The AANS and CNS support legislation to provide common sense, proven, comprehensive medical liability reform. Federal legislation modeled after the laws in California or Texas, which includes reasonable limits on noneconomic damages, represents the "gold standard." The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has shown that comprehensive medical liability reform would provide $54 billion in savings to the federal government. Other solutions should be adopted including: (1) Applying the Federal Tort Claims Act to services mandated by the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act; (2) liability protections for physicians who volunteer their services; (3) liability protections for physicians who follow practice guidelines set by their specialties; and (4) clarifying that the Affordable Care Act (ACA) did not create any new causes of action. Organized neurosurgery, together with coalitions of medical organizations, is leading the charge to tackle medical liability reform.
Key resources
Letters
SUBJECT: Improving Seniors’ Timely Access to Care Act Dear Reps. DelBene, Kelly, Bera and Bucshon, On behalf of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS) and the Congress ofNeurological Surgeons […]
Article
Summary: In 2014, Congress passed the Protecting Access to Medicare Act (PAMA) [Public Law 113-93],establishing the Medicare Appropriate Use Criteria (AUC) Program for advanced diagnosticimaging, mandating, among other things, the […]
Letters
Published: April 22, 2021
Re: Step Therapy for Part B Drugs in Medicare AdvantageDear Secretary Becerra,The undersigned organizations, representing millions of Medicare beneficiaries with life-threatening, complex, chronicconditions and the physicians who care for them, […]
Letters
Published: April 21, 2021
RE: Support for H.R. 2163, the Safe Step Act Dear Representatives Ruiz and Wenstrup: As patient and physician advocates, the Alliance of Specialty Medicine (Alliance) writes in support of yourlegislation, […]
Letters
Dear Acting Administrator Richter, On behalf of the organizations below and the patients and healthcare stakeholders we serve, weare writing to reiterate the growing concern within the healthcare community regarding […]
Letters
Published: March 16, 2021
RE: Support for S. 464, the Safe Step Act Dear Senators Murkowski, Hassan, Cassidy and Rosen: As patient and physician advocates, the Alliance of Specialty Medicine (Alliance) writes in support […]
Letters
Published: February 10, 2021
Subject: H.R. 66, the Comprehensive Access to Robust Insurance Now Guaranteed(CARING) for Kids Act Dear Representatives McBath and Buchanan: On behalf of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS), the […]
Letters
Published: January 4, 2021
RE: Reducing Provider and Patient Burden by Improving Prior Authorization Processes, andPromoting Patients’ Electronic Access to Health Information (CMS-9123-P) Dear Administrator Verma: On behalf of more than 100,000 specialty physicians, […]
Article
Published: January 1, 2021
BACKGROUND Prior authorization is a cumbersome process that requires physicians to obtain pre-approval for medicaltreatments or tests before rendering care to their patients. The process for obtaining this approval isburdensome […]
Letters
Published: December 17, 2020
Re: Support of S. 5044, the Improving Seniors’ Timely Access to Care Act Dear Senators Brown and Thune: As the Alliance of Specialty Medicine (Alliance), our mission is to advocate […]
Article
Published: December 16, 2020
To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to establish requirementswith respect to the use of prior authorization under Medicare Advantageplans, and for other purposes _________________ IN THE SENATE […]
Letters
Published: November 6, 2020
Dear Chairmen and Ranking Members: In 2014, Congress passed the “Protecting Access to Medicare Act” (PAMA), establishing theAppropriate Use Criteria (AUC) Program for advanced diagnostic imaging. Six years later, AUCProgram […]
Article
Published: October 6, 2020
DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC, PHYSICIANS URGE CONGRESSTO NOT ENACT SURPRISE BILLING LEGISLATION THAT: Physicians appreciate Congress’ continued efforts to work toward a more balanced surprise medical billingsolution that protects patients […]
Letters
Dear President Trump: As members of the GOP Doctors Caucus, we commend your leadership in highlighting the serious issueof surprise medical billing, and share your interest in ensuring patients are […]
Letters
Dear Secretary Azar and Administrator Verma: The Part B Access for Seniors and Physicians (ASP) Coalition represents patient and provider groupsdedicated to preserving patient access to Medicare Part B covered […]
Letters
Seema VermaAdministratorCenters for Medicare & Medicaid Services,Department of Health and Human Services,Attention: CMS-4190-PP.O. Box 8016Baltimore, MD 21244-8016 Submitted online via regulations.gov Medicare and Medicaid Programs; Contract Year 2021 and 2022 […]
Letters
Published: March 19, 2020
Dear Speaker Pelosi, Minority Leader McCarthy, Majority Leader McConnell, and Minority LeaderSchumer: On behalf of the 22 undersigned organizations representing physicians and patients currently faced withthe onset of Coronavirus Disease […]
Letters
Dear Committee Leaders, On behalf of the undersigned medical organizations, we want to thank you for your efforts tocraft a balanced, bipartisan solution to end surprise medical bills for our […]
Letters
Published: January 21, 2020
Dear Chairman Neal and Ranking Member Brady, On behalf of the undersigned medical organizations, we want to thank you for your efforts tocraft a balanced, bipartisan solution to end unanticipated […]
Letters
Published: January 21, 2020
Dear Chairman Scott and Ranking Member Foxx, The medical community remains committed to working with Congress to seek an evenhandedlegislative solution to protect patients from unanticipated (“surprise”) medical bills that […]
Letters
Published: January 4, 2020
January 4, 2021 Seema Verma, AdministratorCenters for Medicare & Medicaid ServicesDepartment of Health and Human ServicesAttention: CMS-9123-PP.O. Box 8016Baltimore, MD 21244-8016 Re: RIN 0938-AT99 Medicaid Program; Patient Protection and Affordable […]
Letters
Published: December 11, 2019
Dear Speaker Pelosi and Leader McCarthy, Thank you for your leadership on addressing the unfortunate practice of “surprise billing,” which leaves patients with unexpected charges after they receive emergency or […]
Article
Published: December 10, 2019
TITLE I: Improving Public Health Sec. 111. Improvingawareness of diseaseprevention. Sec. 112. Guide on evidence based strategies for publichealth department obesityprevention programs. Sec. 113. Expanding capacityfor health outcomes. Sec. 114. […]
Letters
Published: December 5, 2019
Dear Leader McConnell, Leader Schumer, Speaker Pelosi, and Leader McCarthy: As Congress continues its efforts to protect patients from surprise medical bills, we hope that yourecognize the potentially devastating unintended […]
Letters
Published: November 8, 2019
November 8, 2019 The Honorable Alex AzarSecretaryU.S. Department of Health and Human Services200 Independence Avenue S.W.Washington, D.C. 20201 RE: Executive Order (EO) entitled “Protecting and Improving Medicare for Our Nation’s […]
