Making Heart Rhythm Care a Priority: HRA's Inaugural Capitol Hill Fly-In
Nearly 30 heart rhythm advocates traveled to Washington last week for the 2026 Heart Rhythm Advocates National Fly-In, meeting with 40 congressional offices to make the case for policies that protect access to heart rhythm care.
Working in six geographically organized teams, our advocates met with members of Congress and their health policy staff from both parties and both chambers. Senate meetings included the offices of Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Chris Murphy (D-CT), Mark Warner (D-VA), Dave McCormick (R-PA), John Hickenlooper (D-CO), Mark Kelly (D-AZ), Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Todd Young (R-IN), and Jim Banks (R-IN).
On the House side, our teams met with the offices of Reps. Vern Buchanan (R-FL), chair of the Ways and Means Health Subcommittee; Morgan Griffith (R-VA), chair of the Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee; Mike Kelly (R-PA), sponsor of H.R. 3514; and Greg Murphy, MD (R-NC), a physician member of Congress. Other meetings included the offices of Reps. Debbie Dingell (D-MI), Robin Kelly (D-IL), Erin Houchin (R-IN), Lori Trahan (D-MA), Jake Auchincloss (D-MA), John Rutherford (R-FL), Valerie Foushee (D-NC), Jahana Hayes (D-CT), Mike Quigley (D-IL), Troy Balderson (R-OH), Aaron Bean (R-FL), Andrew Clyde (R-GA), George Latimer (D-NY), Patrick Ryan (D-NY), Nick Langworthy (R-NY), Brittany Pettersen (D-CO), and Bob Onder (R-MO).
D Varghese, T Meyers-Laplace, J Mullenix, S Al-Khatib, R Mehta in Rep. Murphy's office
Many of these were constituent visits, allowing advocates to explain how federal policy affects patients, clinicians, nurses, allied professionals, device clinics, and health systems in their own communities. Other meetings focused on congressional leadership, committee jurisdiction, or previous support for legislation important to heart rhythm care.
Because House votes had been cancelled for the week, many of our conversations were with legislative and health policy staff. These were substantive meetings with the people responsible for analyzing legislation, advising members, and conducting the detailed work needed to advance health policy.
Our advocates concentrated on three principal requests:
Stabilize Medicare physician payment. We asked House offices to cosponsor the Patients First Act, H.R. 9693, and urged senators to support its payment reforms in the next viable Medicare package. The bill would establish recurring updates tied to practice costs, reform budget neutrality, update clinical labor and equipment costs, and replace MIPS with a more clinically informed system.
Reduce Medicare Advantage prior-authorization delays. We urged House leadership to bring H.R. 3514, the Improving Seniors’ Timely Access to Care Act, to the floor and asked Senate offices to advance S. 1816. The legislation would streamline electronic prior authorization, improve transparency, and strengthen oversight of Medicare Advantage approval practices.
Fund implementation of the HEARTS Act. Congress has authorized a program to help schools obtain and maintain AEDs, provide CPR and AED training, and establish cardiac emergency response plans. We asked Congress to provide the full $50 million authorized for implementation in the final FY 2027 Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill.
Teams also discussed remote cardiac monitoring, physician workforce capacity, access to electrophysiology services in outpatient settings, NIH and NHLBI research funding, and the administrative burdens facing clinicians. Several conversations addressed specialty-board recertification and the work of the HRS Recertification Task Force.
The fly-in has already been followed by additional legislative movement. Since our event, seven more representatives have cosponsored the Patients First Act, bringing H.R. 9693 to 65 cosponsors. H.R. 3514 now has 306 House cosponsors, and Sen. Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD) added her name to S. 1816. These additions reflect our successes as well as the growing momentum around the same priorities our advocates carried to Capitol Hill.
Thank you
Our advocates represented the heart rhythm community exceptionally well. They combined professional expertise with real stories about patients, practices, and communities. Thank you to everyone who participated, helped prepare our advocates, contributed policy expertise, or supported the fly-in behind the scenes. This event was an important step, but the meetings themselves are only the beginning. HRA will continue working with these offices and will provide members with opportunities to reinforce our message through action alerts, in-district meetings, and other advocacy activities. We'd also like to thank the Heart Disease Research Foundation for their financial support which helped make this event possible.
To get more involved with HRA’s advocacy efforts, reach out to Justin Beland, Associate Vice President of Advocacy. Together, we are building a stronger and more consistent voice for heart rhythm patients.