AAPM Government Affairs

AAPM is deeply engaged in advocacy, continuously working to represent the interests of our profession with dedicated AAPM staff, expert consultants, and lobbyists actively monitoring, responding to, and leading initiatives that affect medical physicists.

(June 3, 2026)

OMB Proposed Federal Grants Rule

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has issued a proposed rule that would revise government-wide requirements for federal financial assistance, including grants, cooperative agreements, and other federal awards. The proposal could significantly affect federally funded research, including medical physics research conducted at universities, hospitals, academic medical centers, and other institutions.

AAPM is reviewing the proposed rule and preparing a formal response to OMB. Several proposed changes may be especially relevant to medical physics and the broader scientific community, including provisions related to grant review, peer review, active grant termination, conference participation, professional society memberships, journal subscriptions, public communications, publication costs, open access fees, and research collaboration.

Of particular concern, the proposal would make publication costs — including page charges, article processing charges, and open access fees for professional journal publications and other peer-reviewed publications — generally unallowable under federal awards unless specifically required by federal statute or approved in advance by the federal agency. Other provisions would require prior agency approval for professional membership costs, make subscriptions to professional, academic, and technical periodicals unallowable, and impose additional restrictions on certain public communications and advocacy-related activities.

AAPM is assessing how the proposal could affect medical physics research, clinical innovation, workforce development, training, patient care, peer-reviewed publication, conference participation, collaboration, and the dissemination of federally supported scientific work.

AAPM Submits Response to NIH Strategic Plan RFI

AAPM thanks the members who contributed comments to AAPM’s organizational response to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Request for Information on the NIH-Wide Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years 2027–2031. The response addressed NIH’s proposed priorities related to research areas, research capacity, and research operations.

AAPM’s comments highlighted the role of medical physics in advancing foundational biomedical research, quantitative measurement science, radiation therapy, diagnostic imaging, nuclear medicine, theranostics, artificial intelligence, clinical translation, and improved patient care. The response emphasized that medical physicists provide essential expertise in metrology, dosimetry, imaging system calibration, uncertainty analysis, AI validation, quality assurance, and clinical implementation.

AAPM also underscored the need to strengthen the medical physics research workforce through sustained investment in training, mentorship, research infrastructure, and NIH mechanisms that support interdisciplinary researchers. The response noted that medical physicists are in high demand across the U.S. healthcare system, with workforce needs expected to grow as cancer incidence increases and as advanced imaging, radiation therapy, nuclear medicine, AI, and computational applications continue to expand.

In addition, AAPM identified opportunities for medical physics to support scientific stewardship, transparency, and public trust, particularly through research on AI quality assurance, model monitoring, data integrity, interoperability, cybersecurity, risk management, and reliable clinical deployment.

AAPM welcomes continued engagement with NIH and stands ready to contribute technical expertise, clinical experience, and multidisciplinary insight in support of NIH’s mission.

AAPM Signs Coalition Letter on Prevailing Wage Policy

AAPM joined a coalition letter to the U.S. Department of Labor regarding proposed changes to prevailing wage calculations for the high-skilled immigration system. The letter raises concerns about the potential impact of the proposal on employers that rely on highly trained professionals, including hospitals, universities, research institutions, and other organizations involved in science, medicine, and health care.

Prevailing wage requirements are intended to help ensure that employment-based visa programs do not undercut wages or working conditions for U.S. workers while also allowing employers to recruit needed specialized talent. For fields such as medical physics, where the workforce is highly specialized and demand continues to exceed supply in many practice settings, immigration policy can directly affect the ability of hospitals, academic medical centers, and research institutions to recruit and retain qualified professionals.

AAPM’s participation reflects its continued advocacy for policies that support a stable, highly qualified medical physics workforce and protect the broader scientific and clinical labor market. Medical physicists play an essential role in radiation therapy, diagnostic imaging, nuclear medicine, radiation safety, quality assurance, research, education, and clinical innovation. Policies affecting the recruitment and retention of high-skilled professionals can therefore have downstream implications for patient care, research capacity, workforce development, and access to specialized expertise.

AAPM will continue to monitor federal immigration and workforce policy developments that may affect medical physicists, trainees, researchers, and the institutions where they work.

Please contact Lauren DePutter, AAPM’s Director of Government Affairs and External Relations, with any questions or concerns.

How you can help!

Your voice and participation strengthen our advocacy efforts. Numerous opportunities exist for AAPM members to advocate by lending their voices, experiences and collective expertise.

Become a state champion through CHAMPS and CHAMPWG
Take action through the AAPM Advocacy Action Center to contact lawmakers and support key policy priorities affecting medical physics
Volunteer on key committees including GRAC, ECON or through subcommittees and working groups: WGPVAC, CRCPDS, JMPLSC, and GRPSC

How AAPM is Actively Advocating:

Monitoring and Engagement: Our staff and dedicated volunteers closely track news, policy actions, and communications from peer and partner organizations. This ensures we are informed and responsive, supporting relevant initiatives beneficial to our members.
Informing Membership: Stay updated through the AAPM Newsletter, e-News, association emails, committee updates, meeting sessions, social media, and by direct contact with staff and volunteers.
Working Collaboratively: AAPM has worked to establish a close and cooperative working relationships with numerous government bodies, organizations and key federal agencies, such as the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), along with a range of medical providers, corporation, suppliers and peer professional societies. AAPM recently spearheaded a joint response to the July 17, 2025 Federal Register notice regarding proposed changes to the Hospital Outpatient Quality Reporting (OQR) Program, with 5 peer societies adding their support. Read the response HERE.

Together, we can ensure the voice of medical physicists remains strong, informed, and influential.

Activities

Highlights of Recent Activities (2025):

AAPM recently spearheaded a joint response to the July 17, 2025 Federal Register notice regarding proposed changes to the Hospital Outpatient Quality Reporting (OQR) Program, with 5 peer societies adding their support. Read the response HERE.
Supported multiple coalition letters advocating for robust federal funding of NIH and NSF research programs.
Endorsed ASTRO’s ROCR bill aimed at enhancing radiation oncology reimbursement.
Initiated a "Take-Action" campaign opposing indirect funding caps at NIH, successfully mobilizing over 90 advocacy messages to Congressional offices.
AAPM leadership approved an official Advocacy Agenda, a strategic roadmap to guide our government relations efforts moving forward.
AAPM’s inaugural Advocacy Day (Hill Day) scheduled for Thursday, July 31, 2025 immediately following our Annual Meeting.
Launched CHAMPS, a state-level grassroots advocacy program:
- The Steering Subcommittee is actively recruiting and training state volunteers.
- This program sets targeted advocacy goals and provides training resources to enhance state-level advocacy.
Strengthened partnerships and provided training through CRCPDS, enhancing our relationships with federal and state radiation programs.
ECON Committee diligently monitors and prepares for annual CMS rule cycles, offering training to members and submitting formal comments on behalf of medical physicists.
Through WGPVAC, we proactively engaged for the Veterans Affairs Hospitals—the nation’s largest healthcare system—to safeguard medical physics contracts crucial for patient care. AAPM previously facilitated the introduction of HR6800 to address hiring and retention challenges for therapy physicists within the VA, and we’re actively pursuing its reintroduction and expansion to diagnostic physicists.

Government Affairs