ASE Membership—Stronger and More Important Than Ever

Our ever-growing membership base is now incredibly strong with over 16,000 members. As our numbers have grown, so has our political impact. We have an increasingly respected voice at the American Medical Association (AMA), Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, and on Capitol Hill as we fight to protect our field of echocardiography from relentless budget cuts. For example, ASE Advocacy has worked for two years with the AMA-RVS Update Committee (RUC) to establish a valuation for a standard “echo room” on which physician office reimbursement for echocardiography might reasonably be based. As I write this in early October, the “echo room” is close to acceptance at the RUC, and this should result in improved physician fee schedule reimbursement for outpatient, office-based echocardiography.

Membership growth makes ASE a stronger association, but it also increases the resources needed to support our growing constituency and ever more challenging projects worldwide. ASE wants to have a major impact on the cardiovascular field, improving quality and expanding access to excellent healthcare across the globe. After holding membership dues steady for three years, the ASE Board of Directors recently approved a modest increase for 2014. For many categories this represents the first increase since 2010; and yet, ASE’s dues remain lower than those of many other medical associations. With our tiered membership structure and wide range of member benefits, ASE membership provides excellent value, with a great mix of resources and returns for each category of members.

We are so grateful for each and every member! We realize this is a partnership—your support of the association helps us maintain services that advance the field, like guidelines and standards and educational initiatives. We want to make sure your membership dues provide you with a spectacular return on your investment.

One of the most important features of membership, a subscription to JASE , just keeps getting better. This must-read journal can now be viewed on your iPad. JASE has been named a “Top Ten Essential Journal for Cardiologists,” and its impact factor, now 4.277, is steadily rising under the guidance of Editor-in-Chief Alan S. Pearlman, MD, FASE. Yet still, the cost of your entire ASE membership is about half of what it costs a non-member just to get a subscription to JASE .

The contribution you make when you pay your annual membership dues will save you time and money over the year, provide you with great educational resources, and strengthen the field in which you excel. As I prepare to renew my membership of over 25 years, I am reminded of Andrew Carnegie’s observation that teamwork is “the ability to direct individual accomplishment toward organizational objectives. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results.”

As a common man devoted to ASE, I thank you for your 2014 membership renewal.