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August 11, 2025

We want to make sure you know we have your back. We’re actively responding, relentlessly pushing forward, and ensuring your voice is heard loud and clear on Capitol Hill. Please keep reading Capitol Hill Report—and tell your colleagues—for a rundown of how your AAN is in overdrive advocating on your behalf. We’re analyzing and monitoring all changes made by Congress and the administration to evaluate any impacts on neurology and the patients we serve. If your practice, research, or patients have been impacted by recent changes at the federal or state level, please let us know by emailing advocacy@aan.com.

Issue in focus

This year over 140 AAN members are advocating in their home states on behalf of neurology. Through the Neurology off the Hill program—Neurology on the Hill’s summer counterpart—AAN members are meeting with their members of Congress to build relationships while they are home from DC. This year’s Neurology off the Hill focuses on two important issues: making telehealth flexibilities permanent and reforming prior authorization processes. 

The critical telehealth flexibilities from the COVID-19 public health emergency that have allowed patients with neurological conditions to access the care they need are set to expire at the end of September 2025. Congress has extended these flexibilities on a short-term basis since the public health emergency ended. While these temporary extensions allowed patients to continue with previously scheduled visits, the arbitrary deadlines created by Congress cause confusion and limit the ability for our patients to schedule important follow-up appointments. 

Congress must make these flexibilities permanent to ensure patients continue to have access to neurological care through telehealth. That’s why AAN advocates are meeting with their legislators back home to ask them to co-sponsor the CONNECT for Health Act /. This bill would make certain flexibilities from the public health emergency permanent for patients covered by Medicare. It removes site of service and geographic restrictions, protects access to audio-only appointments, and requires CMS to report back on how telehealth has impacted patient access and quality of care. 

Prior authorization requirements by all payers have been an ever-increasing burden on neurologists and have significantly delayed patient access to care—sometimes causing negative health outcomes. CMS implemented a rule last year that put guardrails around the process and allowed for electronic prior authorization approvals. To ensure these guardrails stay in place and are not revoked by a future administration, Congress must act to codify them into statute. Our AAN advocates are also asking their legislators to co-sponsor the Improving Seniors’ Timely Access to Care Act, /. This bill codifies the guardrails from CMS, and it opens the door for potential instant approvals for certain services that are regularly approved. 

Member highlight
AAN members across the country are advocating for these key issues—and some are making sure new members of the neurology community are joining them. Kara Stavros, MD, FAAN (Brown University), Joanna Fong-Isariyawongse, MD, FAAN (University of Pittsburgh), and Parthasarathy Thirumala, MD, FAAN (University of Pittsburgh) have made sure residents and medical students are able to attend Neurology off the Hill meetings in their states. These efforts not only strengthen our community, but also highlight the necessity of advocacy for neurologists and their patients. 

 
Latest advocacy news

AAN responds to animal research policy changes
The AAN submitted recommendations late last week to the NIH concerning recent policy changes impacting animal research. The letter highlighted that animal research remains vital to our mission to understand neurological diseases and disorders, discover targeted therapies, alleviate patient suffering, and improve quality of life. The letter urged the head of the NIH to work with us in support of policy that improves the efficacy of translating results of animal models to human diseases and maintains the US's position as the global leader in biomedical research.

Senate committee approves health-related appropriations bill 
The Senate Appropriations Committee marked up the Fiscal Year 2026 Labor, Health and Human Services, ºÃÉ«ÏÈÉú, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act late last month. This package includes funding for the HHS, NIH, FDA, and other important federal health agencies. On a bipartisan basis, the committee voted to increase funding to the NIH by $400 million for FY2026—including a 6.5% increase in funding for the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. Importantly, the report language also includes restrictions on the administration's ability to unilaterally restructure the NIH and funding for continued non-human primate research. The House is expected to mark up its version of this bill in early September. 

CMS decides against proposed IPPS change
In a win for AAN advocacy, CMS has elected not to implement a proposed change to the Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) that would have reduced payment for responsive neurostimulation epilepsy patients for hospitals. The AAN signed onto a letter arguing that CMS should not implement proposed modifications to payment policies that would detrimentally impact patient access to care.

AAN and partners request step therapy study
The AAN also signed onto a letter last week in response to ongoing concerns surrounding step therapy requirements for Medicare Part B drugs. In the letter, the AAN and other stakeholders request that CMS conduct a study on the impact that step therapy has on patient access to prevent misuse of utilization management policies, interference in the doctor-patient relationship, and risk to vulnerable and rural patients. 

AAN and partners urge DEA to protect telemedicine access
The AAN joined partner organizations late last month in urging the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to ensure continued patient access to medically necessary controlled substances prescribed via telemedicine. The letter encourages the DEA to swiftly take action to prevent disruptions to access to care ahead of the scheduled expiration of prescribing flexibilities, and to convene stakeholders in support of long-term policy that would preserve patient access to care.

AAN joins AMA to oppose inappropriate scope expansion
Also last month, the AAN joined an American Medical Association-led letter opposing the Ensuring Community Access to Pharmacist Services Act. This bill would inappropriately expand the scope of practice for pharmacists, allowing them to provide services usually billed by an MD or DO. We will continue to oppose inappropriate scope expansion and advocate for a physician-led care team. 

Check out the new BrainPAC website!
The BrainPAC website has been refreshed with an improved design and easier navigation to help you learn more about how BrainPAC advances neurology on Capitol Hill. Visit to explore the updates and learn how you can help support our advocacy priorities.

What we're reading

• Collateral Damage to Patients From Formulary Restrictions in Multiple Sclerosis: Perspectives from an MS Specialist, a Patient, and a Neurologist in Training ()

• An AI tool to help diagnose dementia leverages the Mayo Clinic’s expertise—and its data ()