HCR Update from Mark Sanna: In a flood of lawsuits, Roman Catholics, evangelicals and Mennonites are challenging a provision in the new health care law that requires employers to cover birth control in employee health plans — a high-stakes clash between religious freedom and health care access that appears headed to the Supreme Court.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: In a unanimous, decision the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed hospitals' and health systems' hopes of recouping millions in Medicare underpayments made between 1987 and 1994. Providers had asked the high court to give them the same extra time to find underpayments in Medicare reimbursement that the government gave its outside contractors to find overpayments.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: President Obama began his second term with an unapologetically liberal inaugural address, calling on Americans to work together to preserve entitlements, address climate change and extend civil rights. ... "The commitments we make to each other — through Medicare, and Medicaid, and Social Security — these things do not sap our initiative; they strengthen us," the president said.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Today the White House said it will give states more time to comply with the new health care law after finding that many states lag in setting up markets where millions of Americans are expected to buy subsidized private health insurance. HHS and the White House will waive or extend the deadline for any states that expressed interest in creating their own exchanges or regulating insurance sold through a federal exchange.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Can't get enough of Obamacare's individual mandate? Here's the catch: The individual mandate penalties will be pretty weak as they are phased in over two years — only $95 when they start in 2014, much less than it costs to buy insurance. And yet, everyone with pre-existing conditions will have to be accepted for coverage right away.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: This week, HHS approved 106 new Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) under the new Health Law. Among those that gained approval is the South Florida ACO, which has an integrated care model that includes 75 doctors and the Walgreens drug store chain.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Deaths before age 50 accounted for about two-thirds of the difference in life expectancy between males in the United States and their counterparts in 16 other developed countries, and about one-third of the difference for females. The countries in the analysis included Canada, Japan, Australia, France, Germany and Spain. Car accidents, gun violence and drug overdoses were major contributors to years of life lost by Americans before age 50. 

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: National health spending climbed to $2.7 trillion in 2011, or an average of $8,700 for every person in the country, the lowest annual rates recorded in the 52 years the government has been collecting such data.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Today the American Medical Student Association and the National Physicians Alliance urged the Obama Administration to issue past-due regulations for a database of payments made by pharmaceutical companies and device makers to physicians. The Affordable Care Act requires drug, medical device, biologic, and medical equipment manufacturers to collect data on financial relationships with doctors and hospitals, and to report that data to CMS.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Health Insurance companies across the country are seeking and winning double-digit increases in premiums for some customers, even though one of the biggest objectives of the Obama administration’s health care law was to stem the rapid rise in insurance costs for consumers. Particularly vulnerable to the high rates are small businesses and people who do not have employer-provided insurance and must buy it on their own.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: A group of doctors who performed unusually high rates of heart procedures on patients at the EMH Regional Medical Center in Ohio settled with the Justice Department this week over accusations that they had billed Medicare for unnecessary medical care from 2001 to 2006. The hospital agreed to pay $3.9 million to settle the accusation.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: This week the Feds approved 8 State Health Insurance Exchanges. The newly approved states that will run their own exchanges are California, Hawaii, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Vermont and Utah. Arkansas will partner with the federal government for its exchange. Although states with Republican governors have fought the law, such as Texas, four of them - Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah - have created the exchanges.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: The fiscal cliff legislation expected to be signed by the president today, contains a one-year delay in a scheduled 27% cut in reimbursement for Medicare providers, including doctors of chiropractic.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: In a long-awaited interpretation of the new health care law, the Obama administration announced this week that employers must offer health insurance to employees and their children (50 or more employees) but will not be subject to any penalties if family coverage is unaffordable to workers.