The Arizona agency charged with regulating x-ray facilities in the state has fallen behind on site inspections because of a shortage of trained personnel, according to a report issued last week.
Some 49% of x-ray facilities, comprising 2,700 sites out of a total 5,455 registered in the state, are overdue for inspection by the Arizona Radiation Regulatory Agency (ARRA), noted the September 29 report by the state Office of the Auditor General. In addition, about 44% of high-risk hospital/therapy sites are overdue for inspection.
The report states that the backlog has occurred due to staff shortages at the agency, which as of June 2015 only employed four x-ray inspectors, including one trained to inspect high-risk facilities. In fact, backlogs have plagued the agency for the past three decades.
While none of the 160 registered mammography facilities in the state are overdue for inspection, 39 (44%) of the 88 registered hospital/therapy sites are overdue, and 782 (70%) of the 1,115 registered medical/therapy sites are overdue. What's more, 169 x-ray facilities have been overdue for inspection for more than five years, and one chiropractic office hasn't been inspected in more than 14 years.
The report estimates that 12 inspectors are needed to meet the inspection frequencies the agency has mandated, but ARRA's requests to hire inspectors have not been approved by the Arizona Legislature. For point of comparison, Tennessee has 23 inspectors for its 6,000 registered facilities, while Washington has nine inspectors for 6,200 facilities.
The backlog "puts the public at risk," and the agency should modify its inspection approach, according to the report. It offers a number of suggestions for reducing the backlog, including making changes to the administrative workload of inspectors, hiring private x-ray inspectors, and using IT to support inspections.
The Office of the Auditor General also included a section on the state's Medical Radiologic Technology Board of Examiners (MRTBE), providing guidance on steps the board should take to ensure that it issues certificates only to qualified applicants.
