Diagnostic Radiation Physics Services provides comprehensive medical physics and radiation safety consulting to healthcare facilities throughout Allentown and the greater Lehigh Valley. Allentown is the county seat of Lehigh County and Pennsylvania's third-largest city, anchoring a metropolitan region that spans Lehigh and Northampton counties — including Bethlehem, Easton, and a dense network of imaging centers and outpatient facilities in the I-78 corridor. DRPS board-certified diagnostic medical physicists serve hospitals, imaging centers, outpatient clinics, and multi-site healthcare systems across this region.
Medical Physics Services in Allentown
DRPS provides a full suite of diagnostic imaging physics and radiation safety services to Allentown-area facilities:
- Equipment Performance Evaluations (EPEs) — Annual and acceptance testing for radiographic, fluoroscopic, mammography, CT, and nuclear medicine equipment, meeting ACR, MQSA, and PA DEP requirements
- Radiation Shielding Design and Certification — Primary and scatter barrier calculations for new construction and renovation, with post-installation verification surveys and certification letters
- Radiation Safety Officer (RSO) Services — Named RSO coverage for facilities licensed to possess radioactive materials, including program administration, personnel dosimetry oversight, and regulatory liaison
- Accreditation Support — Physics testing packages and documentation for ACR, IAC, RadSite, and Joint Commission accreditation surveys
- CT Physics Testing — Comprehensive CT scanner performance evaluation, dose index review, and optimization support
- PET/CT and Nuclear Medicine Physics — Equipment performance testing, radiopharmaceutical safety oversight, and dose calibrator verification for nuclear medicine departments
- Quality Assurance Programs — Ongoing QA protocol development and implementation across all imaging modalities
Pennsylvania Radiation Regulations
All Pennsylvania imaging facilities operate under the regulatory authority of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PA DEP), Bureau of Radiation Protection (BRP). Pennsylvania became an NRC Agreement State on March 31, 2008, meaning the PA DEP BRP — not the federal NRC — licenses and inspects users of radioactive materials in the Commonwealth. This includes nuclear medicine departments, PET/CT facilities, and other licensed radioactive material users.
Radiation-producing machines (X-ray units, CT scanners, fluoroscopy systems, mammography equipment) must be registered with the PA DEP BRP. Facilities are subject to state inspection and must maintain equipment in compliance with Pennsylvania's radiation protection regulations. Federal standards also apply in parallel:
- MQSA (Mammography Quality Standards Act) — federally enforced for all mammography facilities regardless of Agreement State status
- ACR, IAC, RadSite, and Joint Commission accreditation standards impose their own physics testing requirements
- NRC retains jurisdiction over certain materials not covered by the Agreement State transfer
DRPS maintains current knowledge of PA DEP BRP requirements and can assist Lehigh Valley facilities with registration, license amendments, inspection preparation, and recordkeeping.
Why Allentown Facilities Choose DRPS
The Lehigh Valley's imaging market spans a mix of independent imaging centers, hospital outpatient departments, orthopedic and sports medicine facilities, and multi-county health systems. This diversity creates varied compliance demands — from routine annual EPEs to complex shielding projects for new imaging suites in mixed-use medical office buildings along the Rt. 309 and I-78 corridors.
DRPS serves this market with:
- Board-certified physicists — credentialed by the American Board of Radiology (ABR) in diagnostic medical physics, meeting ACR and accreditation body standards
- Multi-modality depth — a single consulting relationship covering X-ray, CT, fluoroscopy, mammography, nuclear medicine, and PET/CT rather than piecemeal specialty vendors
- Regulatory fluency — direct experience with PA DEP BRP registration and inspection processes, MQSA compliance, and the full range of accreditation body requirements
- Responsive service — flexible scheduling for acceptance testing, time-sensitive shielding certifications, and accreditation deadlines
Frequently Asked Questions
What types of facilities does DRPS serve in the Allentown area? DRPS serves imaging centers, hospital radiology departments, outpatient diagnostic facilities, orthopedic and sports medicine clinics with X-ray or fluoroscopy, mammography screening programs, and nuclear medicine or PET/CT departments throughout Lehigh and Northampton counties.
Is annual equipment performance evaluation required for my facility in Pennsylvania? Yes. PA DEP regulations require periodic performance evaluations for registered radiation-producing machines. Many accreditation bodies (ACR, IAC, RadSite) also mandate annual or more frequent physics testing as a condition of accreditation. DRPS provides EPEs that satisfy both state registration and accreditation requirements simultaneously.
Does Pennsylvania's Agreement State status affect how my nuclear medicine license is managed? Yes. Because Pennsylvania is an Agreement State, the PA DEP BRP — not the federal NRC — issues and inspects radioactive materials licenses for most nuclear medicine and PET/CT uses. DRPS's RSO service includes direct liaison with the BRP on license applications, amendments, and inspection response.
What is involved in shielding design for a new imaging suite in Allentown? DRPS performs workload-based primary and secondary barrier calculations following NCRP Report No. 147 (CT) or NCRP Report No. 49/151 methodology as applicable, prepares a written shielding report, and provides a post-construction verification survey. The certification letter is submitted to the PA DEP BRP for facility registration purposes.
Can DRPS help with ACR accreditation for our Lehigh Valley imaging center? Yes. DRPS prepares the full physics testing component of ACR accreditation applications for CT, radiography, fluoroscopy, mammography, nuclear medicine, and MRI. We coordinate testing schedules with your facility, prepare the physics survey report, and provide guidance on image quality and equipment performance requirements.
Related Services
- Medical Physicist Consulting
- Radiation Safety Officer Services
- Radiation Shielding Design
- Accreditation Support
- CT Physics Testing
- PET/CT and Nuclear Medicine Physics
- Pennsylvania Medical Physics Services