ASE is now accepting applications for 2022 Society Awards. These awards will be presented at the 33rd Annual Scientific Sessions in Seattle, Washington, June 2022. Check out the links below to see how you may nominate someone (or yourself!) for an award.

• Physician Lifetime Achievement Award
• Sonographer Lifetime Achievement Award
• Richard Popp Excellence in Teaching Award
• Meritorious Service Award 
• ASE Mentorship Award
• Outstanding Achievement in Perioperative Echocardiography 
• Founders’ Award for Lifetime Achievement in Echocardiography for Pediatric and Congenital Heart Disease
• NEW: Council of Circulation & Vascular Ultrasound (CAVUS) Luminary Award 

Make sure you do not miss the upcoming deadline of August 1, 2021. If you have any questions, please contact Awards@ASEcho.org.

Episode 5 of the weekly JASE Podcast Summer Series is now available here. In this episode, Nicholas Grubic, BScH, MSc, joins Amer Johri, MD, FASE, to discuss the paper: “Natural History of Moderate Aortic Stenosis with Preserved and Low Ejection Fraction” by Mann et al. from the July 2021 issue of JASE. Learn more about moderate aortic stenosis and its relationship with patient mortality in this interesting paper. Sit back, plug in, learn, and enjoy!

If you have missed any of the podcasts from the 2021 Summer Series, you can listen to all of the episodes here.

On July 13, 2021, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released the CY 2022 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) Rule. The rule:

• Proposes a decrease to the MPFS conversion factor, to be $33.58. This is a $1.31 decrease from the CY2021 PFS conversion factor of $34.89. The MPFS conversion factor reflects the expiration of the 3.75 percent payment increase provided for CY2021 by the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (CAA). ASE will be working to secure congressional action to avert cuts to physician payments next year as physician practices across the country continue to recover from the pandemic.
• CMS accepted ASE’s proposal of a new add on CPT Code 3D Imaging of Cardiac Structures (CPT code 933X0).
• CMS is proposing to begin the payment penalty phase of the Appropriate Use Criteria (AUC) Program. Please note this program is focused on advanced imaging services and does not include echocardiography services

Read the Comparison of CY2021 Final – CY2022 Proposed MPFS Rates for Echocardiography.

Click here for more information.

ASE is beginning our analysis of the Proposed Rule and will provide a summary analysis and fee schedule impacts for members promptly.

Join moderators, Alina Nicoara, MD, FASE, and G. Burkhard Mackensen, MD, PhD, FASE, along with speakers, John Haney, MD; Sunil Mankad, MD, FASE; Rick Meece, ACS, RCS, RDCS, RCIS, FASE; Lara Oyetunji, MD; and Angela Pollak, MD, for a FREE live webinar, Decision Making In Complex Endocarditis on July 28, 2021 at 7:00 PM ET.

This webinar will focus on the complexities of diagnosis and decision making in infective endocarditis diagnosis. The importance of a team approach as well as clinical and ethical implications will be highlighted.

Registration is FREE for everyone, so please forward this to your colleagues. You can claim 1 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™ within 48 hours of watching the webinar.

1. To register, log in to your ASE member portal.
2. Select the ASE Learning Hub from the top red menu.
3. Register for the webinar here.

The webinar recording will also be posted on the ASE Learning Hub for on-demand viewing and CME credit.

ASE is pleased to partner with the Society of Critical Care Medicine (SCCM) to provide the 2021 Critical Care Echocardiography Review Course, November 9-11, 2021. Many ASE leaders are on the invited faculty of this course which will educate attendees on all aspects of echocardiography in critically ill patients and prepare them for the Examination of Special Competence in Critical Care Echocardiography (CCEeXAM). Here is a full list of topics to be covered. We encourage our ASE members to share this information with their critical care peers. The deadline for early registration is September 15, 2021. Click here for more information and to register.

The ASE Foundation is pleased to announce two $45,000 Innovation in Cardiovascular Ultrasound Research Award recipients this year. Primary consideration was given to the proposals’ scientific excellence, innovative nature, and research team.

• Olivier Villemain, MD, PhD, The Hospital for Sick Children, University of Toronto: “Myocardial Stiffness and Coronary Microperfusion Assessment for Early Detection of Cardiac Allograft Vasculopathy in Children After Cardiac Transplantation: Human Application of Ultrafast Ultrasound Imaging”
• Bethel Woldu, MD, MPH, Medstar Heart and Vascular Institute: “Non-invasive Assessment of Myocardial Work to Differentiate TTR Cardiac Amyloidosis from Hypertensive Cardiomyopathy”

The Innovation in Cardiovascular Ultrasound Research Award is a one-year (12 months), $45,000 scholarship given for meritorious echocardiographic research proposals relevant to innovation in cardiac ultrasound. Of particular interest were proposals that expand the key role of echocardiography or the development of novel technology in clinical diagnosis or management.

Every issue of JASE includes an opportunity for ASE members to obtain CME. This month’s article with CME is a review, “Advances in Rheumatic Mitral Stenosis: Echocardiographic, Pathophysiologic, and Hemodynamic Considerations,” by Jeffrey J. Silbiger, MD. This issue also includes the ASE Consensus Statement on hypersensitivity reactions to ultrasound enhancing agents in patients with allergy to polyethylene glycol. Clinical investigations explore echocardiographic assessment of LV filling pressure, electromechanical activation mapping by echocardiography, cardiac amyloidosis, total anomalous pulmonary venous connection in children, RV strain in children, and valvular heart disease, including “Natural History of Moderate Aortic Stenosis with Preserved and Low Ejection Fraction,” by Tomer D. Mann, MD, Itamar Loewenstein, MD, Eyal Ben Assa, MD, and Yan Topilsky, MD. Dr. Topilsky said that, “Our study suggests that moderate AS has detrimental prognostic implications, even when associated with preserved EF, or low gradients. A need arises to explore therapeutic strategies to alleviate the excess mortality in these patients.” Several brief research communications and letters to the editor round out the issue.

In addition, newly-installed ASE President Raymond Stainback, MD, FACC, FASE, writes about his vision for his ASE term, Jeffrey Astbury, MD, FASE, FACC, FASA, and Alina Nicoara, MD, FASE, write about achieving excellence in perioperative echocardiography for non-academic practices, and the education calendar outlines a multitude of learning options near and far.

ASE recently welcomed 17 distinguished Fellows of the American Society of Echocardiography (FASE) designation recipients! These members have exemplified excellence through education, research, leadership, and volunteerism. They are ambassadors for ASE and recognized experts in their field. Join us in congratulating the newest FASE recipients:

Wissam Alajaji, MD, FACC, FASE; Edris Aman, MD, FASE; JD Cochran IV, RCS, ACS, FASE; Ricardo Diaz Milian, MD, FASE; Alun Thomas Ellis, MBBCh, FASE; Alexandra Gardner, RDCS, FASE; Angela M. Kelle, MD, FAAP, FACC, FASE; Sheila Klassen, MD, FASE; Joshua Bradford Knight, MD, FASE; Genevieve B. Lee-Dickson, BSRT, RRT, RDCS, FASE; Kai’En Leong, BMedSc, MBBS(Hons), GDipClinUS, FRACP, FASE; Laila Alexandra Payvandi, MD, FACC, FASE; Leandro Perez, MD, FACC, FSCAI, RPVI, FASE; Wilfredo Puentes Beltrán, MD, FASE; Sara Schwartz, BS, RCS, FASE; Sabah Skaf, MD, FASE; and Lily Zhang, MD, FASE.

So far during 2021, ASE has welcomed 66 new FASE! A full list of FASE members can be found on SeeMyHeart.org. If you are interested in applying for FASE and being recognized in the field, or would like more information, please visit ASEcho.org/FASE. The next deadline to apply is August 1, 2021. 

Active members of ASE are encouraged to recognize their ASE peers as a GEM for Going the Extra Mile (GEM). This year, more than ever, members of the ASE community have stepped up to help others and offered their expertise to drive cardiovascular ultrasound innovation and improve patient care. Do not miss the opportunity to recognize your peers in 2021.

It’s simple to recognize your colleagues:

1. Log in to your Member Portal.
2. Click on the Membership tab at the top.
3. Click on GEM Recognition (Members Only).
4. Fill out the form.

The deadline for submission is the 27th of each month to allow for time for recognition the following month. After your submission, the person you recognize as an ASE GEM will receive an email from the ASE President recognizing their GEM status. ASE GEMs will also be recognized on this web page, on social media, and monthly in the ASE Echo News weekly eNewsletter.

Raymond F. Stainback, MD, FACC, FASE, takes the helm as president of the American Society of Echocardiography (ASE) today. He has served on the ASE Board of Directors as Vice President and President-Elect prior to ascending to his one-year presidency.

During the ASE 2021 Scientific Sessions Virtual Experience June 18-21, Dr. Stainback shared his vision for his ASE presidency over the next year. He said, “The ASE committees, task forces, working groups, councils, and specialty interest groups are the working ecosystem for the organization. I plan to build our ability to meet member needs and the field’s needs in four key areas: Guidelines and Standards, Education, Research, and International Relations. ASE is known for our premier guidelines and standards portfolio. In the future we will move toward having “living” guidelines that use new optimization tools and processes enabling these guidelines to be seamlessly updated as relevant data and evidence has been vetted. These updates will be synchronized with ASE’s educational products along with expanding opportunities through the ASE Learning Hub to support curriculum-based learning for trainees and life-long learners. I plan to oversee further structural coordination amongst ASE’s diverse research pursuits and granting processes including our growing ImageGuide Registry environment, the ASE Foundation and the associated projects that build upon our long history of supporting cardiovascular research. Lastly, I will also work to expand our International Alliance Partners program and engage with our international members, who now make up over 20% of our total membership, to build stronger and wider bonds across the globe.”

Dr. Stainback is Chief of Non-Invasive Cardiology at Texas Heart Institute at Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center and Associate Professor of Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas. He has practiced general cardiology at this facility and with Hall-Garcia Cardiology Associates at Baylor College of Medicine for over 20 years, where he has also directed the echocardiography lab. Dr. Stainback received his medical degree from Baylor College of Medicine and completed his internal medicine and general cardiology fellowship training at Vanderbilt University. He then completed an advanced clinical and research imaging fellowship at the Cardiovascular Research Institute at the University of California, San Francisco.

Dr. Stainback has a superb record of volunteer service in numerous organizations, including ASE. He has served on ASE’s Membership, Advocacy, and Scientific Sessions planning committees and on the ASE’s Echo Appropriateness, Quality, and Point of Care Task Forces. He represented ASE on the ACC Foundation’s Appropriate Use oversight committee for several years and co-authored a variety of ASE documents, including the quality guidelines. In 2015, Dr. Stainback was the chair of the ASE guideline writing group for Echocardiography in the Management of Patients with Left Ventricular Assist Devices. For 15 years Dr. Stainback was an ASE representative for the Intersocietal Accreditation Commission (IAC), where he served as an IAC – Echo division board member and President and most recently as IAC parent company Board Chair. Dr. Stainback is a founding member and long-time President (1998-2018) of the Greater Houston Society of Echo-Vascular.

The ASE membership also elected 11 new board members to serve the Society beginning July 1, 2021. New officers on the ASE Executive Committee will be: Vice-President (one-year term) Benjamin Eidem, MD, FASE, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, Rochester, MN, USA; Treasurer (three-year term) Cynthia Taub, MD, MBA, FASE, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Lebanon, New Hampshire; and Secretary (extended one-year term) Matt Umland, ACS, RDCS, FASE, Aurora Health Care, Milwaukee, WI. In addition to the new officers, the following new Board of Directors members were elected to serve two-year terms: Carolyn Altman, MD, FASE, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX (Pediatric Council Steering Committee Chair); Anthony Gallagher, RDCS (AE, PE), FASE, MBA, Wellstar Kennestone Hospital, Marietta, GA; Leo Lopez, MD, FASE, Stanford University School of Medicine, Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital, Stanford, Palo Alto, CA; G. Burkhard Mackensen, MD, PhD, FASE, University of Washington, Seattle, WA (Perioperative Council Steering Committee Chair); Susan Mayer, MD, FASE, Saint Luke’s Mid America Heart and Vascular Institute, Kansas City, MO; Kian Keong Poh, MBBChir, FASE, National University Heart Centre, Singapore (International representative); and Thomas Ryan, MD, FASE, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH (Past President representative). Jordan Strom, MD, MSc, FASE, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School Boston, MA, was elected to a one-year term as the inaugural ASE Leadership Academy member elected to serve on the ASE Board of Directors. Vandana Sachdev, MD, FASE, National Institute of Health,
Bethesda, MD, was reappointed to serve a second 2-year term for her exceptional service to the board.

This announcement underscores the organization’s commitment to reflecting the talent and diversity of the cardiovascular field. The new members represent major sub-specialties in the field including circulation, pediatrics, anesthesiology, sonography, and interventional echocardiography.