HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Everyday Experiences Bring Unexpected Joy

Doing the housework or chatting with a work colleague over lunch are unlikely to be events you go out of your way to capture as a memory. But a new study suggests such everyday experiences that we overlook may bring us pleasure in the future. For this latest study, recently published in the journal Psychological Science, the team conducted a series of experiments to further investigate how we underestimate the joy day-to-day experiences may bring us through memories. We generally do not think about today's ordinary moments as experiences that are worthy of being rediscovered in the future. However, our studies show that we are often wrong. What is ordinary now actually becomes more extraordinary in the future, and more extraordinary than we might expect.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Prolonged Sitting Ages DNA

It is widely known that sitting for prolonged periods of time can have adverse health effects. But a new study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine suggests that shortening the amount of time spent sitting could protect aging DNA and even prolong lifespan. Researchers from this study looked at how physical activity lengthens telomeres. Telomeres sit on the "DNA storage units" of each cell, called chromosomes, and stop them from unraveling or clumping together and "scrambling" the genetic codes they contain. In this way, telomeres are similar to the plastic tips on the end of shoelaces, protecting the string-like chromosomes. There is growing concern that not only low physical activity level in populations, but probably also sitting and sedentary behavior, is an important and new health hazard of our time.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Females More Susceptible to Marijuana

In the first study to assess sex differences in sensitivities to THC, the key ingredient in cannabis, researchers have found that smoking the concentrated marijuana of today may be riskier for women - thanks to the hormone estrogen. The new study, conducted in rats, details how the hormone estrogen makes females more susceptible to effects of THC in marijuana. The researchers, led by Prof. Rebecca Craft of Washington State University, publish their National Institute on Drug Abuse-funded study in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence. Interestingly, the "munchie effect," whereby marijuana use increases appetite, is the only THC reaction where males exhibit more sensitivity than females.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Low-Carb Diet Beneficial

People who avoid carbohydrates and eat more fat, even saturated fat, lose more body fat and have few cardiovascular risks than people who follow the low-fat diet that health authorities have favored for decades, a major new study shows. The study was financed by the National Institutes of Health and published in the Annals of Internal Medicine. It included a racially diverse group of 150 men and women — a rarity in clinical nutrition studies — who were assigned to follow diets for one year that limited either the amount of carbs or fat that they could eat, but not overall calories.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Green Plants Boost Productivity

Staff working in offices are happier and more productive when those environments are enriched with plants, say researchers who conducted the largest field study of its kind. The new study suggests that a green workplace helps office workers be more physically, mentally and emotionally involved in their work. The international team, from the University of Exeter in the UK, the University of Groningen in the Netherlands and the University of Queensland in Australia, writes about the findings in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied. 

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Death Panels Return

Five years after it exploded into a political conflagration over “death panels,” the issue of paying doctors to talk to patients about end-of-life care is making a comeback, and such sessions may be covered for the 50 million Americans on Medicare as early as next year. Medicare may begin covering end-of-life discussions next year if it approves a recent request from the American Medical Association, the country’s largest association of physicians and medical students. One of the A.M.A.’s roles is to create billing codes for medical services, codes used by doctors, hospitals and insurers. It recently created codes for end-of-life conversations and submitted them to Medicare.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Mother’s Attentiveness to Baby’s Babbling Speeds Language

Those of you who have young infants will be familiar with the babbling sounds they like to make. But how do you respond? A new study from The University of Iowa and Indiana University published, in the journal Infancy, suggests that how parents react to their infants' prattling may influence their language development. Infants whose parents are attentive to their babbling sounds have greater advancement in language development, according to researchers. The study found that when mothers made an effort to respond to what they believed their infant was trying to say, their baby showed greater advancement in language development. In detail, they made more advanced consonant-vowel sounds, meaning their babbling started to sound more like words. In addition, these infants began to direct more of their babbling toward their mothers as time elapsed. The infants were using vocalizations in a communicative way, in a sense, because they learned they are communicative.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Decisive Marriages Fare Better

New research shows that how thoughtfully couples make decisions can have a lasting effect on the quality of their romantic relationships. Couples who are decisive before marriage — intentionally defining their relationships, living together and planning a wedding — appear to have better marriages than couples who simply let inertia carry them through major transitions. “Sliding through life-altering transitions leads to a worse outcome,” said Scott Stanley, a research professor at the University of Denver and co-author of the new study.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Nursing Homes Game Medicare Stars

The New York Times has found that many top-ranked nursing homes have been given a seal of approval that is based on incomplete information and that can seriously mislead consumers, investors and others about conditions at the homes. The Medicare ratings, which have become the gold standard across the industry, are based in large part on self-reported data by the nursing homes that the government does not verify. Only one of the three criteria used to determine the star ratings — the results of annual health inspections — relies on assessments from independent reviewers. The other measures — staff levels and quality statistics — are reported by the nursing homes and accepted by Medicare, with limited exceptions, at face value.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Shock the Monkey

Would you rather: a) Spend some time alone with your thoughts; or b) Receive an electrical shock from a 9-volt battery? A recent study found that, left alone in a room for 15 minutes with a shock-administering device, 67% of men and 25% of women chose to zap themselves rather than do nothing. The average number of shocks was about three, though one man jolted himself 190 times, or every 4.8 seconds. “I suspect our results say more about the limits of the human mind than they do about contemporary society,” said Timothy Wilson, the lead author.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Ice Bucket Challenge Donations Top $40M

With everyone from former President George W. Bush to Justin Bieber and Shakira posting online videos of themselves dumping buckets of ice over their heads in the name of charity, the viral “Ice Bucket Challenge” continues to dominate social media and has now raised more than $40 million for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Good Neighbors Good for Your Heart

There's no place like home, it would seem, with regard to cardiovascular health. New research suggests that living in an inclusive neighborhood with helpful and friendly neighbors could reduce the risk of heart attack. A study conducted by a team from the University of Michigan has been published online in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health, examining the potential health-enhancing effects that the positive characteristics of local neighborhoods could have on the people living there. The authors say there has been a growing body of research finding that positive neighborhood characteristics, such as perceived social cohesion, are associated with positive health outcomes: better health behaviors, mental health and physical health.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Errors Improve Learning Speed

Researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine in Baltimore, MD, think they have discovered why people learn an identical task faster on subsequent attempts. Publishing their findings in Science Express, the team says our memories of error are the key to faster learning. The researchers note that when people perform a task - such as opening a door - their brains make comparisons of how the door moved with how they expected the door to move. This information is calculated in a way that allows the person to perform the task more efficiently next time. The researchers observed that the participants responded more quickly to small errors that pushed them consistently in one direction than to larger errors that were less consistent.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Health Benefits of Bok Choy

Bok choy, also known as pak choi or Chinese white cabbage, was originally cultivated in China thousands of years ago and since then has spread to cuisines all over the world. Bok choy belongs to the cruciferous vegetable family, which also includes kale, broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, collard greens, rutabaga and turnips. These nutrition powerhouses supply loads of nutrients for little calories. If you are trying to eat healthier, cruciferous vegetables like bok choy should be at the very top of your grocery list.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Obamacare Premiums Slated to Rise By 7.5%

Premiums on Obamacare's health insurance exchanges will rise by an average of 7.5% next year, according to a new analysis. Data compiled by the Health Research Institute at PricewaterhouseCoopers found modest changes in premiums for 27 states and the District of Columbia, with the increases mostly falling short of dire predictions for Obamacare’s second year.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Top-of-Head Concussions More Severe

As we head into the start of the new school year, many young people will begin signing up for the football team. Though team sports are a great way for kids to boost their self-esteem and increase physical activity, there are certain risks involved with contact sports, including concussions. Now, a recent study from the American Academy of Pediatrics investigates how the location of impact could affect concussion severity. The new study suggests concussions that arise from impacts to the top of the head are more likely to make young athletes lose consciousness. Prior to this study, very little research had focused on how location of impact on the head could yield different concussion outcomes. The data revealed that more football players whose concussions resulted from top-of-head impacts lost consciousness than those whose impacts were located elsewhere on the head. In detail, 8% of players with top-of-head concussions experienced loss of consciousness, compared with only 3.5% of those with impacts on other areas.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Weekly Fish Wards off Dementia

Eating broiled or baked fish every week could ward off dementia later in life, according to the recent study. The research was conducted by investigators at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine in Pennsylvania, who note that their study adds to increasing evidence that lifestyle factors could add to brain health later in life, perhaps even reducing risk of dementia.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Diagnose Narcissism with One Question

What extent do you agree with this statement: “I am a narcissist.” Scientists believe that this question could be all researchers need to make a quick and easy diagnosis of narcissism. Publishing their study in the journal PLOS ONE, the authors claim that understanding narcissism has implications for society that extend beyond any impact on the lives of individual narcissists."Narcissism is bad for society because people who are only thinking of themselves and their own interests are less helpful to others," say the researchers.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Sleep Apnea Does Not Cause Cancer

Previous research has linked sleep apnea to cancer progression. However, these studies included only a small number of participants, and there may have been some bias in their measurements. Obstructive sleep apnea is a breathing disorder in which the airways repeatedly close while the patient is sleeping, causing fragmented sleep that increases risk for a variety of other health problems. About 18 million Americans have sleep apnea. Some previous studies have linked sleep apnea to cancer progression. However, these studies included only a small number of participants, and there may have been some bias in their measurements. The new study looked at 10,149 sleep apnea patients who took part in a sleep study between 1994 and 2010, and researchers cross-referenced that information with health administrative databases from 1991-2013.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Chili Peppers Reduce Cancer

Chili Peppers Reduce Cancer. Good news for spicy food lovers; the active ingredient found in chili peppers - capsaicin - could reduce the risk of colorectal cancer, according to a new study published in The Journal of Clinical Investigation. Researchers found that capsaicin - the ingredient that gives chili peppers their heat - activated a pain receptor in mice that reduced tumor development in their gut. The research team, including senior author Dr. Eyal Raz, professor of medicine at the University of California-San Diego School of Medicine, found that capsaicin activated a pain receptor called TRPV1 in mice, which reduced tumor development in their gut.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Laughter is the Best Medicine.

We are all familiar with the saying, "laughter is the best medicine." And this motto may ring true when it comes to tackling age-related memory loss. A new study from Loma Linda University in California finds that humor may reduce brain damage caused by the stress hormone cortisol, which in turn, improves memory. The research team, led by Dr. Gurinder Singh Bains, recently presented their findings at the Experimental Biology meeting in San Diego. Since it is well known that laughter can be a stress reliever, the research team wanted to determine whether humor may reduce brain damage caused by cortisol. They found that watching funny videos reduced cortisol levels and boosted memory performance.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Internet Addiction Disorder

The symptoms and nature of this perceived addiction vary from case to case but hinge around a perceived excessive engagement with a user's smartphone, the Internet or social networking sites that comes at the expense of their mental well-being. Persistent checking of instant messaging apps and frequent changing of status updates - as well as the notorious uploading of "selfies" - are linked in addiction cases to insomnia, depression and social withdrawal. A year-long study by the Indian Council for Medical Research published in 2013 corroborates the parental and educational concerns, claiming that among its 2,750 participants there was an "alarming" rate of technology dependence.

Happy Fourth HCR Toon

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Steroid Injections for Back Pain Ineffective

A widely used method of treating a common cause of back and leg pain — steroid injections for spinal stenosis — may provide little benefit for many patients, according to a new study that experts said should make doctors and patients think twice about the treatment. The study, the largest randomized trial evaluating the treatment, found that patients receiving a standard stenosis injection — which combine a steroid and a local anesthetic — had no less pain and virtually no greater function after six weeks than patients injected with anesthetic alone. The research, involving 400 patients at 16 sites, was published Wednesday in The New England Journal of Medicine.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Eligibility for Health Insurance Not Checked

An independent audit of insurance exchanges established under the health care law has found that federal and state officials did not properly check the eligibility of people seeking coverage and applying for subsidies, the latest indication of unresolved problems at HealthCare.gov.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Routine Pelvic Exam More Harm than Good

The pelvic exam is a standard part of women's gynecologic checkup, but a new review by the American College of Physicians shows that for healthy women it is likely doing more harm than good, causing the doctors' group to issue a new guideline that advises against it. The new guideline, plus a report on the supporting evidence review, are published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, along with an editorial comment: "Routine pelvic examination has not been shown to benefit asymptomatic, average risk, non-pregnant women. It rarely detects important disease and does not reduce mortality and is associated with discomfort for many women, false positive and negative examinations, and extra cost."

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Broccoli Prevents Skin Cancer

There are numerous studies that suggest eating vegetables can provide certain health benefits. Now researchers say that broccoli may help to combat skin cancer, not by eating it, but by applying it directly to the skin. Sally Dickinson, research assistant professor in the Pharmacology Department at the University of Arizona Cancer Center, has teamed up with researchers from John Hopkins University to determine how sulforaphane - a compound found in broccoli - could help prevent the skin disease. The team is conducting this study in the hope that patients with weaker immune systems may be able to apply the sulforaphane solution to their skin to reduce their risk of skin cancer.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Drinking #4 Cause of Death

A new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reveals that between 2006 and 2010, 1 in every 10 deaths among working-age adults in the US was attributable to excessive alcohol consumption. According to the research team, including Mandy Stahre, epidemic intelligence service officer at the CDC, excessive alcohol use is the fourth leading preventable cause of death in the US.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: More than 3 Hours of TV Causes Early Death

When you arrive home after a hard day's work, sometimes there is nothing better than relaxing on the sofa in front of the television. But you better not watch it for too long; 3 hours or more of TV watching a day could double the risk of premature death, according to a new study. The research team, led by Dr. Miguel Martinez-Gonzalez of the Department of Public Health at the University of Navarra in Spain, recently published their findings in the Journal of the American Heart Association.

HCR Toon of the Week from Mark Sanna

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Tanning Beds Increase Youth Cancer

A new study suggests that young people who are exposed to ultraviolet radiation from lamps used for indoor tanning have a greater risk for developing basal cell carcinomas at a young age. The researchers say as teens and young adults are increasingly seeking indoor tanning, there is an important need to draw their attention to the risk they are taking. Writing in the journal Pediatrics, they report how the incidence of basal cell carcinoma (BCC) in the US and elsewhere has been rising, and younger people are increasingly affected.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Standing Meetings Improve Performance.

A new study suggests standing during meetings indirectly benefits work performance in organizations where knowledge working is key to productivity. It found that compared with sitting, groups who held meetings standing up were more excited and less territorial about ideas, both of which lead to better elaboration of information, indirectly benefiting group performance. The study researchers, both from Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis, MO, report their findings in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Sunlight is Addictive

When the sun is shining, many of us are unable to resist a trip to the beach to soak up the rays, despite recommendations that we should cover up to reduce the risk of skin cancer. And now, researchers have discovered why; ultraviolet radiation from the sun releases endorphins - "feel-good" hormones - that act like a drug, making exposure to sunlight addictive. The research team, including senior author David Fisher of the Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston, MA, recently published their findings in the journal Cell.

HCR Comic of the Week

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Heart Attack Protecting Gene Identified

Two major studies by leading research groups published in The New England Journal of Medicine on Wednesday independently identified mutations in a single gene that protect against heart attacks by keeping levels of triglycerides — a kind of fat in the blood — very low for a lifetime. The findings are expected to lead to a push to develop drugs that mimic the effect of the mutations, potentially offering the first new class of drugs to combat heart disease in decades.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Dr. Oz backs down before Senate

Under pressure from Congress, the television host Dr. Mehmet Oz on Tuesday offered to help “drain the swamp” of unscrupulous marketers using his name to sell so-called miracle pills for weight loss. Dr. Oz, appearing before the Senate’s consumer protection panel, was scolded by the chairwoman, Senator Claire McCaskill, Democrat of Missouri, for his claims about weight-loss aids on “The Dr. Oz Show.” Dr. Oz, a surgeon, acknowledged that his language about green coffee and other supplements had been “flowery.”

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: US Ranked Last in Health Care

Britain and Switzerland were top scorers in a study by the Commonwealth Fund examining the quality and efficiency of health care systems in 11 advanced nations by a leading American research organization. As usual, the United States finished last over all and last on several important measures of cost and health outcomes, despite having the most costly system in the world. The US ranked last on measures involving the cost of care, the efficiency of delivering it, and the fairness of its system. It also ranked last on indicators of healthy lives as measured by infant mortality, healthy life expectancy at age 60 and deaths that might have been avoided through medical care.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Thousands to be Questioned on Eligibility

The Obama administration is contacting hundreds of thousands of people with subsidized health insurance to resolve questions about their eligibility, as consumer advocates express concern that many will be required to repay some or all of the subsidies. Of the 8 million people who signed up for private health plans through insurance exchanges under the new health care law, 2 million reported personal information that differed from data in government records, according to federal officials and Serco, the company hired to resolve such inconsistencies.

HCR Update From Mark Sanna: Cell Phones Reduce Sperm Quality

A new review of published evidence suggests one explanation could be men carrying their cell phones in their trouser pockets. Men may not realize it, but they could inadvertently be reducing their fertility by an average of 8% through exposure to radio-frequency electromagnetic radiation (RF-EMR), suggest researchers who reported their findings in the journal Environment International.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Thousands of Vets Waiting for Care

More than 57,000 patients have been waiting more than three months for medical appointments at hospitals and clinics run by the Department of Veterans Affairs, and nearly 64,000 others have been enrolled in the system for a decade but have still not been seen by doctors despite their requests, according to a nationwide audit released Monday.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Exposure to Dirt Decreases Asthma Risk

Though a parent's instinct may be to protect their newborn from things like household bacteria, dander and allergens, new research suggests infants who are exposed to these irritants during their first year of life are less likely to experience allergies, wheezing and asthma. The research, led by scientists at the Johns Hopkins Children's Center in Baltimore, MD was published in the journal Allergy and Clinical Immunology.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Childhood Obesity linked to Divorce

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Obesity is a growing concern, particularly among children. In the past 30 years, rates of obesity have more than doubled in children and quadrupled in adolescents. Now, new research published in BMJ Open suggests that children whose parents divorce may be more prone to weight gain than those with a secure parental marital status. Overall, the researchers found that children of parents who divorced were 54% more likely to be generally overweight or obese and 89% more likely to be abdominally obese, compared with children of parents who were still married.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Cannabis use linked to Sleeping Problems

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Cannabis use is linked to an increased likelihood of sleeping problems, according to a new study from researchers at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia and presented at the SLEEP 2014 meeting. Comparing the scans with brain scans of individuals with little or no history of marijuana use, the researchers found that the area of the brain responsible for reward processing - the nucleus accumbens - was larger and had an altered shape and structure in the marijuana users. The amygdala - a region of the brain involved in emotion - also displayed abnormalities in marijuana smokers, with the abnormalities being greater the more marijuana was smoked by the participants.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Carbon Emissions Cuts Improve Health

The Obama administration contends that its new plan to cut carbon pollution from power plants will not just fight climate change, but will also quickly improve public health, preventing up to 100,000 asthma attacks and 2,100 heart attacks in the first year the rules take effect. Public health experts said Monday that if the president could make the new rules stick, reductions in air pollution would be likely to pay off in better health.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Childhood sunburn increases risk of melanoma

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: With incidence rates of melanoma rising for at least 30 years, it is not surprising that new research suggests that 5 or more blistering sunburns experienced before the age of 20 could increase melanoma risk by 80%.The study was published in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Smoking Linked to Hearing Loss

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Approximately 42.1 million adults in the US smoke cigarettes, and more than 16 million Americans suffer a disease caused by the habit, such as heart or lung disease. Now, new research from the University of Manchester in the UK finds that smoking and passive smoking may also increase the risk of hearing loss.The researchers calculated that smokers were 15.1% more likely to develop hearing loss, compared with passive smokers and non-smokers, while passive smokers were 28% more likely to develop hearing loss than non-smokers.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Exercise Necessary for Seniors

Regular exercise, including walking, significantly reduces the chance that a frail older person will become physically disabled, according to one of the largest and longest-running studies of its kind to date. The results, published on Tuesday in the journal JAMA, reinforce the necessity of frequent physical activity for our aging parents, grandparents and, of course, ourselves.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Vitamin E-Rich Oils Linked To Lung Inflammation

According to a new sizable study by Northwestern Medicine, vitamin E-rich oils - including canola, soybean and corn - could be contributing to the rising incidence of lung inflammation, airway hyperresponsiveness and possibly asthma. In contrast, vitamin E-rich oils such as olive oil, wheat germ oil, almond and sunflower oil improve lung capacity and function. The National Institutes of Health say the best way to achieve the Recommended Dietary Allowance of vitamin E is by eating vitamin E-rich food sources, such as vegetable oils, nuts, seeds and green leafy vegetables.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: America’s Health Rankings Senior Report rated Minnesota the healthiest state in the nation for adults aged 65 and over,  beating out Hawaii. And that retiree and snowbird haven, Florida? It came in 28th. What could put Minnesota, which just weathered arguably the harshest winter in the country, ahead of those sunny climes? Volunteering is one factor. Minnesotans do more of it and it plays a major role in senior vitality, according to Dr. Reed Tuckson, senior medical adviser to the UnitedHealth foundation, which funds the annual rankings.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Circadian rhythms enforce a 24-hour cycle on our bodies and are often mentioned in conjunction with jet lag. In our modern lives, there are many people whose circadian rhythms are disrupted on a regular basis. Shift workers, for example - including nurses, doctors, firefighters and policemen - have regularly disrupted patterns. Other people have 'social jet lag,' a lifestyle pattern that leads them to maintain a normal schedule on weekdays, but then stay up late and sleep in on the weekends. Researchers from the Rush University Medical Center in Chicago have found that when these rhythms are disrupted and combined with a high-fat, high-sugar diet, they could contribute to inflammatory bowel disease and other conditions.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Though some health officials have warned that electronic cigarettes should not be marketed as smoking cessation aids, a new study finds that, among people who are trying to quit without professional help, those who use electronic cigarettes are 60% more likely to succeed, compared with those who use willpower or nicotine replacement therapies. The study, conducted by researchers at University College London, is published in the journal Addiction.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Drinking just four glasses of wine for women or five glasses for men in 2 hours - the official definition of binge drinking - may do more harm to a person's health than previously thought, according to new research. Dr. Gyongyi Szabo and colleagues from the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester report their findings in the journal PLOS ONE. They found even a single alcohol binge drinking episode increases toxins in the blood - due to bacteria leaking from the gut - to levels that can trigger immune cells involved in fever, inflammation and tissue destruction.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: There is no denying a dog's extraordinary sense of smell. While we have around 5 million olfactory cells in our noses - receptors that detect different odors - dogs have approximately 200 million. It is dogs' acute ability to trace scents that has made them so attractive to the medical world. A new study from Italian researchers, presented at the 109th Annual Scientific Meeting of the American Urological Association in Orlando, FL, found that specially trained dogs were able to detect prostate cancer from urine samples with 98% accuracy.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: In a recent, Brad Bushman, a psychologist at Ohio State University, had 109 married couples monitor their blood sugar for 3 weeks. He also had them stick pins into a voodoo doll that represented their spouse. Bushman says those with lower blood sugar lanced the doll more often. "Hungry people are often angry, cranky and irritable," he says.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Given the nature of contact sports, it is no surprise that the players involved are more susceptible to traumatic brain injuries, such as concussion. But new research among college football players recently published in JAMA finds that those with such head injuries and those who have been playing football for many years are more likely to have smaller brain volumes in the area of the hippocampus than players who have fewer years of football-playing experience. The hippocampus is a brain region involved in regulating emotion and forming, storing and processing memories. According to the background of the study, the hippocampus is particularly vulnerable to moderate and severe traumatic brain injury (TBI). 

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Victims of bullying may develop long-term physical and mental health problems, and now researchers have found one possible reason: Being bullied raises the blood’s level of C-reactive protein, or CRP, a marker of systemic inflammation and a risk factor for cardiovascular and other diseases. Scientists followed 1,420 boys and girls ages 9 to 21, interviewing bullies, victims and their parents. “The only other kind of social adversity where we see this kind of long-term effect is in children who are physically abused or neglected,” said the lead author, William E. Copeland, an associate professor of psychiatry at Duke.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: A growing number of Web-based companies offer virtual medical visits, where users can go online and consult with a doctor or other health-care provider, any time of the day or night, from wherever they are. But can downloading an app, and describing your symptoms to a doctor you'll never meet, take the place of an office visit? Can sending a "selfie" of your sore throat help diagnose strep? Those are some of the issues state and federal regulators—and the medical profession itself—are wrestling with as telemedicine spreads rapidly. Long-awaited recommendations on how to add digital privacy protections to health records and particularly to sensitive health information could emerge this June.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Certain risk factors - such as excess weight, smoking and high blood pressure - are known to increase lifetime risk of developing heart disease in women. But now, research published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine suggests that, from age 30, physical inactivity has the biggest impact on this risk in women. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that all adults get 150 minutes of moderate intensity physical activity each week.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Research presented at the World Heart Federation's World Congress of Cardiology today suggests that children who spend over 2 hours in front of a TV, computer or video games each day have a significantly increased chance of having high blood pressure. The researchers, led by Dr. Gilles Paradis, of McGill University in Canada, say such children have over a 2.5-fold increase in odds of having high blood pressure (BP), while children with a low level of fitness had odds 3.4 times higher, compared with children with a high level of fitness.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: The number of Americans 65 and older is expected to nearly double by the middle of the century when they will make up more than a fifth of the nation’s population, according to a Census Bureau report released Tuesday. By 2050, 83.7 million Americans will be 65 or older, compared with 43.1 million in 2012. Fewer than 10% were older than 65 in 1970.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Coca-Cola is moving to eliminate an ingredient used in many of its citrus-flavored productsafter consumers expressed concerns. A 17-year-old high school junior, Sarah Kavanagh, in Hattiesburg, Miss garnered tens of thousands of signatures on petitions to eliminate the ingredient. The company said on Monday that it was replacing brominated vegetable oil, which contains bromine, an element found in flame retardants, in products that contain it. It did not list the products, but they include Powerade, Fresca and some varieties of Fanta, as well as some fountain drinks.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Researchers from Cornell University  partnered with a high-quality Italian buffet to investigate how pricing influences customers' perceptions of what they are eating. The team offered 139 customers a choice between paying $4 or $8 for the restaurant's standard all-you-can-eat buffet. On average, the $8 diners gave their food an 11% higher score than the $4 diners, despite the two groups eating about the same amount overall. By contrast, the $4 customers were more likely to report feeling that they had overeaten, feeling guilty about eating the meal, and even reported that they liked the food less and less throughout the dining experience.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Past research has suggested that red wine and blueberries may reduce inflammation, prevent heart disease and even some types of cancer. The reason behind such benefits? A compound called resveratrol. And now, researchers from The Scripps Research Institute in Florida say they have discovered one way in which resveratrol has these beneficial effects on health. The research team found that resveratrol blocks interleukin 6 (IL-6). This is a protein in the immune system that can trigger inflammation.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Stem cells are cells that are able to differentiate into specialized cell types, aiding tissue regeneration, cardiovascular disease and blood disease treatments. But now, researchers have found that stem cells from teeth grow to resemble brain cells, a discovery they say could be harnessed in the brain for stroke therapy. The team, from the University of Adelaide in Australia, published their results in the journal Stem Cell Research & Therapy.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: In a new study, researchers from Georgia Regents University in Augusta, found that nail salon dryers, which use UV light to speed the drying and hardening of nail polishes and gels, emit varying levels of radiation that can lead to risky skin damage in as few as 8 visits to the manicurist.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: New research from the University of California Los Angeles suggests that if a girl is called "fat" by a parent, sibling, friend, classmate or teacher at age 10, they are more likely to be obese in their late teens. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than one-third of Americans are obese. This latest study, published in the journal JAMA Pediatrics, suggests that labeling a person as "too fat" from a young age may lead to behaviors that encourage obesity later in life.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: The Obama administration has begun a wide-ranging search for companies to run the online federal health insurance exchange, seeking new talent to prevent a repeat of problems that immobilized the website last fall. Officials said Monday that they intended to hold a new competition before awarding a contract and that they were particularly interested in responses from small businesses owned by women, disabled veterans and “socially and economically disadvantaged individuals,” including blacks and Hispanic Americans.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: A new study shows that walking boosts creative thinking. In a series of experiments, researchers from Stanford University in California compared levels of creativity in people while they walked with while they sat and found creative output went up by an average of 60% while walking. The researchers found that the act of walking itself does the trick - it does not matter whether the walk is indoors or outdoors, it has the same effect in boosting creative inspiration.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: The Food and Drug Administration will propose sweeping new rules on Thursday that for the first time would extend its regulatory authority from cigarettes to electronic cigarettes, popular nicotine delivery devices that have grown into a multibillion-dollar business with virtually no federal oversight or protections for American consumers. The new regulations would ban the sale of e-cigarettes, cigars and pipe tobacco to Americans under 18, and would require that people buying them show photo identification to prove their age.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Patients and physicians say they feel the time crunch as never before as doctors rush through appointments as if on roller skates to see more patients and perform more procedures to make up for flat or declining reimbursements. It's not unusual for primary care doctors' appointments to be scheduled at 15-minute intervals. Some physicians who work for hospitals say they've been asked to see patients every 11 minutes. And the problem may worsen as millions of consumers who gained health coverage through the Affordable Care Act begin to seek care.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: President Obama announced Thursday that eight million people have signed up for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act, including what the White House said were a sufficient number of young, healthy adults, a critical milestone that might counter election-year attacks by Republicans on the law’s success and viability. 35% of those who signed up through the federal health-insurance exchange were in the coveted under-35 demographic, Mr. Obama said. The participation of younger, relatively healthy people is needed to balance out the cost of medical claims from older and sicker ones. 

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Inside an otherwise ordinary office building in lower Manhattan, government-funded scientists have begun collecting and connecting together terabytes of patient medical records in what may be one of the most radical projects in health care ever attempted. The data -- from every patient treated at one of New York’s major hospital centers over the past few years -- include some of the most intimate details of a life. Vital signs. Diagnoses and conditions. Results of blood tests, X-rays, MRI scans. Surgeries. Insurance claims. And in some cases, links to genetic samples.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: The revelations that hits to the head may lead to long-term brain damage have rocked the football world at all levels, alarming coaches, players and their parents and forcing the NFL and the NCAA to tighten safety standards. Given the consequences of the injuries, lawyers, too, have taken note, including those representing the 5,000 retired players who sued the NFL over claims that the league hid the dangers of concussions. The notoriety of that case also prompted George Washington University’s law school to start what it said was the first course devoted to the legal implications of traumatic brain injuries.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Kathleen Sebelius, the health and human services secretary, is resigning, ending a stormy five-year tenure marred by the disastrous rollout of President Obama’s signature legislative achievement, the Affordable Care Act. Mr. Obama accepted Ms. Sebelius’s resignation this week, and on Friday morning, he will nominate Sylvia Mathews Burwell, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, to replace her.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Two Florida doctors who received the nation’s highest Medicare reimbursements in 2012 are both major contributors to Democratic Party causes, and they have turned to the political system in recent years to defend themselves against suspicions that they may have submitted fraudulent or excessive charges to the federal government. Topping the list is Dr. Salomon E. Melgen, an ophthalmologist from N. Palm Beach, FL, who received $21 million in Medicare reimbursements in 2012 alone. The doctor billed a bulk of his reimbursements for Lucentis, a medication used to treat macular degeneration made by a company that pays generous rebates to its doctors.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Ending decades of secrecy, Medicare is showing what the giant healthcare program for seniors pays individual doctors, and the figures reveal that more than a dozen physicians received in excess of $10 million each in 2012. The Obama administration is releasing a detailed account Wednesday of $77 billion in government payouts to more than 880,000 healthcare providers nationwide that year. The release of payment records involving doctors has been legally blocked since 1979, but recent court rulings removed those obstacles.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: The government has raised its payment estimate for Medicare Advantage plans months ahead of a busy election season during which cuts to the program promise to be a key focus for politicians and voters. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said Monday that 2015 payments to the plans should increase less than 1% vs. a predicted 2% cut.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: After an unprecedented, last-minute surge, the Affordable Care Act open-enrollment period closed last week, topping out at more than 7 million enrollees. But even as a triumphant White House celebrated surpassing its enrollment goal, Republican strategists were downplaying its significance. Though Obamacare undoubtedly hit a major milestone March 31, the path ahead could still be a rocky one.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Here’s more fallout from the health care law: Until now, customers could walk into an insurance office or go online to buy standard health care coverage any time of year. Not anymore. Many people who didn't sign up during the government’s open enrollment period that ended Monday will soon find it difficult or impossible to get insured this year, even if they go directly to a private company and money is no object. For some it’s already too late.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: President Obama declared victory Tuesday in the government’s aggressive push to enroll seven million people in private health insurance plans under the Affordable Care Act, even as his senior aides braced for an escalated political battle over the law ahead of the fall’s crucial midterm elections.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Yesterday Congress passed, and the President is expected to sign, the Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014 (H.R. 4302) which avoids for 12 months the 24% cut to Medicare that would have taken effect April 1. This short-term fix, while not addressing the longer-term issues, maintains the current Medicare reimbursement rate through 3/31/15.  The legislation also pushes the implementation of ICD-10 for at least one year from 10/1/14 to 10/1/15.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Last-minute applicants for health insurance strained enrollment offices over the weekend, triggering long lines, extra security and hours of waiting across the country ahead of Monday's federal deadline. HealthCare.gov, the federal website, blocked some applicants late Friday but didn't show major technological problems as consumers rushed before the end of the 2014 open-enrollment period for obtaining insurance under the Affordable Care Act. But the system's human capacity maxed out, with too few "navigators" and other enrollment workers to steer consumers through the complex application process.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: The U.S. House of Representatives voted Thursday to extend the deadline for implementing ICD-10 by one year, pushing the mandatory compliance date to October 2015. The Senate is expected to vote today. The provision for extending the delay was tucked into the House bill to extend the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) formula for another 12 months rather than finding a permanent solution to the 1997 Balanced Budget Act, which attempted to rein in Medicare reimbursement to physicians.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Yesterday, the Obama administration expanded the list of people who could sign up for health insurance after the March 31 deadline, announcing “special enrollment periods” for legal immigrants, victims of domestic violence and tens of thousands of people who experienced various problems trying to complete their applications for coverage.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Two of the three federal judges hearing a challenge to the Affordable Care Act appeared open on Tuesday to the argument that people buying health insurance in the federal marketplace should not be eligible for tax subsidies, the first indication that the White House could be facing another potentially serious legal challenge to a central part of President Obama’s health care law.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: In an argument that touched on medical science and moral philosophy, today the Supreme Court wrestled with whether corporations may refuse to provide insurance coverage for contraception to their workers based on the religious beliefs of the corporations’ owners. The court seemed ready to accept that at least some for-profit corporations may advance claims based on religious freedom.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Middle and high school students who used electronic cigarettes were more likely to smoke real cigarettes and less likely to quit than students who did not use the devices, a new study has found. They were also more likely to smoke heavily. The study’s lead author, Stanton Glantz, a professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, who has been critical of the devices, said the results suggested that the use of e-cigarettes was leading to less quitting, not more.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: As Americans race to sign up for health insurance in the final days of open enrollment, many consumers and consumer advocates say the names of plans are unhelpful, confusing and in some cases misleading. A number of insurers sell their plans under names like Select, Preferred, Premier, Exclusive, Enhanced, Essential, Essential Plus, Prime, Ultimate and Deluxe. Multiple offerings from one company may have the same benefits and cover the same share of a consumer’s costs, but go by different names. Buyers beware!

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Transplant leaders are debating national rules for the distribution of deceased donors' faces and hands, tackling ethically challenging questions such as which disfigured patients across the country should get priority for these surgeries as they become more common. The thorny issues are likely to include whether certain patients, such as children or the most severely maimed, should go to the top of waiting lists for donor faces and hands.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Nearly six months after the disastrous launch of Healthcare.gov, with the website running smoothly and more than five million people signed up as open enrollment heads to a close, a new glitch has come to light: Incorrect poverty-level guidelines are automatically telling what could be tens of thousands of eligible people they do not qualify for subsidized insurance. The error in the federal marketplace primarily affects households with incomes just above the poverty line in states that have not expanded Medicaid.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: The AMA and dozens of other physician groups have urged the Obama administration to spell out how and when insurers must notify physicians when their patients fall behind on premiums. If an enrollee in a subsidized plan falls behind on their premium payments, the Affordable Care Act requires insurers to cover their medical bills for 30 days. But for the next 60 days, insurers may “pend,” or hold off paying the claims -- and ultimately, deny them if the patient doesn't catch up on his premiums. That means doctors don’t get paid for their services.  If the insurer ends up canceling the policy after 90 days, doctors can bill patients directly but may face difficulty collecting.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: New information has emerged suggesting that obesity in those with ADHD is caused by the medication used to treat it. According to Reuters, scientists at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore are re-evaluating the way that doctors link obesity and ADHD. The study, conducted by Dr. Brian S. Schwartz, hopes to educate parents of children with ADHD of the possible rapid weight gain that, according to him, occurs as a direct result to stimulant treatment. Dr. Schwartz and his team's ground-breaking study not only helps to explain why obesity may occur in ADHD teenagers, but it is also the first to suggest that it is linked to the use of stimulants such as Adderall and Ritalin.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Many of us have long been told that saturated fat, the type found in meat, butter and cheese, causes heart disease. But a large and exhaustive new analysis by a team of international scientists found no evidence that eating saturated fat increased heart attacks and other cardiac events. The new research, published on Monday in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine, did not find that people who ate higher levels of saturated fat had more heart disease than those who ate less. Nor did it find less disease in those eating higher amounts of unsaturated fat, including monounsaturated fat like olive oil or polyunsaturated fat like corn oil.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: In one of those satisfying moments where science confirms common sense, a British microbiologist from Aston University in Birmingham, England, has come to the conclusion that food from the floor is okay to eat as long as you pick it up really fast. “The findings of this study will bring some light relief to those who have been employing the five-second rule for years, despite a general consensus that it is purely a myth,” says Prof. Anthony Hilton, who led the study.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: The Obama administration is requiring health plans in Obamacare insurance marketplaces to include a more robust offering of care providers in 2015 after some early backlash over limited networks in the health care law's first year. Health plans selling on the federal marketplaces in 2015 must include 30 percent of area "essential community providers."

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said Wednesday that there would be no delay of Obamacare’s individual mandate, the penalty for violating it or the March 31 closing date of the enrollment period, the strongest statement yet that the administration has no plans for more major changes to the law in the final weeks of the first sign-up period.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Under pressure from patients, pharmaceutical companies and members of Congress from both parties, the Obama administration on Monday withdrew a proposal that would have allowed insurers to limit Medicare coverage for certain classes of drugs, including those used to treat depression and schizophrenia.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Open enrollment ends March 31, and President Barack Obama, first lady Michelle Obama and top administration officials all have events this week that aim to reach America's moms, who typically drive health care decisions for their families — including the young adult children who are a key demographic for the new insurance exchanges.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: The latest delay in the Affordable Care Act means people enrolled in plans that don't meet Obamacare's stricter coverage standards can keep them for another two years. It could create a two-tiered system, because states will get to decide whether to allow the delay and because people in the plans that don’t comply with Obamacare tend to be healthier, not having them in the broader insurance pool means insurers have to shell out more money, and that cost will be passed to consumers.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Gary M. Cohen, the official in charge of the federal health insurance marketplace, who repeatedly told Congress before its troubled rollout that it would work well, said on Thursday that he was resigning. Mr. Cohen is the chief architect of federal rules regulating the operations of private health insurance under the new health care law. He said he would leave his post to return to California at the end of this month, when the open enrollment period closes for individuals and families shopping for insurance.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: The investigative arm of Congress on Wednesday agreed to look into problems with state health exchange websites around the country. The U.S. Government Accountability Office accepted an initial request from a group of House Republicans seeking an audit on how $304 million in federal grants were spent on the Cover Oregon website, which has yet to enroll a single person online without special assistance.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: The Obama administration is preparing to announce that Americans who want to keep their old health plans may do so for at least one year longer than they expected, even if the policies don't comply with law, according to insurance industry officials familiar with the latest rewrite of federal health-care rules.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: The Obama administration is set to announce another major delay in implementing the Affordable Care Act, easing election pressure on Democrats. As early as this week, according to two sources, the White House will announce a new directive allowing insurers to continue offering health plans that do not meet ObamaCare’s minimum coverage requirements.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Pressure is rising on the White House as ObamaCare reaches its final month of enrollment roughly 3 million sign-ups behind its target goal. The administration hoped to enroll 7 million people in private plans during the reform's first year, but that became all but impossible after the botched launch of HealthCare.gov. Now, with 4 million people signed up as of this week, officials are counting on a final pre-deadline rush to bolster the exchanges and raise morale among vulnerable Democrats already exhausted by ObamaCare attacks.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: The Obama administration said Friday that it would allow some people to receive federal subsidies for health insurance purchased in the private market outside of health insurance exchanges. The sudden shift was the latest in a series of policy changes, extensions and clarifications by federal officials trying to help beneficiaries and minimize political damage to Democrats in this election year. Federal officials said they had agreed to provide such assistance retroactively because technical problems had prevented consumers from using online exchanges to obtain insurance and financial aid in some states.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: A study published this week in the Journal of American Medicine Pediatric reports that children whose mothers used acetaminophen during pregnancy were at higher risk for receiving a hospital diagnosis of hyperkinetic disorders or having attention deficit hyperactivity disorder-like behaviors at age 7 years. Stronger associations were observed with use in more than 1 trimester during pregnancy, and exposure response trends were found with increasing frequency of acetaminophen use during gestation for all outcomes (ie, HKD diagnosis, ADHD medication use, and ADHD-like behaviors.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: The Food and Drug Administration for the first time in two decades will propose major changes to nutrition labels on food packages, putting calorie counts in large type and adjusting portion sizes to reflect how much Americans actually eat. It would be the first significant redrawing of the nutrition information on food labels since the federal government started requiring them in the early 1990s.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Federal health authorities on Tuesday reported a 43% drop in the obesity rate among 2- to 5-year-old children over the past decade, the first broad decline in an epidemic that often leads to lifelong struggles with weight and higher risks for cancer, heart disease and stroke. The drop emerged from a major federal health survey that experts say is the gold standard for evidence on what Americans weigh. The trend came as a welcome surprise to researchers. New evidence has shown that obesity takes hold young: Children who are overweight or obese at 3 to 5 years old are five times as likely to be overweight or obese as adults. 

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: The Obama administration on Friday proposed cuts in Medicare payment rates for managed-care plans serving more than one-fourth of all beneficiaries, and Republicans immediately pounced on the proposal, which appears likely to become a significant issue in this year’s midterm elections. The proposed reductions were larger than the administration had indicated in guidance given to the insurance industry in December.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Women with low-risk pregnancies should be allowed to spend more time in labor, to reduce the risk of having an unnecessary C-section, the nation's obstetricians say. The new guidelines on reducing cesarean deliveries are aimed at first-time mothers, according to the American College of Obstetricians and the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine, which released the guidelines this week online and in Obstetrics and Gynecology.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: The federal government may not completely finish the automated payment system for Obamacare for “several months,” White House spokesman Jay Carney said Friday. Until that system is fully running, the administration won’t be able to verify how many of the consumers who signed up for Obamacare insurance are, in fact, paying their premiums and are hence truly enrolled.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Some health law proponents are urging officials to create "copper" plans that offer lower deductibles, but higher out-of-pocket costs than the health law's gold, silver and bronze plans. In the meantime, the Office of Management and Budget is reviewing a rule that would allow states to create alternatives to the law's insurance marketplace for low-income people.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: More than 1.1 million people signed up for health insurance through federal and state marketplaces in January, according to the government, and the number of young people enrolling increased faster than that of any other group. The results were hailed by Obama administration officials, who expressed increased optimism that they had overcome their initial stumbles and erased many doubts about the viability of the health care law.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: The Obama administration announced on Monday that it would postpone enforcement of a federal requirement for medium-size employers to provide health insurance to employees and allow larger employers more flexibility in how they provide coverage. The “employer mandate,” which was originally supposed to take effect last month, had already been delayed to Jan. 1, 2015, and now the administration says that employers with 50 to 99 employees will not have to comply until 2016.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: AOL chief executive Tim Armstrong e-mailed employees Saturday evening that he was reversing the company’s 401(k) policy and apologized for his controversial comments last week. “The leadership team and I listened to your feedback over the last week,” wrote Armstrong in his e-mail to the company. "... we have decided to change the policy back to a per-pay-period matching contribution.” The decision came after days of pressure on the company, after many employees were angered by a report by The Washington Post that retirement benefits were being changed.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: The Obama administration is considering an extension of the president’s decision to let people keep their individual insurance policies even if they are not compliant with the health care overhaul. The administration may let policyholders keep that coverage for as long as an additional 3 years. Policymakers are waiting to see what rate hikes health insurers plan for the insurance exchanges that are key to the overhaul’s coverage expansion.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Three congressional committees reached an agreement today on the policy parameters of a bill to reform how Medicare pays physicians-including doctors of chiropractic-but they have not yet decided on how to pay for the replacement. Early indications are that the new system will provide for annual payment updates for physicians of 0.5% over five years. Medicare providers could also get bonuses by participating in an improved quality program in Medicare's traditional fee-for-service system or in alternative payment models.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: CVS Caremark, the country’s largest drugstore chain in overall sales, announced on Wednesday that it planned to stop selling cigarettes and other tobacco products by October. The company’s move was yet another sign of its metamorphosis into becoming more of a health care provider than a largely retail business, with its stores offering more miniclinics and health advice to aid customers visiting its pharmacies.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: More than 2 million Americans who would otherwise rely on a job for health insurance will quit working, reduce their hours or stop looking for employment because of new health benefits available under the Affordable Care Act, congressional budget analysts. The findings from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office revived a fierce debate about the impact President Obama’s signature health-care program will have on the U.S. economy.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Shopping carts might not seem like a particularly dangerous place for a child, but from 1990 to 2011, an average of 66 children a day wound up in emergency rooms after injuries sustained in and near them. In the 22 years covered by the study, about 16,500 children were injured seriously enough to be admitted to a hospital. Most of the injured were children under 4 who fell out of a cart, and more than 90% of their wounds were to the head.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: You may think that a lot of so-called red states are adamantly refusing to play ball with the Obama White House on the federal health care overhaul. But according to a study released Friday afternoon, the real diehards — the give-no-ground hold outs — are Texas and just four other states: Alabama, Missouri, Oklahoma and Wyoming.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Accountable Care Organizations are saving money. Provider groups involved in Medicare ACO programs saved a total of $380 million in the first year. Of the 114 Shared Savings Program ACOs in the first year, 54 had lower spending than projected. But just 29 generated enough savings to qualify to keep some of it, which totaled $126 million for the provider networks and an additional $128 million for the Medicare Trust Fund.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Target has announced that it will no longer provide health insurance for part-time workers but will send them instead to the new health care exchanges established by the Affordable Care Act. The change could help low-income workers who will now have access to subsidized coverage. It might distress middle-income workers ineligible for a big subsidy, and it is likely to be bad news for taxpayers, who will foot the bill for the coverage Target had provided.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: The N.F.L. said that the number of concussions in the league had declined 13% this season thanks to improved medical diagnoses, stiffer penalties for striking with a helmet and fewer practices. In the preseason and the regular season, players sustained 228 concussions, down from 261 in 2012, when concussions rose 4% compared with the previous year. Helmet-to-helmet contact caused almost half the concussions this season, down from 53% in 2012.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: For many obese adults, the die was cast by the time they were 5 years old. A major new study to be published today in The New England Journal of Medicine of more than 7,000 children has found that a third of children who were overweight in kindergarten were obese by eighth grade. And almost every child who was very obese remained that way.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: A survey of physician practices in 15 metropolitan areas across the country found that the average wait time for a new patient to see a physician in five medical specialties was 18.5 days.  The longest waits were in Boston, where patients wait an average of 72 days to see a dermatologist and 66 days to see a family doctor. The shortest were in Dallas, where the average wait time is 10.2 days for all specialties, and just 5 days to see a family doctor.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: A federal analysis of 30 antibiotics used in animal feed found that the majority of them were likely to be contributing to the growing problem of bacterial infections that are resistant to treatment in people, according to documents released Monday by a health advocacy group. Scientists from the F.D.A. studied 30 penicillin and tetracycline additives in animal feed. They found that 18 of them posed a high risk of exposing humans to antibiotic-resistant bacteria through food.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: The federal government has released slightly higher poverty level guidelines for 2014, but they won’t alter the income thresholds that are being used to determine what kind of financial assistance is available to buy insurance under the health law. Under the new guidelines, Medicaid coverage will be available to individuals earning up to $16,105 and families earning up to $32,913 in states that have decided to expand Medicaid under the provisions of the federal health law. Premium subsidies in the new online marketplaces will be available to individuals earning up to $46,680 and families of four earning up to $95,400.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: The Obama administration is cracking down on doctors who repeatedly overcharge Medicare patients and for the first time in more than 30 years the government may disclose how much is paid to individual doctors treating Medicare patients. Marilyn B. Tavenner, the administrator of CMS, said that abusive providers would face civil fines and could be expelled from Medicare and other federal health programs.

HCR Update form Mark Sanna: This month, the Justice Department said it had joined eight separate whistle-blower lawsuits against Health Management Associates, a for-profit hospital chain in six states. The lawsuits describe a wide-ranging strategy that is said to have relied on a mix of sophisticated software systems, financial incentives and threats in an attempt to inflate the company’s payments from Medicare and Medicaid by admitting patients like an infant whose temperature was a normal 98.7 degrees for a “fever".

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: The Department of Health and Human Services moves to break up a big backlog of Medicare claims appeals, with beneficiary hearings taking precedent. Medicare beneficiaries who have been waiting months and even years for a hearing on their appeals for coverage may soon get a break as their cases take top priority in an effort to remedy a massive backlog.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Early signals suggest the majority of the 2.2 million people who sought to enroll in private insurance through new marketplaces through Dec. 28 were previously covered elsewhere, raising questions about how swiftly this part of the health overhaul will be able to make a significant dent in the number of uninsured. Insurers, brokers and consultants estimate at least two-thirds of those consumers previously bought their own coverage or were enrolled in employer-backed plans.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: The Obama administration is delaying enforcement of another provision of the new health care law, one that prohibits employers from providing better health benefits to top executives than to other employees. Tax officials said they would not enforce the provision this year because they had yet to issue regulations for employers to follow.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: A new report from the surgeon general finds that smoking causes even more physical and financial damage than previously estimated, killing 480,000 Americans a year from diseases that include diabetes, colorectal cancer and liver cancer. The report, released today, represents the first time the surgeon general has concluded that smoking is "causally linked" to these diseases.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: The US Food and Drug Administration is asking healthcare professionals to stop prescribing combination prescription pain relievers that contain more than 325 mg of acetaminophen per tablet, capsule, or other dosage unit, citing the risk for liver damage. The FDA said, "There are no available data to show that taking more than 325 mg of acetaminophen per dosage unit provides additional benefit that outweighs the added risks for liver injury. Further, limiting the amount of acetaminophen per dosage unit will reduce the risk of severe liver injury from inadvertent acetaminophen overdose, which can lead to liver failure, liver transplant, and death."

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: For the first time in history, more than half the members of the House and Senate are now millionaires, according to a new analysis of financial disclosure reports filed last year. The median net worth for lawmakers in the House and Senate was $1,008,767 — up 4.4%, according to the analysis, conducted by the nonprofit Center for Responsive Politics, which examines the influence of money on politics in Washington.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Two of the largest U.S. health insurers are giving Obamacare customers more time to pay their initial premiums as the industry tries to coax millions of people to take the final step in cementing coverage for 2014. WellPoint Inc. (WLP), the second-biggest U.S. health insurer, said it’s allowing consumers until Jan. 15 to pay, five extra days than planned. Health Care Service Corp., which runs Blue Cross plans in Texas, Illinois and three other states, extended its deadline to Jan. 30, saying it wanted to avoid confusion.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: A new study in the New England Journal of Medicine found that an inexperienced driver who reaches for a cell phone increases the risk for a crash by more than 700%. Among teenagers, eating almost tripled the risk for a crash, and texting or looking at an object on the side of the road quadrupled it. Dialing a phone was the most dangerous activity of all, resulting in eight times the risk for a crash or near-crash.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: New Year's Day marked the halfway point to sign up for health insurance through the Affordable Care Act for coverage this year. And after a dismal start, things seem to be going a lot better on the healthcare.gov website. Federal officials say more than 1 million people enrolled in coverage by the Christmas Eve deadline for coverage that began January 1. People have until March 31 to purchase a plan, or enroll in Medicaid if you're eligible. If you're uninsured after that, you may be subject to a tax penalty in 2015.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: New Year's Day marked the halfway point to sign up for health insurance through the Affordable Care Act for coverage this year. And after a dismal start, things seem to be going a lot better on the healthcare.gov website. Federal officials say more than 1 million people enrolled in coverage by the Christmas Eve deadline for coverage that began January 1. People have until March 31 to purchase a plan, or enroll in Medicaid if you're eligible. If you're uninsured after that, you may be subject to a tax penalty in 2015.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: The Obama administration urged the Supreme Court on Friday to reject a lawsuit filed by the Little Sisters of the Poor, an order of Roman Catholic nuns challenging requirements for many employers to provide health insurance coverage for birth control or face penalties under the new health care law.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: A popular surgical procedure worked no better than fake operations in helping people with one type of common knee problem, suggesting that thousands of people may be undergoing unnecessary surgery, a new study in The New England Journal of Medicine reports. The unusual study involved people with a torn meniscus, crescent-shaped cartilage that helps cushion and stabilize knees. Arthroscopic surgery on the meniscus is the most common orthopedic procedure in the United States, performed, the study said, about 700,000 times a year at an estimated cost of $4 billion.