capitol hill report: LEADERSHIP TRANSFERS PEACEFULLY IN NATION'S CAPITAL
January 25, 2021
President Biden Sworn in as 46th President of the United States
On January 20, Joe Biden was officially sworn in as the 46th President of the United States of America. As is customary, members of President Trump’s administration, such as former Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Seema Verma, resigned their positions ahead of Biden's swearing-in. Until the Senate can confirm new agency heads, they will be run by career staff members. We are closely monitoring for the Senate’s approval of numerous Biden appointees in the coming weeks and months. We will also be working to develop relationships with the new administration members, many of whom will dictate the regulatory policies affecting our members.
President Biden’s nominee for the head of HHS is Xavier Becerra, previously serving as California’s Attorney General and as a member of Congress. Biden also nominated former Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, MD, as the next Surgeon General and named Rochelle Walensky, MD, chief of infectious diseases at Massachusetts General Hospital, as the next director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He said Anthony Fauci, MD, will serve as chief medical adviser to the president on COVID-19.
Upon entering office, President Biden announced a number of policy changes including a “regulatory freeze” that will pause any new regulations from moving forward and give the incoming administration an opportunity to review any regulations that the Trump administration tried to finalize in its last days. He also rescinded the immigration and travel ban from Muslim countries, a policy the AAN opposed when it was initially introduced in 2017. Read all the recent executive orders here.
Academy Sets 2021 Advocacy Priorities
The AAN’s Advocacy Committee defines the strategic direction to achieve the Academy’s health policy goals at all levels of government. In a virtual meeting on January 19, the committee discussed member feedback and the expected policy priorities for the new session of Congress and administration. The Academy thanks all the members who took the time to provide their input on the advocacy priority survey. The following priorities were identified and may be updated throughout the year.
Top priorities
- COVID-19 response
(e.g., telemedicine [site of service requirements, out-of-state licensure, private payer coverage], financial support, and research funding) - Access to care
(e.g., telemedicine, drug affordability, health care disparities) - Regulatory burden
(e.g., prior authorization, step therapy, out-of-state licensure, delay of Appropriate Use Criteria)
Active priorities
- Drug costs and access
- Reimbursement
- Neurology work force
- Scope of practice
- Interoperability
- VA Centers of Excellence
- National Neurologic Disease Surveillance System
- AAN Health Care Principles
Monitor
- Gun safety
- TBI/concussion
- Opioids and pain research
- Neuroimaging
- Liability reform
- Immigration
- Narrow networks
- MACRA fixes
- Surprise billing implementation
- Cannabis research