HCR Update from Mark Sanna: This week F4CP released its newest report, “Accountable Care Organizations Optimize Outcomes, Cost Savings and Patient Satisfaction with Chiropractic Care,” which highlights the role and ability of Doctors of Chiropractic to generate better patient outcomes, higher satisfaction scores and lower care costs for advanced delivery models. To download the report, visit:www.F4CP.com/accountablecareorganizations.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: The Obama administration announced that it is establishing a Web site and a telephone call center to provide information to consumers in preparation for what the government anticipates will be a flood of people buying health insurance starting Oct. 1. The call center will be in operation 24 hours a day. The phone number is 800-318-2596. The Web site, www.healthcare.gov, provides information promoting the 2010 health care law and describing new insurance options. The Web site and call center currently have only general information about coverage.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: According to HHS, Insurers will rebate $500 million to consumers who purchased health insurance under a provision in the new health-care law that requires companies to spend a certain portion on premiums on consumers or refund the money. About 8.5 million Americans will receive the rebates with an average rebate of about $100 per family.

This week, the American Medical Association has officially recognized obesity as a disease, a move that could induce physicians to pay more attention to the condition and spur more insurers to pay for treatments. In making the decision, delegates at the association’s annual meeting in Chicago overrode a recommendation against doing so by a committee that had studied the matter.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: With the deadline for states to implement Affordable Care Act-mandated health insurance exchanges less than four months away, state governments will need to move fast. States are having to reevaluate their existing health insurance infrastructures to meet the act's requirements. They have already received nearly $4 billion in funding for the effort thus far and can access more dollars through 2014.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: It is time to get ready to buy insurance. The biggest part of the health-care law—online exchanges that offer insurance to individuals—kicks in next year. And beginning this October, states will start selling those health-care plans, which adhere to a new set of standards, though online marketplaces. But there already are many ways that you can start investigating options ahead of the roll out. This summer is prime time to educate yourself about your options, say health-insurance experts.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: It’s a life or death matter: Who gets the next scarce donated organ? In an unprecedented challenge to the nation's transplant system, this week a federal judge allowed one dying child - and a day later another - to essentially jump the transplant waiting list in rulings that could have ramifications for thousands of people awaiting new organs.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Teams of technology experts are racing to finish building government websites that will allow people to shop and sign up for health insurance this October. People involved in the effort say to expect some problems, at least initially. The functioning of the websites will play a major role in determining whether the Affordable Care Act is deemed a success or failure.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: More than 70 medical, research and advocacy organizations active in 41 countries and including the National Institutes of Health announced Wednesday that they had agreed to create an organized way to share genetic and clinical information. Their aim is to put the vast and growing trove of data on genetic variations and health into databases — with the consent of the study subjects — that would be open to researchers and doctors all over the world, not just to those who created them.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: HHS Secretary Sebelius said she only discussed funding to support the new health care law with the tax-preparation firm H&R Block and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, two organizations that are not regulated by HHS. HHS acknowledged seeking funds from the two entities last month and has said the secretary hasn’t asked for any money from companies or entities the HHS regulates.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Government officials, drug companies and medical experts, faced with outbreaks of antibiotic-resistant “superbugs,” are pushing to speed up the approval of new antibiotics, a move that is raising safety concerns among some critics. The Health and Human Services Department last month announced an agreement under which it will pay $40 million to a major drug maker, GlaxoSmithKline, to help it develop medications to combat antibiotic resistance.