That’s nearly one in five budgeted CT technologist positions sitting vacant in the surveyed departments. And an empty position on the staffing schedule can mean a full waiting room, delayed diagnostic appointments, revenue leakage from lost patient volume, or another overtime shift for an already stretched team.
So, how long does it actually take to fill critical allied health positions?
Available industry benchmarks suggest approximately two to three months to fill many critical allied health positions , including roles in medical imaging, patient care, and behavioral health.
That’s a long time for patient care to wait. But who says it has to take that long?
The Allied Health Staffing Shortage Is Far From Over Filling critical medical imaging positions remains an uphill battle. And the challenge starts with finding the right talent.
Take CT technologists, for example. Finding someone with the right certifications and clinical experience is challenging enough. Factor in a limited local talent pool, competing employers, and credentialing requirements, and that open position can stay open longer than anyone would like.
Meanwhile, patients still need scans. Physicians still need answers. Care teams still need imaging results to make treatment decisions.
Every additional week a critical role stays vacant puts more pressure on the people keeping those services running.
When Allied Health Positions Stay Vacant, the Impact Adds Up The effects of an allied health vacancy depend on where it falls in the patient care process. Some positions create bottlenecks well beyond their own departments.
Diagnostic imaging: Without enough CT, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and ultrasound technologists, facilities may have to limit appointment slots even when equipment is available. Delayed scans can also hold up diagnoses, treatment decisions, and patient throughput. Surgical and procedural services: A shortage of surgical technologists or sterile processing professionals can disrupt operating room schedules. Even when surgeons and nurses are available, procedures depend on properly prepared instruments and a fully staffed support team. Respiratory and rehabilitation services: Respiratory therapist vacancies can complicate coverage for patients with complex respiratory needs. Gaps in physical and occupational therapy staffing may delay evaluations, treatment sessions, and discharge readiness.
Then there’s the budget. Overtime, premium labor, and lost service capacity can make an unfilled position more expensive than it looks on paper. And when the same employees repeatedly cover those gaps, fatigue and turnover risk can create even more vacancies.
One hard-to-fill position can quickly become several workforce problems.
That’s why time-to-fill matters. Every day a critical allied health position remains open can affect patient access, team capacity, and the cost of delivering care.
Calculate the Cost of Your Healthcare Vacancies
What Is the Average Time-to-Fill for Critical Allied Health Positions? The average time-to-fill for critical allied health positions varies by specialty, geographic location, credentialing requirements, and hiring model. Available healthcare recruitment benchmarks suggest many positions can take approximately two to three months to fill .
But what happens when healthcare organizations work with a specialized staffing partner? You could fill those gaps three times faster.
Healthcare position
Published benchmark
Medix average
Radiologic Technologists
64 days
21 days
Medical Assistants
73 days
17 days
Patient Care Technicians
66 days
28 days
Behavioral Health Technicians
85 days
25 days
Sources: JobTarget healthcare hiring benchmarks and Medix internal time-to-fill data, October 2026.
Across these four allied health roles, Medix averaged 68% fewer days to fill positions than the published role-level benchmarks. The takeaway? Long hiring timelines don’t have to be the default.
The right recruiting reach, credentialing support, and staffing approach can make a measurable difference.
How Can Healthcare Organizations Fill Critical Allied Health Positions Faster? Posting the same job opening over and over tests your patience. It rarely fills critical positions any faster.
Here’s how healthcare organizations can get qualified allied health talent in the door sooner.
1. Look Beyond Your ZIP Code Sometimes the right talent simply isn’t available down the street.
Medix provides local and travel allied healthcare staffing nationwide, with access to a network of more than 3 million specialized professionals. Expanding the search can help healthcare organizations reach qualified imaging technologists, pharmacists, laboratory professionals, and respiratory therapists beyond their immediate markets.
2. Get Ahead of the Credentialing Clock Finding qualified talent is one thing. Getting them cleared to start is another.
Licensure verification, certifications, competency assessments, and facility-specific requirements can add time to the hiring process if they’re addressed too late.
As a Joint Commission-certified healthcare staffing partner , Medix has a dedicated compliance department to help coordinate these requirements early, reducing avoidable delays while maintaining the standards patient care demands.
3. Choose the Right Staffing Approach Every vacancy has its own urgency, and the solution should reflect that.
Contract staffing can address immediate coverage gaps. Temp-to-perm gives organizations an opportunity to evaluate long-term fit, while direct hire helps build permanent teams.
Medix offers all three, helping healthcare organizations balance hiring speed, workforce costs, and long-term staffing needs.
Faster Hiring. Stronger Teams. Lasting Results. Filling critical allied health positions quickly matters. Building a pipeline of permanent talent matters, too.
When a large multispecialty medical group in the Southwest struggled with persistent medical assistant and patient services representative vacancies, Medix stepped in with temporary and temp-to-perm staffing solutions to fill immediate gaps and create opportunities for long-term employment.
The result? A 42% conversion rate from temporary placements to permanent employees, adding more than 65 professionals to the organization’s workforce. That’s the value of efficient staffing: Filling gaps today while building stronger teams for tomorrow.
Read the full Medix client success story
Critical Allied Health Roles Can’t Afford to Wait A vacant position might look like one open requisition on a hiring report. To the team covering extra shifts, the patients waiting for appointments, and the leaders juggling staffing budgets, it’s a whole lot more.
And when filling that position can take two to three months, every day counts.
That’s where Medix comes in. With specialized allied health recruiting , access to local and travel talent, and flexible staffing solutions, we help healthcare organizations find qualified professionals, reduce hiring delays, and build teams that are ready for what’s next.
Your patients can’t wait months for the right talent. Your staffing strategy shouldn’t either.
Let’s get your allied health team fully staffed
