The class would serve as a broad introduction to the law and as the introductory class to any Master’s program that may be offered by the Law School in the future.  This class would address broad legal concepts such as sources of law, basic principles of contracts, dispute resolution, jury trials, and the risks of litigation.  This class would include instruction on creative problem-solving skills using the law and analytical thinking.  Finally, this class would include a leadership component.

This course provides a holistic understanding of the various aspects of the healthcare system related to sources of care, sources of payment, and regulatory and other legal systems that constrain and control the behavior of these sources and how these sources impact each other. In the lab component, students will learn methods of legal research to locate sources of health care regulations that require compliance and to collect required information. This course will include a research lab component.

This course will utilize reading materials, case studies, healthcare industry risk management scenarios and data sets provided in class to apply knowledge to specific RM and patient safety scenarios and to use critical thinking skills to solve problems which often result in harm to patients.  Through the readings and case study analysis students will learn to identify legal, ethical, administrative, compliance, risk management and patient safety issues and to reach resolutions for the problems presented, even when a clear legal response may not be available, or in the best interests of the patient. Students will also learn how principles of risk management have changed since the 1998 IOM Report and how the changes in our current health care system will further challenge both patients and providers. This report called for increased focus on systemic failures and moving away from a culture of blame to a culture of transparency and learning, utilizing an enterprise risk management model.

This course will lay the foundation for Health Care Compliance by introducing the elements of an effective compliance program, including the compliance operations and the Code of Conduct. It will progress to providing foundational knowledge regarding specific compliance issues facing the healthcare industry such as anti-kickback, Stark, False Claims Act, and civil monetary penalties, conflicts of interest and governance, billing & coding, privacy, technology, data, and security. The link between regulatory and compliance issues and quality of care will also be explored. Students will be assigned projects to demonstrate how to implement, in a specific setting, the various laws, regulations, and standards to assure organizational compliance.

This course covers the requirements for organizations that handle protected health information, especially those required by HIPAA and the HITECH Act. It will include information about which entities need to comply with laws protecting such information and to what extent.  It will focus primarily on the privacy, security, and breach response requirements of HIPAA and the information security requirements of the HITECH Act as they apply to both covered entities and business associates.

This course will consider various types of ethical issues that workers in the healthcare field may encounter, including bioethical issues and legal ethical issues that govern lawyers with whom they work.  In addition, the course will include instruction on legal and ethical issues surrounding end of life decisions.