Roberto M Lang, MD, FASE

In Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Alice asked the Cheshire Cat: “Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?” “That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cat. “I don’t much care where —” said Alice. “Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the Cat. “ — so long as I get SOMEWHERE,” Alice added as an explanation. “Oh, you’re sure to do that,” said the Cat, “if you only walk long enough.”

The ASE must do more than head SOMEWHERE without using a GPS; in order to best allocate our limited resources, precious membership dues, and utilize the valuable time and energy of our volunteers and staff, we must all first agree on exactly where we can go and the number of dollars we can spend to get there. We must also agree on a yard stick to measure our progress. To this end, the ASE Board of Directors held a weekend retreat in the Research Triangle area of North Carolina to hear from representatives of related sister organizations, learn about the latest industry trends, review ASE’s seven major goal areas, prioritize benchmarks for the near future, and assess last year’s progress.

After an enlightening presentation about imaging funding opportunities from the National Institute of Health and the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, representatives of the American Society of Nuclear Cardiology & Nuclear Boards, National Board of Echocardiography, Society of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography, Intersocietal Commission for the Accreditation of Echocardiography Laboratories, Society of Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance, and ACC updated our board on their organizations’, activities, challenges, and suggested areas for collaboration. Industry Trends Specialist Harvey Klein then shared information on technological innovation in echocardiography and explained his view on the echo market. ASE’s Vice President, Jim Thomas, MD, summarized the wealth of information presented on the external environment and what impact it might have on ASE’s future.

The group then focused on ASE’s primary goal areas, reviewed strategies for achieving them, and prioritized action steps and benchmarks for measuring progress. ASE’s goals are listed below, with a sampling of the strategies and benchmarks the board felt deserved the most intense focus for the next year:

Goal A: ASE will be its members’ primary resource for education, knowledge exchange, and professional development.

ASE will work to effectively match educational vehicles to evolving membership needs by refining the course budgeting process and by strategically positioning ASE as the place to get education related to basic and advanced echocardiography including training for physicians and sonographers writing their respective credentialing exams.

Goal B: ASE will be the advocate for an environment that facilitates the excellent practice of CV ultrasound.

ASE will continue to fight for appropriate government and private payer reimbursement for CV ultrasound by meeting with CMS to discuss the impact of recent Medicare reimbursement cuts and the methodology by which they were computed; by coordinating meetings with key legislators; and by developing relationships with major payers to encourage them to consider alternatives to onerous precertification requirements. We will continue to communicate new codes, coding rules and advocacy efforts to our members, adding an expanded coding guide for cardiovascular imaging to our product line. Finally, ASE will continue to encourage additional states to require sonographer licensure through its work with the Sonographer Licensure Coalition.

Goal C: ASE will be recognized as the source of public information about CV ultrasound.

ASE will work to educate referring physicians on the appropriate role of CV ultrasound in the diagnosis and treatment of their patients by presenting the ASE/ACC appropriateness criteria (AUC) to referring physician organizations. We will continue to develop strategic partnerships with our Industry Roundtable, media, hospitals, and patient groups to establish ASE’s brand, and to engage the help of our IRT members in disseminating our guidelines and educational products.

Goal D: ASE will foster, promote, and accelerate innovation and research in CV ultrasound.

ASE will work to enhance the credibility and validity of echocardiography as a research and clinical tool. We will also create a reference guide for echo core labs to advance ASE’s information (guidelines) and connections in this area. The scope of the ASE Foundation will be expanded to finance and foster research initiatives through the development of a fundraising campaign to secure research endowments. New educational initiatives will be designed to promote the adoption and translation of new technology from development to clinical practice. JASE supplements will be developed to promote innovation and imaging research.

Goal E: ASE will be the essential and primary resource for CV ultrasound practitioners.

ASE quality initiatives will be promoted, and visibility of guidelines and products increased, by placing ads in other journals. The ASE exhibit booth will have a presence at high-impact industry meetings. ASE will reach out to CAAHEP schools to communicate our essential role in sonographer education. And because there is power in numbers, ASE will continue to work to develop its membership size, expand its international membership, and increase member retention.

Goal F: ASE will create a governance structure that will support a fiscally-sound, progressive, and professional not-for-profit organization.

A formal system of investment development will be implemented to increase ASE’s yield, and insurance coverage will be professionally reviewed to insure adequate coverage for new activities and changes in our finances. Our accountability and transparency to members will be enhanced through the publication of an annual report on our Website. And ASE’s volunteer selection process will be fine-tuned to insure that we maximize volunteer contributions from a wider range of individuals, engaging them in meaningful work that leverages their skills and interests.

An implementation retreat is a wonderful way to establish priorities and gain support from our Board of Directors for our myriad benchmarks. I thank them for their dedication and brilliant ideas. Now we need you, our members and volunteers, to help carry this ambitious plan of work forward for the benefit of our patients and profession!