Capitol Hill Report: CONGRESSIONAL SUPPORT GROWS FOR KEY AAN LEGISLATION
June 6, 2022
Latest Advocacy News
- Sixteen senators and four representatives submitted letters in support of the AAN’s request to significantly boost the annual appropriations for VA Neurology Centers of Excellence.
- Nineteen senators and 64 representatives submitted letters in support of robust funding for the BRAIN Initiative, an annual medical research priority for the AAN.
- The AAN, along with 120 other organizations, endorsed the “Characteristics of a Rational Medicare Physician Payment System” published by the American Medical Association. This set of principles provides a framework for payment reform as an early step in a broader effort to develop consensus across the house of medicine.
Issue in Focus
This week, the AAN’s signature bipartisan prior authorization legislation, the Improving Seniors’ Timely Access to Care Act of 2021 (H.R. 3173), obtained a record-breaking 296 cosponsors. The legislation in the previous Congress maintained 280 cosponsors. In this Congress, the legislation’s large cosponsor list triggers the discharge petition, which is a procedural motion that allows a bill that has passed 290 cosponsors and has maintained that number for 25 legislative days to skip committee procedure and a vote is scheduled on the consensus calendar.
This news is particularly timely, considering in late May more than 160 AAN members from across the country traveled to Washington, DC, to share AAN advocacy priorities with Congress in one unified voice. Among these advocacy priorities were addressing the overly burdensome barriers to care by supporting the Improving Seniors’ Timely Access to Care Act of 2021 (S. 3018/H.R. 3173) and cosponsoring the Safe Step Act (S. 464/H.R. 2163). The AAN’s efforts to reform prior authorization protocols got a boost recently when the American Hospital Association recommended that the US Department of Justice establish a task force to examine routine denials from major health insurance companies.
“Together with the COVID-19 pandemic and the inefficiency of prior authorization, patients have been subjected to further delays in their neurologic care,” said AAN President Orly Avitzur, MD, MBA, FAAN. “Prior authorization needs to be brought into the 21st century. For this reason, the AAN is pleased to support the Improving Seniors’ Timely Access to Care Act of 2021 to create an electronic prior authorization program, increase transparency to assist in choosing the right plans, and ensure requests are approved by qualified medical personnel. This legislation is undoubtedly a step in the right direction for neurologists and their patients.”
What We're Reading
- Medicare Part B premium reduction won’t happen this year (CNBC)
- Neurology on the Hill 2022: Takeaways and Progress (Neurology Live)