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.

(September 17, 2026)

AAPM Submits Comments on NRC Proposal to Reduce Barriers to Medical Use Licensing

AAPM submitted comments to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission on the proposed rule, Reducing Barriers to Medical Use Licensing, which would revise 10 CFR Part 35 requirements governing the medical use of radioactive material.

AAPM supports NRC’s overall goal of reducing unnecessary administrative burden and moving toward a more risk-informed, performance-based regulatory framework. At the same time, AAPM emphasized that greater flexibility should be paired with clear, technically sound safety requirements and appropriate qualification standards for individuals involved in medical-use programs, including Authorized Users, Authorized Medical Physicists, and Radiation Safety Officers.

AAPM’s comments address a broad range of proposed changes, including training and experience requirements, therapeutic medical units and gamma stereotactic radiosurgery, medical-event reporting, diagnostic I-131, decay-in-storage, and technologies currently regulated under § 35.1000. AAPM supported modernizing requirements where existing provisions are unnecessarily prescriptive or no longer reflect current practice, while recommending that NRC retain appropriate safety-critical calibration, quality-assurance, and competency requirements where needed.

The comments also address administrative and operational requirements affecting medical-use programs, including Radiation Safety Officer and Radiation Safety Committee responsibilities, research activities, mobile medical services, and implementation of emerging technologies. AAPM encouraged NRC to streamline requirements where doing so would reduce burden without diminishing meaningful radiation-safety oversight.

AAPM further stressed the importance of consistent implementation across NRC and Agreement State jurisdictions. The Association urged NRC to ensure that a more flexible framework reduces unnecessary licensing burden without creating materially different qualification, staffing, supervision, or technology requirements depending on where care is delivered.

Read AAPM’s full comments >>

AAPM Submits Comments on NRC Patient Release Guidance

AAPM submitted comments to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Draft Regulatory Guide DG-8070, proposed Revision 2 to Regulatory Guide 8.39, Release of Patients Administered Radioactive Material. AAPM supports modernizing patient-release guidance to reflect contemporary radiopharmaceutical therapy, but concluded that the current draft would introduce a substantially more complex and burdensome framework without a sufficiently demonstrated safety benefit.

AAPM raised concerns about highly conservative occupancy and decay assumptions, increased reliance on patient-specific calculations, and numerous technical and clinical errors in the draft. AAPM also warned that the proposed approach could increase the number of patients requiring prolonged holding or inpatient admission and create implementation challenges for community hospitals, theranostics centers, nursing homes, patients requiring dialysis, and other care settings.

AAPM recommends that NRC withdraw DG-8070 and develop revised guidance based on the established patient-release framework in Regulatory Guide 8.39 and NCRP Report No. 155, incorporating current peer-reviewed evidence and practical experience with newer therapies. AAPM also urged NRC to independently validate revised calculations and examples and provide a new draft for stakeholder review before finalization.

Read AAPM’s full comments >>

AAPM Joins Coalition Urging Congress to Protect Medical Isotope Supply

AAPM joined a coalition of healthcare, scientific, and industry organizations urging Congress to protect access to critical medical isotopes as lawmakers consider the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act. The coalition warned that, as currently written, the legislation could disrupt the supply of isotopes needed for cancer diagnosis and treatment, nuclear medicine, medical imaging, equipment calibration, and other healthcare applications.

The letter emphasizes that medical isotopes cannot be treated like ordinary commodities because radioactive materials decay continuously and generally cannot be stockpiled far in advance. Production is also tied to specific reactor and accelerator schedules, meaning that an isotope available from another country may not be an immediately viable substitute for a particular clinical use.

The coalition highlighted several areas of supply-chain vulnerability, including cobalt-60, gadolinium-153, cobalt-57, and enriched nickel-64. These materials support applications ranging from cancer treatment and medical-device sterilization to SPECT and PET imaging and calibration of clinical imaging systems. The letter also notes the broader importance of molybdenum-99 and technetium-99m, which support a large share of diagnostic nuclear medicine procedures in the United States.

AAPM and the other signatories urged Congress to exclude medically necessary isotopes from the legislation’s sanctions and tariffs, similar to the treatment provided for drugs and medical devices, to avoid unintended disruptions in patient care.

Read the coalition letter >>

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

Monthly AAPM Advocacy Updates

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