VA formalizes medical physicist roles, aligns pay with other specialists
S. 3771 — Department of Veterans Affairs Therapeutic Medical Physicist Pay Cap Relief Act of 2026 · Filed by Tim Kaine (D-VA) · 2 cosponsors · Introduced Feb 4, 2026 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill amends federal law to formally recognize therapeutic medical physicists and diagnostic medical physicists as eligible positions within the Department of Veterans Affairs, establish qualification standards for these roles, and place them on the same pay scale as other VA medical professionals like podiatrists and dentists. The bill requires the VA to report within one year on the cost and staffing effects of any resulting pay increases for these specialists.
Why we flagged it
The bill's core function is to formally classify therapeutic and diagnostic medical physicists as eligible VA positions and align their compensation with comparable medical professionals. It is a straightforward workforce and pay-equity measure, not a subsidy or carve-out.
What the text implies
- The bill does not specify a dollar amount for pay increases; the actual cost depends on VA implementation and how many physicists are hired or reclassified, creating uncertainty about fiscal impact until the required one-year report is submitted.
- By placing physicists on the same pay scale as podiatrists and dentists, the bill may indirectly pressure the VA to standardize compensation across medical specialties, potentially affecting future pay negotiations for other VA health professions.
- The requirement for board certification by 'certifying bodies approved by Sec.' gives the VA Secretary discretion to define which certifications qualify, potentially creating barriers or flexibility depending on regulatory interpretation.
Who it affects
Veterans receive care from qualified medical physicists (specialists in radiation therapy and imaging); formalizing their VA employment and pay parity ensures the VA can recruit and retain qualified professionals to deliver better cancer treatment and diagnostic services. The bill creates no new costs to taxpayers beyond what the VA already spends on these roles, and improves care quality and workforce stability for a critical medical specialty.
Who stands to gain
- Department of Veterans Affairs (workforce recruitment and retention)
- Therapeutic and diagnostic medical physicists employed by or contracting with the VA
Named in the bill
Department of Veterans Affairs, Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs, House Committee on Veterans' Affairs, Therapeutic medical physicists, Diagnostic medical physicists, Title 38 USC (Veterans Benefits Code)
Where it stands
2 cosponsors: 2 Republicans.
- Feb 4, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Feb 4, 2026 — Referred to Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
1 lobbying clients named this bill on 1 disclosure filings across 1 quarter, Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $20,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 4 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 0% of bills with at least one filing.
Tim Kaine, the sponsor, reported $125,658 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- American Association of Physicists in Medicine — $20,000 on 1 filing
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 20, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the full bill text on Jul 5, 2026; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 20, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
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