculator

Every number below comes from the inputs you set. Start from your own billable rate or delay cost.

Business Model
1
110
$1,500/day
25020,000

Starting value is an assumption; replace it with yours. Modeled at 5 billable days per seat per week.

14 wks
424
8 wks
320

Intake to start date. Offers, notice periods, and onboarding add time.

18%
040

Your assumption. Set it to 0% to count unbilled revenue only.

Weekly Unbilled Revenue Bleed

$7,500

1 seat x $1,500/day x 5

Total Vacancy Cost over 14 Weeks

$123,900

Including the 18% team load you set

Estimated Cost Avoided

$53,100

6 weeks sooner than waiting

Standard 25% Placement Fee

$36,868

On $147,470 assumed first-year comp per seat

Cost Avoided vs. Fee (illustrative)

1.4x

On your inputs, the cost avoided exceeds the fee by $16,233.

Schedule Scoping SessionCall (757) 720-7173

Illustrative calculation from the numbers you enter, not a guarantee of savings or results. Cost avoided counts only the weeks the seat would stay open beyond the search time you set. Fees are 15 to 30% of first-year compensation, with engagement fees starting at $3,500. 100% of engagement fees are credited in full toward your final placement invoice, backed by a written replacement guarantee per your engagement agreement.

Radiation Oncology Workforce: 2026 Market Report

Treatment complexity keeps rising while the certified dosimetry and physics workforce grows slowly. More SBRT, adaptive and radiopharmaceutical work means more planning and physics time per patient.

The CMD pipeline is narrow

MDCB certification requires a bachelor's degree plus a JRCERT-accredited dosimetry program of at least 12 months, and the international eligibility route closed in September 2025. Accredited programs graduate small classes.

Physics residencies are the bottleneck

The ABR has pointed to too few residency positions and rising retirements in medical physics. Certification requires a CAMPEP residency before the Part 2 and Part 3 exams.

Radioligand therapy is growing

The FDA expanded Pluvicto's label in March 2025 to patients before chemotherapy, enlarging the eligible population. Programs need physics and radiation safety support, while the authorized user under 10 CFR Part 35 remains a physician.

Remote work has limits

Remote planning is common for dosimetrists, which lets them work for employers anywhere. Physicists can review plans remotely, but HDR treatment requires an authorized medical physicist physically present, and Florida, Hawaii, New York and Texas license medical physicists.

Methodology. Drivers summarize the published sources below. Pay figures on the pay index are cited individually. Nothing here is a survey by Engaged Headhunters.

Sources

  1. MDCB, Certification exam eligibility
  2. American Board of Radiology, The BEAM: Focus on Medical Physics (Feb 2024)
  3. American Board of Radiology, Medical physics initial certification
  4. Novartis, FDA approves Pluvicto for earlier use before chemotherapy (March 2025)
  5. 10 CFR Part 35, Medical Use of Byproduct Material (eCFR)
  6. ASTRO News, Rural landscape workforce challenges (Summer 2024)
  7. UNLV Health Physics, medical physicist state licensure (FL, HI, NY, TX)

Frequently asked questions

What does an unfilled dosimetry position cost?

Most practices cover the gap with outsourced planning and overtime rather than turning patients away, so the cost is those fees plus the strain on the remaining staff. Enter your own per-day or per-hour cost in the calculator.

Is there a shortage of medical physicists?

The American Board of Radiology has pointed to too few residency positions and rising retirements, and in the AAPM 2025 survey nearly half of physicists who changed jobs moved into newly created positions.

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