Medical Physicist: Mammography (Revised 3-21-24)

Katie Albus

Modified on: Thu, 21 Mar, 2024 at 8:42 AM

Revision History

All medical physicists (including part-time and locum tenens staff) must meet MQSA requirements and must have initial and continuing qualification documentation available at the facility for any on-site visits. In addition, a qualification form for attestation of qualifications is required for initial, renewal and reinstatement applications. This qualification form is attached at the bottom of this article.

Initial Qualifications
Master's Degree or Higher	Bachelor's Degree (Must be qualified before 4/28/99)
All of these: Master’s degree or higher in a physical science 20 semester hours of physics 20 contact hours of training in conducting surveys of mammography facilities Experience in conducting surveys of 10 units and 1 facility	All of these: Bachelor’s degree in a physical science Qualified under the Interim Regulations 10 semester hours of physics 40 contact hours of training in conducting surveys of mammography facilities Experience in conducting surveys of 20 units and 1 facility
In addition to the above, the medical physicist must: Be certified in Diagnostic Radiological Physics, Diagnostic Medical Physics, Imaging Physics, OR Radiological Physics by the American Board of Radiology OR the American Board of Medical Physics. OR Be licensed or approved by a state In addition, the medical physicist must document 8 hours of training in a mammographic modality (e.g., digital) before surveying units of that modality
Continuing Experience Requirement
Survey 2 mammography facilities and 6 mammography units over a 24-month period. The FDA allows medical physicists to count surveys of the same facility and the same mammography unit more than once per year provided that the facility surveys are at least 10 months apart and the unit surveys are at least 60 days apart. See FDA’s Policy Guidance Help System for specific guidance on this topic. For example, you may meet the FDA requirement for continuing experience by surveying your unit 3 times a year (once every 4 months). You will then have 6 surveys in 2 years and meet the requirements. Keep in mind that each year at least 1 of the surveys must be a full facility survey (i.e., it must include an evaluation of the technologist’s QC).
Continuing Education Requirement
15 CME/CEUs in mammography in a 36-month period Additional information regarding appropriate units for and documentation of CME is available here.

For your convenience, the Medical Physicist Requirements Form is attached below.

Revision History for this Article
Date	Section	Description of Revision(s)
12-12-19	All	Article created; FAQs incorporated; No criteria changes
11-16-22	All	Medical Physicist Requirements Form attached
10-05-23	Attachment	Updated Medical Physicist Qualification Form
01-11-24	First paragraph	Clarification of documentation
3-21-2024	Attachment	Updated Medical Physicist Qualification Form attachment

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Medical Physicist Qualification Form fillable.pdf
(219 KB)