SMART HEART SCANS for athletes is a program instituted by BESTT for U.S. Inc., a non-profit company started by Tom Vardase. Tom, a broadcast television producer, with 20+ years of experience in taped and live high school sports programming for the statewide Georgia Public Broadcasting network, has been witness to more than a few teen athlete deaths in his career. In response to the growing concern he had for the increasing number of students who were falling victim to Sudden Cardiac Death from Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM), also known as the enlarged heart, he decided he could take action to help prevent further tragedies.

SMART HEART SCANS for athletes brings a mobile ultrasound unit to your campus for the day to conduct the simple 8-minute test known as an Echocardiogram, which can detect HCM. This test, when conducted in a private facility can cost as much as $800 and is usually not covered by insurance due to the fact that these are thought to be healthy teen athletes.

Through BESTT for U.S., Inc., the SMART HEART SCANS for athletes test costs only $80 in metro Atlanta and Central Florida due to the volume of participants and the fact that the test is looking specifically for HCM, as opposed to the broad battery of tests that would be conducted on older patients in a hospital setting. The test is voluntary on the part of the students and their parents.