Members of the American College of Nuclear Physicians (ACNP) got a jolt in their mailboxes this week with word that the organization's annual conference, scheduled for the first week of February in Miami, had been canceled. The meeting meltdown is just a drop in a sea of troubles facing the organization, which recently laid off its administrative staff and moved into the Reston, VA, offices of the Society of Nuclear Medicine (www.snm.org).
ACNP president Dr. James Woolfenden confirmed that the conference would not take place this year.
"It was a combination of things," he said. "Preregistration was relatively low for this conference, it was going to be an expensive conference to run, and during this time of management reorganization, it was going to be a considerable workload to try to accomplish."
Woolfenden also confirmed that a possible alliance with SNM is in the works.
"We're in the process of trying to finalize an agreement under which the Society of Nuclear Medicine will provide management services to both SNM and ACNP," he said. "ACNP will continue as a separate organization."
Rumors of a possible merger between nuclear medicine's two main academic organizations have been rampant for years. But Woolfenden said the partnership would not be a step toward a full merger of the organizations for several reasons. Most importantly, he said, SNM and ACNP need to remain separate to maintain different classifications under Internal Revenue Service regulations -- designations that govern the amount of money nonprofit organizations can spend on lobbying and advocacy activities.
ACNP, with its emphasis on physician advocacy and lobbying, will retain its relatively liberal 501c(6) status, Woolfenden said, while the SNM is considering a move to the more restrictive 501c(3) status. He added that although the two organizations share a common goal of promoting nuclear medicine, they approach it from different perspectives.
"The ACNP has tended to focus on the socioeconomics of nuclear medicine," he said. "The SNM recently ... decided that it was in their long-term interests to focus on the scientific, education and information aspects of nuclear medicine. That clarifies the division of labor between the ACNP and SNM, and makes it possible to consider a strategic alliance."
In the beginning
Nuclear medicine in the U.S. was not always represented by two separate organizations. After its establishment in 1954, the SNM for nearly 20 years was the only organization dedicated exclusively to the field. The ACNP was incorporated in 1974 by a group of SNM members who felt the society gave short shrift to important practice management and socioeconomic issues.
Despite their differences, the two entities in recent years have begun to cooperate more closely with each other, establishing a joint government relations office in 1995. Nuclear medicine is now represented by several smaller organizations as well, including the American College of Nuclear Medicine, the Institute for Clinical PET (www.icppet.org), and the American Society of Nuclear Cardiology (www.asnc.org).
The ACNP began to run into financial and organizational trouble when popular executive director Carol Lively retired in 1995, after nearly 20 years of service. Smith Bucklin Associates, a firm that specializes in managing nonprofit organizations, was brought in to manage the organization. While Smith Bucklin was competent overall, its services ultimately proved "too expensive for ACNP's blood," since the organization was already suffering from at least a 10% decline in membership at the time, according to former ACNP president Dr. Martin Nusynowitz.
By 1997, when the cost of outstanding loans from Smith Bucklin began to rise, and a series of Smith Bucklin-employed directors had left the organization, the ACNP decided to cut ties with the firm, incurring substantial costs in the process, according to Nusynowitz.
The ACNP's cash problem worsened after it brought on a new executive director from another management firm. The group ultimately severed its ties with this director as well, but in the process became entangled in long-term agreements with the firm for office space and management services. According to Nusynowitz, the ACNP's current debt problem relates to its need to settle accounts with the management firm.
ACNP's streamlining effort
In an attempt to reduce costs, Nusynowitz said the ACNP began the current reorganization effort at its June 1999 board meeting. Board members, seeking a way out of the office lease and management agreements that were draining the organization's finances, agreed to seek an alliance with the SNM.
According to Nusynowitz, the proposal specified three guidelines for the alliance:
Nusynowitz said the SNM approved the proposal, pending resolution of the ACNP's potential legal issues relating to the organization's previous office lease. The ACNP then asked the SNM for a loan to pay the management firm and sever the lease, but the loan was turned down in mid-December, he said. Citing the sensitive nature of current negotiations, Woolfenden declined to comment on Nusynowitz' remarks.
SNM director Bertera is cautiously optimistic about the prospects of an alliance with the ACNP, but believes that the ACNP must resolve its financial difficulties before an agreement can take place.
"The original stipulation…was that the college come to the partnership unencumbered by liabilities, either financial or legal," Bertera said. "They were unable to overcome all of their financial liabilities without assistance, and they came to the society, and the society basically decided to stick by its original requirements for the partnership to be consummated."
The ACNP apparently must now find new approaches to resolving its financial problems. In the meantime, the SNM is acting as a caretaker for the organization's records.
The ACNP's Woolfenden believes that the outstanding issues will be resolved by mid-February, when the organizations will likely issue a joint statement announcing the alliance.
Additional partnerships?
Looking ahead, Bertera said a successful partnership with the ACNP might lead to similar arrangements with other nuclear medicine organizations as well. Such partnerships could help smaller organizations lower their administrative costs while retaining their independence.
"Inefficiencies arise from there being so many small organizations and such a small piece of pie," Bertera said. "One of our strategic (goals) is to consolidate those interests as best we can. Part of our ability to do that is that we have an in-place infrastructure and that we have assets that we can divide incrementally in the (nuclear medicine) community."
Better cooperation between the SNM and the ACNP would be a positive development because it would create a more cohesive voice for nuclear medicine and avoid duplication of effort, according to Dr. Barry Siegel, director of nuclear medicine at the Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology in St. Louis, MO.
"I think that for a long time people have felt it seemed unfortunate that there was a lot of duplication of effort (between the organizations)," he said. "In the final analysis, whether it works or not depends on the players, and how the leaders of the organization and the members view the outcome -- whether they're getting what they want out of the organizations."
By Eric Barnes
AuntMinnie.com staff writer
January 14, 2000
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