California State University, Long Beach
College of Health & Human Services
Health Care Administration Program
SYLLABUS: HCA 340
LEGAL ASPECTS OF HEALTH ADMINISTRATION
SPRING, 2010
Instructor: Thomas P. McCabe, J.D., MBA Class Number: 2332, Section: 01, Room: HSD 111
E-mail: Class Meets: Thursdays, 4:00 p.m. to 6:45 p.m.
Office Hours: Wed. 3:00 to 4:00 p.m. or by appt.
Office Location: ET 101 or in Classroom Additional contact info:
Phone 562-708-0955 HCA Program Coordinator:
Deby McGill,
Tel. 562-985-5692; fax 562-985-5886
CATALOG Description:
340. Legal Aspects of Health Administration (3)
Prerequisite/Corequisite: HCA 402. (No exceptions)
Overview of health law issues. Government regulation including legal constraints; liability; negligence; patient rights; confidentiality; and corporate/administrative responsibility. Emphasis on business applications of health law. Letter grade only (A-F). (Lecture)
COURSE OBJECTIVES
· Provide students with an introduction into the legal aspects of health care administration and measure their grasp thereof.
· Measuring students ability to recognize and apply legal principles to issues affecting various health care entities.
· Discern the students ability to recognize when medical issues may require professional legal assistance.
· Test the students ability to develop an understanding of the legal system in the U.S. and demonstrate, in writing and orally, the manner in which health care institutions interact with it.
Disabled students are requested to inform the instructor of the need for accommodations before or during the first class session.
REQUIRED TEXT
Pozgar, George D., Legal Essentials of Health Care Administration, 2009, Jones & Bartlett Publishers, Sudbury, Massachusetts (Paperback edition)
WITHDRAWALS/DROPS
The symbol "W" indicates that the student was permitted to drop a course after the second week of instruction with the approval of the instructor and appropriate campus official. It carries no connotation of quality of student performance and is not used in calculating grade point average. Students are held responsible for completion of every course in which they register OR FOR WITHDRAWING DURING THE FIRST TWO WEEKS OF CLASSES FROM COURSES WHICH THEY DO NOT INTEND TO COMPLETE. Application for withdrawal from the University or from a class must be officially filed by the student at the Admissions and Records Office whether the student has ever attended the class or not; otherwise, the student will receive a grade of "U" (unauthorized incomplete) in the course. Application for withdrawal is made at the Admissions and Records Office. A “Drop” will be submitted by the Professor for any student not in attendance at the first two classes of the course.
Course METHODOLOGY & ATTENDANCE
The course consists of lectures and student participation in class discussion. Therefore, attendance and participation will be graded and are necessary to achieve the stated course objectives. Lectures and tests will be drawn from the required readings. Oral case recitations will be assigned by the instructor for presentation by students at each class. All students are expected to have read the chapter assignments prior to classes, and all students are expected to complete all course assignments in a timely manner.
ORAL CASE RECITATIONS
Students will be randomly assigned to orally present cases to the whole class at each class meeting starting the second week of classes with Chapter 3. Students are expected to read the case assigned and initiate a discussion with other students regarding the significance of the case as related to the Chapter for that week.
MID-TERM & FINAL EXAM
The exams cover materials from lectures and reading assignments and will not be cumulative. Students with valid excuses who are unable to sit for scheduled exams at the appointed times must make arrangements with the instructor before the scheduled exam date in order to obtain an alternative testing date or time. A Bluebook ( of either size) is required for both the Midterm & the Final.
WRITTEN PROJECT/TERM PAPER
The Written Project/Term Paper shall be on a topic of the student’s choice that is related to this course or a current health care legal issue. You may use either APA or MLA format. It should be well researched and must contain two (2) or more legal cases related to the subject, along with students’ analyses and opinions. It must be no less than ten (10) pages (not counting the cover page); using one and a half (1 ½) line spacing; and, “Times New Roman 12” font. An extra page(s) at the end for references and citations is also required. Students shall submit their topic and an outline of the paper at the fifth class meeting. The Papers are due at the fifteenth class meeting, and will be graded on the basis of compliance with the format, content, organization, spelling, grammar, and logical thinking/conclusions.
SUGGESTIONS FOR TERM PAPER TOPICS
Emergency Preparedness HMOs
Nursing Human Genome Project (Cloning)
Universal Healthcare Malpractice
Veterans Healthcare Healthcare in Correctional Institutions
Medicare/Medi-Cal Fraud & Abuse Home Health
Hospitals Current court cases (Calif. or Fed. Supreme Court)
Antitrust EMTALA (emergency medical treatment and active labor act)
HIPAA Compliance Mergers and Acquisitions
Right to Die Labor Relations (employment, discipline & discharge)
Abortion Statute of Limitations in Healthcare
Pharmaceuticals Licensing
Product Liability Consent
Healthcare Technology Health Related Class Action(s)
Risk Management Arbitration
Public Health Standard(s) of Care
Medical Research Child/Elder Abuse
Biotechnology Forensic Medicine
Ethics Specialty Hospitals (e.g. Neurosurgery only)
Tax & Accounting Ambulatory Surgery Centers
Sarbanes-Oxley Act (2002) Mental Health
Employee Benefits External Review Organizations (e.g. JACHO)
EXTRA CREDIT (up to 25 points maximum)
Research (via internet and/or library), and submit a written (4-5 pages, 1½ line-spaced, Times New Roman font size 12) analysis/report of a health care related legal case which was decided within the last ten (10) years. Alternatively, points may be achieved by joining and attending meetings of professional organizations: e.g. ACHE 25 pts. for joining; HCASF & others 10 pts. for joining and up to 15 pts. for meeting attendance
GRADING
Quizzes (3 at 25 pts each) 75 points
Class Attendance & Participation 40 points
Mid-term 100 points
Written Project/Term Paper 85 points
Final Exam 150 points
Total 450 points
FINAL COURSE GRADE: A = 405 or more points
B = 360 to 404 points
C = 315 to 359 points
D = 270 to 314 points
F = 269 or less points
COURSE MEETING DATES
Class Class Topic /Class DiscussionNo. Dates
1.) 1/28 Chapters 1 & 2 Historical perspective and Intro to the law Due: (optional) Student info sheet
2.) 2/04 Chapter 3 Tort Law
3.) 2/11 Chapters 4 & 5 Criminal Aspects of Health Care; Contracts & Antitrust
4.) 2/18 Chapter 6 Civil Procedure & Trial Pract. QUIZ 1 Chapters 1-5
5.) 2/25 Chapter 7 Corporate Liability Due: Topic & Outline of Term Paper
6.) 3/04 Chapters 8 & 9 Medical Staff; Nursing & the Law
7.) 3/11 Chapter 10 Liability by Dept. QUIZ 2 Chapters 6-9
8.) 3/18 Chapters 11 & 12 Info Mgmt.& Records and Pt. Consent
9.) 3/25 MID-TERM EXAM (Chapters 1-12)
10.) 4/01 SPRING BREAK No Class
11.) 4/08 Chapters 13 & 14 Legal Reporting Obligations & Issues of Procreation
12.) 4/15 Chapter 15 & 16 Pt. Rights & Responsibilities & AIDS;
13.) 4/22 Chapter 17 & 18 Ethics & Malpr. Ins. QUIZ 3 Chapters 13-16
14.) 4/29 Chapters 19, & 20 Labor Relations & Employee Discip. & Dischg.,
15.) 5/06 Chapters 21 & 22 Managed Care & Tort Reform, Risk Reduction TERM PAPER DUE
16.) 5/13 Chapter 23 Patient Safety & Zero Tolerance
17.) 5/20 FINAL EXAM (Chapters 13-23)
BIBLIOGRAPHY
WEBSITES
Telemedicine: AMD Telemedicine www.amdtelemedicine.com
Biohealthmatics www.biohealthmatics.com
WebMD www.webmd.com
Healthweb Telemedicine www.lib.uiowa.edu
Accreditation JCAHO www.jcaho.org
Associations ACHE www.ache.org
AHA www.aha.org
AMA www.ama-assn.org
ANA www.ana.org
WHO www.who.int
American Cancer Society www.cancer.org
National Cancer Institute www.nci.nih.gov
Best Practice Network www.best4health.org
GOVERNMENT
Center for Disease Control www.cdc.gov
Health & Human Services www.hhs.gov
National Library of Medicine www.nlm.nih.gov
HIPAA www.os.dhhs.gov/ocr/hipaa
LEGAL RESEARCH
American Bar Association www.abanet.org
Answers to your legal q’s www.legalscholar.com
Findlaw www.findlaw.com
Healthcare Law Net www.healthcarelawnet.com/
Law.com www.law.com
Legal Information Inst www.law.cornell.edu/topical.html
OPTIONAL STUDENT INFORMATION SHEET
HCA 341 – Fall 2004
(TURN IN TO INSTRUCTOR)
Name______
Name you prefer to use______
Address______
______
Phone(s):______
Best time/place to reach you:______
Fax(es):______
E-mail address:______
Please describe briefly:
a. Your educational background and work experience:
b. Future educational and career plans:
c. Your reasons for taking this course, what you hope to learn from it:
d. Languages you speak, read and write
CHEATING AND PLAGIARISM
The following is excerpted from the California State University, Long Beach Policy Statement 85-19, dated December 13, 1985.
It is the policy of the faculty and administration to deal effectively with the student who practices cheating or plagiarism. These acts are fundamentally destructive of the process of education and the confident evaluation of a student’s mastery over a subject. A University maintains respect and functions
successfully within the larger community when its reputation is built on honesty. By the same token, each student benefits in helping to maintain the integrity of the University. This policy, therefore, provides for a variety of faculty actions including those which may lead to the assignment of a failing grade for a course and for administrative actions which may lead to dismissal from the University. It is the intent to support the traditional values that students are on their honor to perform their academic duties in an ethical manner. The following definitions of cheating and plagiarism shall apply to all work submitted by a student:
DEFINITION OF PLAGIARISM:
Plagiarism is defined as the act of using the ideas or work of another person or persons as if they were one’s own, without giving credit to the source. Such an act is not plagiarism if it is ascertained that the ideas were arrived at through independent reasoning or logic or where the thought or idea is common
knowledge. Acknowledge of an original author or source must be made through appropriate references, i.e., quotation marks, footnotes, or commentary. Examples of plagiarism include, but are not limited to, the following: the submission of a work, either in part or in whole, completed by another; failure to give credit for ideas, statements, facts or conclusions with rightfully belong to another; in written work, failure to use quotation marks when quoting directly from another, whether it be a paragraph, a sentence, or even a part thereof; close and lengthy paraphrasing of another writing or paraphrasing should consult
the instructor. Students are cautioned that, in conducting their research, they should prepare their notes by (a) either quoting material exactly (using quotation marks) at the time they take notes from a source; or (b) departing completely from the language used in the source, putting the material into their own words. In this way, when the material is used in the paper or project, the student can avoid plagiarism resulting from verbatim use of notes. Both quoted and paraphrased materials must be given proper citations.
DEFINITION OF CHEATING:
Cheating is defined as the act of obtaining or attempting to obtain or aiding another to obtain academic credit for work by the use of any dishonest, deceptive or fraudulent means. Examples of cheating during an examination would include, but not be limited to the following: copying, either in part or in whole,
from another test or examination; discussion of answers or ideas relating to the answers on an examination or test unless such discussion is specifically authorized by the instructor; giving or receiving copies of an exam without the permission of the instructor; using or displaying notes; “cheat sheets,” or other information or devices inappropriate to the prescribed test conditions, as when the test of competence includes a test of unassisted recall of information, skill, or procedure; allowing someone other than the officially enrolled student to represent the same. Also included are plagiarism as defined and altering or interfering with the grading procedures. It is often appropriate for students to study together or to work in teams on projects. However, such students should be careful to avoid use of unauthorized assistance, and to avoid any implication of cheating, by such means as sitting apart from one another in examinations, presenting the work in a manner which clearly indicates the effort of each individual, or such other method as is appropriate to the particular course.
ACADEMIC ACTION:
One or more of the following academic actions are available to the faculty member who finds a student has been cheating or plagiarizing.
(a) Review—no action.
(b) An oral reprimand with emphasis on counseling toward prevention of further occurrences;
(c) A requirement that the work be repeated;
(d) Assignment of a score of zero (0) for the specific demonstration of competence, resulting in the proportional reduction of final course grade;
(e) Assignment of a failing final grade;
(f) Referral to the Office of Judicial Affairs for possible probation,
suspension, or expulsion.
Updated January 22, 2003
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