February 26, 2025
North Carolina Neurologists go to Capitol Hill
Over the dates of February 23-25, 2025, neurologists from across the country traveled to Washington, DC for the annual congressional advocacy event of the American Academy of Neurology. Attendees from North Carolina participating in 2025 Neurology on the Hill included:
- Zahra Cain-Akbar, DO
Cape Fear Valley Health / Wade, NC - Robert Frere, MD, FAAN
ECU Health / Greenville, NC - Amy Guzik, MD, FAAN
Wake Forest University School of Medicine / Winston Salem, NC - Casey Jeffreys, MD
Raleigh Neurology Associates / Raleigh, NC - Sneha Mantri, MD, MS
Duke University Medical Center / Durham, NC - Sara Sacco, MD
Carolinas Headache Clinic / Matthews, NC - Alan Skipper, CAE
Senior Officer, External Affairs / NC Medical Society
Senior Executive Director / NC Neurological Society
The group visited all 16 offices of North Carolina’s members of the Senate and House.
The Issues and “asks” presented included:
Medicare Payment Fix
A 2.8% cut to Medicare physician payment took effect January 1, 2025 – the fifth year in a row that physicians have had to absorb Medicare payment reductions. The primary ask of House members was to support HR 879 / Medicare Patient Access and Practice Stabilization Act which would eliminate the cut for 2025 as well as add a positive payment adjustment to account for the inflationary increase in practice costs. Rep. Greg Murphy, MD (NC-3) from Greenville, NC is the lead sponsor on the bill and in the four weeks since its introduction, the bill has gained 100 bipartisan cosponsors.
A companion bill has yet to be introduced in the Senate, which was the ask of Senator Ted Budd and Sen. Thom Tillis.
Medicare Telehealth Flexibilities Extension
The year-end federal funding package passed by Congress in December included an extension of the Medicare Telehealth Flexibilities that originated during the COVID-19 pandemic. The impact and value of expanded telehealth availability and coverage has been proven and the impending expiration of the telehealth flexibilities at the end of March has raised serious concern. The ask of Congress from the neurology community as well as from the entire medical profession is to, at a minimum, re-extend the flexibilities with a strong preference expressed for permanency.
Neuroscience Research Support
Support for research specific to neurological disease has been an ongoing point of emphasis due to the aging population and the associated increase in incidence of neurological disease. The message for sustaining and expanding research funding has increased with urgency as research funding has become a target to achieve savings in the federal budget. This past week’s trip to Capitol Hill offered an opportunity to demonstrate the value of the work done by the NIH National Institute for Neurological Disorders and BRAIN Initiative.