HCR Update from Mark Sanna: As the race for the White House has tightened, President Barack Obama has seen his advantage on several key health issues narrow significantly among likely voters, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation poll released Wednesday. Most troublesome for Obama is that, among likely voters, GOP candidate Mitt Romney has pulled nearly even with him on which candidate would do a better job with Medicare.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: A new Pew Research Center poll finds the race between President Barack Obama and GOP challenger Mitt Romney "dead even," although a Battleground tracking poll gives a slight edge to Obama in swing states. Meanwhile, as Obama focused on Mega-Storm Sandy, former President Bill Clinton carried the campaign message to Florida, highlighting key parts of the health law.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: It's hard to find an issue on which President Obama and GOP challenger Mitt Romney disagree more than health care. The 2010 Affordable Care Act is considered President Obama's signature legislative achievement, as well as something Romney has vowed to repeal.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: In a proposed settlement of a nationwide class-action lawsuit, the administration has agreed to scrap a decades-old practice that required many Medicare beneficiaries to show a likelihood of medical or functional improvement before Medicare would pay for skilled nursing and therapy services. Under the agreement, Medicare will pay for such services if they are needed to “maintain the patient’s current condition or prevent or slow further deterioration,” regardless of whether the patient’s condition is expected to improve.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Women have emerged as the pivotal voting bloc in the aftermath of the second presidential debate, where Obama and Romney sparred over contraceptives and pay inequality and Romney spoke about reviewing "binders full of women" as governor when he sought to diversify his Massachusetts administration.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Only 162 compounding pharmacies, or about 2% of the 7,500 total, have been accredited. New England Compounding Center, which made the tainted steroid injections linked to the recent fungal meningitis outbreak was not accredited. The death toll from that outbreak rose this week to 20.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: After a series of conflicting reports about whether vitamin pills can stave off chronic disease, researchers published in JAMA online Wednesday that a large clinical trial of nearly 15,000 older male doctors followed for more than a decade found that those taking a daily multivitamin experienced 8% fewer cancers than the subjects taking dummy pills.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Tonight’s debate will be President Barack Obama’s chance to give Mitt Romney the grilling on health care that his own campaign wishes he had given two weeks ago. But it's also Romney's chance to get in some more hits against "Obamacare"… It's safe to assume Obama is already planning to hammer Romney on his claim that his health care plan would cover pre-existing conditions.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Expect to hear lots about the House Republican budget plan written by Ryan in the VP debate tonight. Biden's sure to criticize Ryan's spending cuts and Medicare proposal as too extreme. Even GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney has distanced himself from some of Ryan's more controversial ideas.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Overall, the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press poll found that GOP presidential pick Mitt Romney wiped out President Barack Obama's advantage in the area of health care and took the lead by four percentage points.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Nearly 60% of Medicare beneficiary visits to emergency rooms and 25% of their hospital admissions were “potentially preventable”–  had patients received better care at home or in outpatient settings —  according to results of a study released Friday by a congressional advisory board.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Ninety-one people including doctors, nurses and other medical professionals were charged criminally after an investigation of Medicare fraud that involved $430 million in false billing in seven cities this week.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: As new polls show a narrow margin separating them, President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney will face questions on their plans for Medicare, Medicaid and overhauling the health system during tonight's debate. The focus will be on domestic policy, and at least 15 minutes will be dedicated to health care.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: A study published in the most recent issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine found that 60-78% of patients who read their office visit notes reported that they were more likely to take their medications as prescribed.  And their doctors reported that sharing their notes actually strengthened relationships with patients.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: America's health care system is unsustainable. It's not one problem, but three: cost, quality and coverage. The U.S. has world-class hospitals and doctors. But it spends far more than other advanced countries and people aren't much healthier. And in an aging society, there's no reliable system for long-term care.