2024 ASTRO Member Survey Results
Members provide feedback on membership satisfaction, the future of the field, supervision, radiopharmaceutical therapy, peer review
The ASTRO Annual Member Survey provides a snapshot of our membership in addition to valuable feedback about member satisfaction, areas of concern and opportunities for improvement. The 2024 Member Survey was fielded for eight weeks from May 28, 2024, through July 26, 2024, and was emailed to 7,789 members. The survey had a 13% response rate with 70% of respondents identifying as radiation oncologists (ROs). As a special incentive for participating in the survey, 10 lucky individuals were randomly selected to receive a $50 gift card. The results of the survey follow:
SURVEY RESPONDENTS - PROFESSION
RO participation increased by 5 percentage points compared to last year, while medical physicist, resident and other participation each decreased by approximately 2 percentage points. U.S. early career participation (1 to 8 years out of residency) decreased by 6 percentage points. Forty-three percent of the 534 U.S. ROs reported that they are the medical director at their primary work setting.
SURVEY RESPONDENTS - DIVERSITY
Overall gender participation in the 2024 survey remained about the same as 2023 with 71% male and 29% female. ASTRO member demographics (reported) for the cohort included in the survey show a slightly higher percentage of female members (33% female) than the percent who completed the survey.
White or Caucasian is the prominent reported race followed by Asian. Eight out of 10 respondents indicated they are not of Hispanic, Latino or Spanish origin.
MEMBERSHIP AND SATISFACTION
In response to the question, “What are your top three reasons for being a member of ASTRO,” both U.S. and international respondents ranked Access to ASTRO Journals as the top reason, followed by ASTRO is the Premier Society for Radiation Oncology. Access to Timely Information, e.g., reimbursement, education opportunities, and legislation ranked third by U.S. respondents, whereas international respondents ranked Quality and Safety Recommendations, e.g., guidelines, white papers, etc., third.Sixty-four percent of U.S. respondents cited Advocating on Behalf of Members for Appropriate Reimbursement and Coverage as the top function ASTRO performs. Ninety-one percent of international respondents cited Publishing Scientific and Practice Journals (Red Journal, PRO, Advances).
Overall satisfaction among respondents decreased modestly in 2024. This was especially noted by U.S. respondents; however, U.S. resident satisfaction has risen consistently over the past three years (63% in 2022, 72% in 2023, 79% in 2024). This year, ASTRO added an ARRO ex-officio board member to ensure that the needs and concerns of residents were taken into consideration during Board of Director Meetings.
Satisfaction among international respondents was unchanged and ranked very high.
The majority of respondents (84%) indicated satisfaction with ASTRO’s educational and professional development offerings. Live meetings remain the preferred education format in which to participate. onDemand self-paced courses and Journal CME courses both saw an increase in the likelihood of participation.
FUTURE CHALLENGES: U.S. RESPONDENTS
Radiation oncologists and residents see future challenges slightly differently, but they are equally concerned with government issues (public reimbursement, business regulation, restrictive regulations) and practice issues (practice financial viability, workforce (i.e., nurse, therapist, dosimetrist shortage).
COMMUNICATION PREFERENCES
The ability to communicate effectively with members is key to the success of any association. We asked members to tell us about how we can reach them. Email is by far the preferred method of communication for both U.S. (86%) and international (79%) respondents. As a reminder, the ASTROgram is the ASTRO weekly newsletter and is mailed to all members every Wednesday. If you are not receiving the ASTROgram, please review the online instructions to add the ASTROgram to your safe sender list at www.astro.org/safesender.The ASTRO website provides a wealth of information about the Society and the field. Respondents indicated the top two reasons for visiting the ASTRO website is to register for a meeting and to access journals. ASTRO.org is another source of timely information, view Latest News on the astro.org homepage.
SUPERVISION
U.S. RO respondents overall want ASTRO to support general supervision or direct supervision with rural, clinical and personal flexibilities and are modestly in favor of removing CPT code 77427 from the health care list, which would reestablish the in-person requirement for the OVT portion of treatment management.
RADIOPHARMACEUTICAL THERAPY (RPT)
Radiation oncologists with expertise in oncology, radiobiology and physics are well-equipped to provide RPT to appropriate patients and lead the path forward for the field. ASTRO has been actively developing resources for RPT for many years. In 2024, ASTRO conducted two RPT Roundtables which brought clinicians and industry together to discuss opportunities to advance the growth of RPT in radiation oncology.Seventy-two percent of U.S. RO respondents indicated that they were authorized users for radioactive materials. More specifically, 92% indicated authorized user status for sealed sources and 66% for unsealed sources. One hundred thirty-two (132) U.S medical director respondents said they use RPT (unsealed sources) to treat patients with cancer; 65% of those are willing to have their facility listed in an ASTRO directory of RPT providers.
PEER REVIEW
The survey included a series of questions about peer review. Nearly two-thirds of respondents indicated their practice reviews all definitive and all palliative patient cases. A slightly higher percentage of academic medical center respondents (70%) review all definitive and all palliative cases than community hospital/freestanding practices (60%). Surprisingly, a higher percentage of academic medical center respondents (78%) conduct peer review in a virtual (remote) teleconference setting than community hospital/freestanding practices (64%).Overall, more than half (53%) of respondents cited scheduling/other conflicting clinical responsibilities.
FUTURE OF THE FIELD
When asked to consider the future of the field, RO, RO resident, radiation biologist and medical physicist respondents cited that they were most excited about the following.
Conversely, when asked to list their greatest concerns about the future of the field, they responded:
The Annual Member Survey provides valuable information for ASTRO’s continued service and future initiatives. Thank you to everyone who participated in the 2024 survey. The survey is sent out every spring, so please help us continue to serve the needs of the radiation oncology community by completing the 2025 survey.
