HC Reform Update from Mark Sanna: Agents and brokers are so concerned they will be viewed as redundant under the new law that they successfully lobbied to get state insurance commissioners to publicly acknowledge their importance. At a meeting of the powerful National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) last week in Seattle, 25 commissioners sponsored a resolution stating that implementation of health reform should "recognize and protect the indispensable role that licensed insurance professionals play in serving consumers."

HC Reform Update from Mark Sanna: Unlike physicians in primary care, the number of physician assistants and nurse practitioners are on the rise. According to the American Academy of Physician Assistants, there were 74,100 physician assistants in practice in 2008, the most recent census available. It's projected to be the second-fastest-growing health profession, after home health aides, in the coming decade. As of 2010, there are 135,000 practicing nurse practitioners, according to the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners, with an additional 8,000 being added to the ranks each year.

HC Reform Update from Mark Sanna: More than 10 million people are enrolled in high-deductible health plans linked to health savings accounts, up from 6.1 million in 2008, according to a recent survey by America’s Health Insurance Plans, an industry trade group. To open a health savings account, you must be enrolled in a qualified health insurance plan with a deductible of at least $1,200 for an individual or $2,400 for a family. In return for accepting the higher deductible, you are allowed to deposit pretax dollars in the H.S.A., which are used to pay your out-of-pocket medical costs. This year, singles may contribute a maximum of $3,050 to an H.S.A. and families can deposit up to $6,150. Earnings on the account are also tax-free, and no taxes are paid on withdrawals used for qualified medical expenses.

HC Reform Update from Mark Sanna: Federal official say the average Medicare drug benefit plan will cost $30 a month next year, a $1-a-month increase from this year’s average premium. The officials portrayed the estimated new cost as a very small price increase, while saying many older Americans will pay less out-of-pocket for brand-name drugs under the new health care law.

HC Reform Update from Mark Sanna: The American public’s confidence in the health care system rose markedly after passage of the sprawling legislative package this year, according to a survey released by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. But the measurement of confidence quickly settled back to historical levels, according to the survey, as families turned from rhetoric to reality.

HC Reform Update from Mark Sanna: The Obama administration is rewriting new rules on medical privacy after criticism from consumer groups and members of Congress. According to the new rules, health care providers and insurers have to notify patients of a privacy breach only if they find that the violation posed a significant risk of financial, reputational or other harm to the individual.

HC Reform Update from Mark Sanna: A federal advisory panel on Thursday voted narrowly to recommend allowing Eli Lilly to market its antidepressant, Cymbalta, for some chronic pain conditions affecting millions of Americans, particularly lower back pain. The scientific advisory panel to the FDA voted 8 to 6 in favor of expanding approved uses of Cymbalta.

HC Reform Update from Mark Sanna: According to a recent article in Forbes magazine, one way to relieve the shortage of providers that the medical industry has created would be for the AMA to abandon its aggressive game of turf-protection and allow nurses, midwives, physician assistants and practitioners of alternative therapies such as chiropractors, to offer standard treatments for routine illnesses without physician supervision.

HC Reform Update from Mark Sanna: In yet another setback in efforts to treat Alzheimer’s disease, Eli Lilly & Company announced on Tuesday that it had halted development of an experimental treatment after the compound, called semagacestat, actually made patients worse in two late-stage clinical trials.

HC Reform Update from Mark Sanna: The National Association of Insurance Commissioners, the state officials who regulate the conduct of insurance companies, are holding their summer meeting this week in Seattle. 65 Democratic members of Congress have sent a letter to the insurance commissioners asking them to develop strict definitions of “quality improvement,” a provision in the health care law.

HC Reform Update from Mark Sanna: A single senator — Christopher Bond, Republican of Missouri — is blocking a bill that would ensure a reliable supply of medical isotopes while reducing the risk of nuclear terrorism. There are no reactors in this country that make the isotope, so supplies have to be imported, primarily from aging reactors in Canada and Europe. The Senate leadership needs to pry it loose.

HC Reform Update from Mark Sanna: Faced with the need to review insurance rates and enforce a panoply of new rights granted to consumers, states are scrambling to make sure they have the necessary legal authority to carry out the responsibilities being placed on them by the new health care law. Insurance commissioners in about half the states say they do not have clear authority to enforce consumer protection standards that take effect next month.

HC Reform Update from Mark Sanna: At least a dozen major drug and device makers are under investigation by federal prosecutors and securities regulators in a broadening bribery inquiry into whether the companies made illegal payments to doctors and health officials in foreign countries. Of even greater concern to prosecutors in the United States are unusually large payments made to foreign doctors who oversee the growing number of clinical trials that drug and device makers conduct abroad.

HC Reform Update by Mark Sanna: Doctors at three health centers in Massachusetts have begun advising patients to eat “prescription produce” from local farmers’ markets, in an effort to fight obesity in children of low-income families. Now they will give coupons amounting to $1 a day for each member of a patient’s family to promote healthy meals.

HC Reform Update by Mark Sanna: The most anticipated health care event of the week is a vote in the House of Representatives on a bill to send aid to states to prevent cuts to Medicaid and teacher layoffs. The Senate approved the $26b measure last Thursday. Now House members are returning briefly to Washington from their August breaks to vote on the bill, which includes $16 b for Medicaid.

HC Reform Update by Mark Sanna: The Obama administration is investigating pay practices throughout the health care industry after finding that many hospitals and nursing homes do not pay proper overtime to nurses and other employees who work more than 40 hours a week. Hospitals around the country have paid millions of dollars in back wages to settle claims by the government and their employees.

HC Reform Update by Mark Sanna: The Senate on Thursday approved a long-awaited child nutrition act that intends to feed more hungry kids and make school food more nutritious, and it provides for $4.5 billion over the next decade to make that happen. Called the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, it passed the Senate unanimously and now moves on to the House, where passage is also expected.

HC Reform Update by Mark Sanna: Americans are continuing to get fatter and fatter, with obesity rates reaching 30% or more in nine states last year, as opposed to only three states in 2007, health officials reported on Tuesday. The increases mean that 2.4 million more people became obese from 2007 to 2009, bringing the total to 72.5 million, or 26.7% of the population.

HC Reform Update by Mark Sanna: A federal judge has refused to block a challenge to the Obama administration’s health care law brought by the Commonwealth of Virginia. Virginia is arguing that Congress, in passing a measure that requires people to buy insurance or face a penalty, exceeded its limits under the Constitution’s Commerce Clause and tax powers.

HC Reform Update by Mark Sanna: The federal Health and Human Services agency is celebrating the 45th anniversary of Medicare with a host of features, including a television advertisement featuring none other than Andy Griffith. Mr. Griffith promises that better protections for Medicare beneficiaries are coming, under the new health care law.