October 12, 2017 — The American Society of Nuclear Cardiology (ASNC) and the American Society of Echocardiography (ASE) jointly announced a partnership to develop an ASE Echocardiography Module to expand ASNC’s ImageGuide Registry. The Echo Module, ImageGuideEcho, will continue the registry’s mission to harness the power of patient data to accelerate research and technology development for improved patient outcomes in the field of cardiovascular imaging.
Nuclear cardiology and echocardiography together play a fundamental role in the diagnosis and management of patients with cardiovascular disease, and the ability to collect data on both modalities will provide a more comprehensive picture of the overall quality of cardiac imaging.
The partnership was announced at ASNC’s 22nd Annual Scientific Sessions, Sept. 14-17 in Kansas City, Mo.
The ImageGuide Registry, the nation’s first registry for non-invasive cardiac imaging, was developed and launched by ASNC in 2015 to improve the quality of cardiac imaging and improve patient care. As a recognized Qualified Clinical Data Registry (QCDR) since 2015, the ImageGuide Registry allows physicians to meet requirements under the new Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS), and enables ASNC and ASE to develop their own modality-specific performance measures that capture a greater level of granularity on cardiac imaging than traditional MIPS measures. Currently, there are 15 nuclear cardiology measures available for 2017 MIPS reporting covering topics such as attenuation correction, protocols for obese patients and LVEF reporting, with the addition of 15 echocardiography measures slated for the 2018 reporting year.
ImageGuide will support nuclear cardiology and echocardiography laboratories, interpreting physicians, technologists and sonographers by fostering continuous quality improvement initiatives in the field of cardiac imaging. The new partnership enables the ImageGuide Registry to address a broader scope of cardiac imaging through the data collection, reporting, and benchmarking of both nuclear and echocardiography studies in one robust tool.
“ImageGuide has already demonstrated an important impact on patient care through quality improvement initiatives. Expansion of this important aspect of the ImageGuide Registry to echocardiography and the synergy this will create for cardiac imaging laboratories is a significant step in providing patient focused, low cost and efficient imaging. Truly transforming non-invasive cardiac imaging,” said ASNC Registry Oversight Committee Chair Peter Tilkemeier, M.D., FASNC.
U.S.-based labs serving patients with cardiac care issues are encouraged to participate in the registry and help advance scientific discoveries. Multimodality labs will now have a streamlined pathway to provide critically important data to assist researchers and the medical community. Funded by ASE and ASNC, in conjunction with indirect research and education support from industry and other partners, the registry will be free of charge for ASNC and ASE members in 2017-2018, thus promising a cost-effective method to collect data.
“We at ASNC are excited about the partnering with ASE to provide the ImageGuide Registry to physicians that practice echocardiography or nuclear cardiology. In many cases, physicians perform both types of studies in their practice. ImageGuide will help those physicians focus on the quality of their studies, which will have a direct impact on patient care,” said ASNC President Raymond Russell, M.D., FASNC.
ASE President Vera Rigolin, M.D., FASE, likewise noted, “We are excited to be involved with this project and praise ASNC for their foresight in developing this registry. This type of endeavor is critically important given the expanding field of cardiac imaging and new diagnostic and therapeutic options for treating cardiovascular diseases. The Echo and Nuclear Modules within ImageGuide will allow our organizations to coordinate patient care and research amongst our members. The registry will also facilitate opportunities for quality improvement that will benefit patient care and allow for the advancement of technology in the field of cardiovascular imaging.”
Participating in the ImageGuide Registry enables providers to:
- Gain access to benchmark reports and standardized performance data;
- Enhance patient care and improve lab efficiency;
- Successfully participate in regulatory programs and avoid negative payment adjustments on Medicare Part B services;
- Report on cardiac imaging-specific performance measures to satisfy requirements under MIPS; and
- Demonstrate appropriate use of cardiac imaging tests to payers.
The new ASE Echocardiography Module is anticipated for release in late fall 2017.
For more information: www.imageguideecho.org
March 11, 2026 
