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Read the Academy's bi-weekly update on legislative and regulatory advocacy for neurology.

March 9, 2026

Our 2026 advocacy priorities

We’ve got your back on Capitol Hill—and we’re in overdrive advocating for you and your patients. Capitol Hill Report is your source for all things neurology advocacy, so keep reading and sharing to stay up to date. Plus, we want to hear from you: Let us know if your practice, research, or patients are affected by recent policy changes.   

Issue in focus

Each year, the AAN’s Advocacy Committee sets the top priorities for AAN advocacy to focus on throughout the year. This year, the committee voted to maintain our top priorities of access to care, regulatory and administrative burden, the neurology workforce, and neuroscience research and brain health. With 2026 well underway, we’ve been diligently working with Congress and the administration on each of these issues.  

Access to care 
Access to care is a broad category supporting high-quality patient-centered care, including affordable prescription drug prices, telehealth, and adequate coverage policies. Neurologists frequently treat patients with complex chronic conditions that require high-cost specialty drugs, many of which require specific handling or administration requirements. We support policies that ensure prescription medications are accessible to patients.  

At the end of 2025, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) announced the Global Benchmark for Efficient Drug Pricing (GLOBE) and Guarding US Medicare Against Rising Drug Costs (GUARD) Models, proposed mandatory drug pricing models that would aggressively lower drug costs by requiring that manufacturers pay rebates if their drug prices exceed global benchmarks. The AAN has responded to both the GLOBE and GUARD models with recommendations to ensure the models do not create unintended access issues. 

During the AAN’s annual Neurology on the Hill event, participants lobbied in support of the CONNECT for Health Act, which would permanently expand access to telehealth services and prevent potential future disruptions to access to these services, similar to the lapse in coverage during last year’s record-breaking government shutdown.  

Regulatory and administrative burden 
Physicians consistently cite regulatory and administrative burden as having a significant negative impact on patient outcomes. These burdens include prior authorization and step therapy requirements, quality reporting, and additional administrative tasks that take physicians’ time and attention away from patients. The AAN is supportive of policies that reduce these burdens to give providers more time to focus on patient care.  

CMMI recently launched the Wasteful and Inappropriate Service Reduction (WISeR) Model, which establishes new prior authorization requirements for certain medical services. While this doesn’t impact neurological services directly, the AAN joined with the broader house of medicine in pushing back and is closely monitoring for similar future models that may encroach on neurology. Similarly, CMS is preparing to promulgate a rule on prior authorization for Medicare drugs.  While we expect this rule to propose guardrails that rein in unfair prior authorization practices, the AAN is prepared to review and comment on the rule once the full text is published.  

Neurology workforce 
Support for the neurology workforce includes ensuring Medicare reimbursement for neurological services is sufficient to maintain a practice, as well as supporting wellness and immigration policy that allows international medical graduates to practice in the United States. 

During this year's Neurology on the Hill, participants also asked legislators to pass a permanent fix to the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule that would grant a yearly inflationary update, allowing Medicare reimbursements to keep up with the annual rate of inflation. Participants also asked for policy changes to budget neutrality triggers, allowing CMS to compensate for new services without negatively impacting reimbursement rates for existing services.  

Neuroscience research and brain health 
With the ongoing threats to federally funded medical and neuroscience research, the AAN is committed to supporting research funding through the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and other avenues. We support increased NIH funding, especially for the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) and the Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative.

The BRAIN Initiative has led to breakthroughs in neurology by developing advanced technologies that can map, monitor, and modulate key functions of the brain. In addition to base funding through NIH, the BRAIN Initiative received funding from the 21^st Century Cures Act, but this funding is set to conclude at the end of 2026. To prevent a lapse in funding, Neurology on the Hill participants asked legislators to support baseline funding for the BRAIN Initiative in appropriations spending.  

While these four areas are the AAN’s primary focus, we remain active in many other areas of policy that impact neurologists and their patients. If you have questions about our advocacy work or how you can get involved, don’t hesitate to contact us at advocacy@aan.com.

Latest advocacy news

500+ organizations call for robust NIH funding 
The AAN recently with 551 other partner organizations calling for NIH to receive at least $51.303 billion in funding for fiscal year 2027. This would be an 8.7% increase over fiscal year 2026 funding levels. 

Proposed changes would impact health professionals’ student loans 
The AAN recently signed onto a letter to the Department of ºÃÉ«ÏÈÉú regarding proposed changes that impact loan amounts for a number of allied health professionals, including nurses and physician assistants. The letter urges the department to maintain current policy and not implement new policy that would have the effect of capping the amount that allied health professionals can borrow from the federal government to pursue an advanced degree. 

AAN reviewing proposed health care fraud regulations
The US Department of Health and Human Services issued a Request for Information (RFI) asking for input on potential regulatory changes meant to detect and respond to health care fraud and abuse. The AAN is currently reviewing the RFI and drafting a response. 
 
AAN responds to House committee hearing on veteran TBIs 
The AAN submitted a statement for the record in response to a House Veterans Affairs Subcommittee on Health hearing on supporting veterans with traumatic brain injuries. Our statement focused on the need for continued robust support for VA Neurology Centers of Excellence. 

What we're reading

• How to solve the current and future physician shortage | Op-Ed,
• CMS extends application deadline for new Medicaid drug pricing model |
• How AI Can Both Detect and Enable Fraudulent Research |