Advocacy

HFSA advocates on behalf of our members and the patients they serve. This advocacy includes influencing critical legislative and regulatory issues of concern to heart failure providers and the field of heart failure.

HFSA Actions

Click below to learn about actions HFSA has taken.

Access to Care
  • HFSA wrote to congressional leaders outlining HFSA priorities for the next coronavirus relief package, stressing provisions important to patient access to care, scientific research, and safeguarding the stability of medical practices (August 2020)
Coverage and Payment
  • HFSA commented on the 2021 Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) proposed rule, urging CMS to move cautiously and take a more patient-centered approach as the Agency seeks to eliminate procedures on Medicare’s “Inpatient Only” (IPO) list.  HFSA also asked CMS to extend the period of time for which providers would be subject to site-of-service audits and reviews for procedures moved off of the IPO list to ensure shared decision-making between the patient and physician drives the site-of-service selection rather cost.  (October 2020)
  • HFSA commented on the 2021 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) proposed rule, expressing concern with the CMS proposal to reduce the 2021 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule conversion factor by -10.6% in the middle of the COVID-19 public health emergency and asks the Agency to use its waiver authorities to mitigate the cuts associated with that reduction. The HFSA also requested that the Agency re-examine its valuation of PT/INR remote monitoring services and VAD interrogation to ensure that valuations adequately account for the resources associated with those services so that patient access to them is not undermined. The letter also focuses on requesting that the Agency extend access to cardiac rehabilitation via telehealth during the COVID-19 public health emergency.  (October 2020)
  • HFSA, in collaboration with the Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS), the American College of Cardiology (ACC), and the American Association for Thoracic Surgery (AATS), submitted comments on proposed changes from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to coverage policy for artificial hearts and ventricular assist devices (VADs). The comment letters express opposition to the elimination of national coverage for artificial hearts and related devices while supporting the proposal to eliminate the unnecessary distinction between bridge-to-transplant (BTT) and destination therapy (DT) for coverage of durable VAD implantation (September 2020) 
     
  • HFSA commented on the proposed Medicare national coverage memorandum for Transcatheter Mitral Valve Repair (TMVR), urging that coverage with evidence development (CED) be maintained, and, citing the risk to patient access and safety, opposing a proposal to remove the current CED for transcatheter edge-to-edge repair (TEER) for both DMR and FMR. (July 2020)
  • HFSA commented on the 2020 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) proposed rule, expressing support for the proposal to revise payment for E/M services and responding to proposals to create new codes for Principal Care Management (PCM) services and increase utilization of chronic care management (CCM) and transitional care management (TCM) services (September 2019)
  • HFSA commented on the 2019 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) proposed rule, expressing concerns about the proposed new payment structure for E/M services (September 2018) 
     
Drugs / Devices
  • HFSA commented on the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Draft Guidance for Industry on Treatment for Heart Failure:  Endpoints for Drug Development commending the Agency for considering patient-centered metrics as part of the approval process (August 2019)
Research
  • HFSA joined with 94 other stakeholders in writing to Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA-08) to endorse H.R. 8067, the Addressing COVID-19 Health Disparities Act.  The legislation would direct the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) to conduct or support research on the most critical health system issues for COVID-19, including telehealth, racial and ethnic disparities, and timely access to vaccines (August 2020)
  • HFSA wrote in support of the Research Investment to Secure the Economy (RISE) Act, H.R. 7308, introduced by Reps. Diana DeGette (D-CO) and Fred Upton (R-MI) which would authorize $10 billion for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to support federally funded research stalled by COVID-19 (June 2020)
  • HFSA Research Network members reported that their clinical research site has experienced changes in staffing including furloughs, reallocating staff to COVID studies, requiring personal time off, and remote working. 
  • 180 bipartisan Members of Congress sent a letter to House leadership urging that $26 billion for research impacted by the pandemic be included in the next COVID relief package include $26 billion in funding to support research activities (April 2020)
  • HFSA members, through the Heart Failure Collaboratory, published a Statement on Clinical Trials in the Landscape of COVID-19 in JACC: Heart Failure specifically addressing heart failure clinical trials and outlining a number of guiding principles and possible trial conduct solutions for the COVID- 19 pandemic (May 2020)
     
Telehealth
  • HFSA wrote to the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee in advance of its hearing titled “Telehealth Lessons Learned During the COVID-19 Pandemic” to share HFSA’s statement of virtual visits and the experience of HFSA members with telehealth during the public health emergency (June 2020) 
  • HFSA joined with other stakeholders in writing to Congress urging that critical telehealth reforms extended during the public health emergency are made permanent (June 2020) 

Health on the Hill Weekly Podcast

Health on the Hill provides updates on current happenings in health care in the federal government… Capitol Hill, the White House and the agencies.

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Health Policy Weekly Newsletter

The newsletter is provided by HFSA consultants Hart Health Strategies Inc. and recaps federal policy activity of the previous week and previews the week ahead. It alerts you to federal policy activity on Capitol Hill, including upcoming congressional hearings, newly introduced bills, regulatory announcements, and implementation actions.

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