Colorado School of Public Health
University of Colorado at Denver - Anschutz Medical Campus
Department of Health Systems, Management, & Policy
HSMP 6607 - Current Legal Issues in Health Care
Thursdays 5:30 – 7:20 pm
Ed 2 South L28-1307
Michael T. Jewell, JD, MPH
Assistant Clinical Professor
Synopsis
Current Legal Issues in Health Care(HSMP 6607) discusses public health and health care administration legal issues in the United States. The course offers graduate students knowledge of guiding jurisprudence and policy that shape the current health care system. HSMP 6607 is not a course in legal training, but it instead emphasizes interdisciplinary discussion in order to develop the necessary tools that the student will use to analyze current issues in health care and public health with a rooted framework.
Outcomes
Public Health Law – Students will be able to discuss foundational issues that drive public health law and policy, including: Constitutional underpinnings, regulation, rights, tort, and liberty interests.
Administration Law – The law of health care administration runs parallel with public health law in order to analyze public health foundations in practice. Students will understand general legal themes of not only the law of health care administration, but alsothe current American health care system.
Policy – The course instills in the student the appreciation of historical and legal developments that established the current American public health and health care systems. This includes guiding students through discussions of America’s unique history, culture, and economics and how they drive health law.
Required Texts
Gostin, Lawrence O. Public Health Law: Power, Duty, Restraint. University of California Press, 2nd ed., 2008. 767 pp.
Showalter, J. Stuart. The Law of Healthcare Administration. Health Administration Press, 5th ed., 2008. 511 pp.
Optional Texts
Gostin, Lawrence O. (ed.). Public Health Law and Ethics: A Reader. University of California Press, 2002.
-This is a helpful companion to the required Gostin text that includes valuable primary source readings.
Expectations
This is a 2-hour course that surveys a broad topic that has high utility within the context of an MPH course of study. In lieu of a research paper, students are expected to thoroughly read the assigned text for each class and come to class prepared to engage the lecture and readings.
Grading
Grades for the course are based on a Mid-Term Examination (45%) and a Final Examination (55%). The final examination will contain some cumulative material. Exam format will be essay and/or short answer in format. All lectures and assigned readings are fair content for the exams.
Grading Scale:
98 – 100: A+80 – 83: B-
94 – 97: A77 – 79: C+
90 – 93: A-74 – 76: C
87 – 89: B+70 – 73: C-
84 – 86: B60 – 69: D
Schedule
*Semester Begins – January 23
January26 - Introductions, Overview, Public Health Legal Theory/Anglo-American Law Primer
Readings: Gostin, Chapters 1-2 (3-74); Showalter, 3-18
Topics: American Legal System, Roots of Common Law, Public Health Theory
February 2– Constitutional Design: Rights, Limitations, and Powers
Readings: Gostin, Chapters 3-4 (77-144)
Topics: Constitutional Powers, State Power/Police Power, Federal Limitations,
Individual Rights, Property and Liberty Interests, Equal Protection
February9–Administrative Law and Health Regulation
Readings: Gostin, Chapter 5 (147 – 178)
Topics: Public Health Regulation, Agency Powers and Restrictions
February16- Issues in Tort Law
Readings: Gostin, Chapter 6 (181 – 226); Showalter, 47 – 77
Topics: Negligence, Tort Reform, Caps, Institutional Liability
February23– Liability of the Health Care Entity: Corporate Structure and Responsibilities
Readings: Showalter, Chapters 4-5 (89-158)
Topics: Corporate Structures, Respondeat Superior and Agency Law, Independent Contractors
March 1 – Contract and the Law of Consent
Readings: Showalter, Chapters 2 and 9 (23-46, 243-292)
Topics: Basic Contract law, Insurance Arranagements, Consent/Withdrawal, Emergency Treatment
March8 – Compliance Programs and Patient Safety; Introduction to Federal Payors
Readings: Showalter, Chapter 12 (357-384)
Topics: False Claims Act, Medicare/Medicaid/Tricare, Stark, Anti-Kickback
March15 – Mid-Term Examination
March22 – Spring Recess – No Class.
March29– Privacy
Readings: Gostin, Chapter 8 (287-330); Showalter, Chapter 14 (423-460)
Topics: HIPAA, Surveillance, Confidentiality, Notification
April 5–First Amendment I – Right to Privacy
Readings: Showalter, Chapter 13 (385-414); as assigned.
Topics: Contraception, Abortion, Technology
April12 – First Amendment II – Speech in Health Law
Readings: Gostin, Chapter 9 (333-369)
Topics: Compelled disclosure, Pharmaceutical Marketing, Commercial Speech
April19–Epidemiology and Civil Liberties
Readings: Gostin, Chapters 10-11 (371-458)
Topics: Immunization, Quarrantine, AIDS, Epidemic and Pandemic Containment
April26–American Law through History and Culture
Readings: As assigned.
Topics: Historical and Cultural perspectives in America that contribute to American health law; religion and theonomy; the uniqueness of the American health care situation
May3–Law and Economics
Readings: Gostin, 473-488; as assigned.
Topics: Economic liberty, implications of freedom of contract, economic perspectives and health care reform.
May10 – Open Discussion, Review, Things Left Unsaid
Readings: None.
Topics: Open.
May17 – Final Examination
Policies
All policies contained in the student handbook apply to this class.