This weekly installment of Hall Render's Health Law Broadcast series on health reform is designed to provide you with a brief update on significant developments from the previous week.

Since legislators left Washington for summer recess, health reform has traveled a bumpy road.  In just over a week, Congress is scheduled to return to work, and reform is set to retake center stage.  With the very recent loss of one of reform's most ardent advocates, it is unlikely the road will become less bumpy any time soon.  Below are significant developments in health reform from this past week: 

• Senator Edward Kennedy's death: Sen. Kennedy (D–MA) was a mainstay in the health reform debate.  Even in recent months, when he was away from Washington due to illness, Sen. Kennedy's reform efforts were carried on by Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-CT), who filled in for Sen. Kennedy as acting chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.  Sen. Kennedy was seen as a legislator with a unique ability to bridge partisan divides, and this skill will be missed as the debate over health care reform progresses.  Furthermore, with Sen. Kennedy's death, the Democratic majority in the Senate now stands at 59, which is one shy of the number of votes Democrats would need to make any health reform package filibuster-proof against a Republican challenge.
• Calling all doctors: The Obama Administration continues to seek broad support for its health reform efforts.  These efforts included the hosting of a conference call with 3,000 physicians and officials of their professional groups.  Additionally, through brochures sent to medical associations entitled "Doctors for Health Reform," the Administration has encouraged physicians to be proponents of health reform in their own communities.
• Seniors and health care reform: The Obama Administration released a report explaining how health reform will protect and strengthen Medicare.  The report asserts that, without reform, Medicare will become unsustainable, seriously jeopardizing health care for seniors.  Some of the changes that reform is expected to bring for seniors include reduced drug costs, better access to health care services, and a new voluntary long-term care insurance program.  A copy of the report can be found at http://healthreform.gov/reports/seniors/index.html.