Law Commons^™

The Future Of Health Care Must Be Harm Reductionist—To Bring It About, We Need Moral Philosophy, Travis N. Rieder

Saint Louis University Journal of Health Law & Policy

In the United States, more than 100,000 people now die each year from drug overdose, but nearly all of these deaths are preventable. The purpose of this Article is to show that harm reduction interventions could go a long way towards saving these lives, but we don’t adopt many of these interventions, or fail to adopt them at the scale needed. Although it is often suggested by opponents of harm reduction that the interventions are unlikely to actually reduce harm, this Article argues that the empirical debate is largely over—decades of data demonstrate that harm reduction saves lives, promotes health, …

Revisiting Health Care Fraud In The Biden Administration, Joan H. Krause

Saint Louis University Journal of Health Law & Policy

Although not one of the Biden administration’s initial priorities, health care fraud inevitably will be a major concern. First, the federal government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic—including the disbursement of more than $175 billion in provider relief funds and the loosening of traditionally strict rules on Medicare reimbursement for telehealth services—has created new opportunities to divert health care funds for fraudulent purposes. Second, President Joseph Biden took office in the midst of the incomplete transition from volume-based to value-based payment in the federal health care programs, which will allow fraud to flourish in the gaps between multiple reimbursement systems. Third, …

The Impact Of Bostock V. Clayton County On Access To Health Care For Lgbtq Persons, Hiba B. Al-Ramahi

Saint Louis University Journal of Health Law & Policy

LGBTQ individuals face countless acts of discrimination in health care insurance and delivery. In spite of this inequality, there are zero LGBTQ-inclusive health insurance protections in over half of the United States. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act (Title VII) and Section 1557 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) are two federal statutes that prohibit discrimination, in relevant part, on the basis of sex. Both federal statutes have been greatly impacted by the Supreme Court decision in Bostock v. Clayton County, which interpreted “sex” in Title VII to include gender identity and sexual orientation. This …

Developing A Health Care Workforce That Supports Team-Based Care Models That Integrate Health And Social Services, Jessica Mantel, Mcclain Sampson, David S. Buck, Winston Liaw, Lechauncy Woodard, Jasmine Singh

Saint Louis University Journal of Health Law & Policy

Across the country, health care professionals are joining forces to improve the health care of populations with complex social, financial, and behavioral health needs. One promising approach relies on community-based integrated health teams (CIHTs), or interprofessional teams that integrate a broad range of medical, behavioral health, and social services, offer intensive case management, and link patients to available community resources. Yet whether CIHTs fulfill their potential depends in part on policymakers enacting policies that support CIHTs delivering comprehensive, high-value care to their patients. Drawing on the insights of CIHT professionals shared with the authors, this Article highlights several factors that …

A State’S Effort To Enhance Health Care: Empowering Pharmacists With Prescribing Authority, Madhav Y. Bhatt

Saint Louis University Journal of Health Law & Policy

High rates of unintended pregnancies and costs associated with them have been a concern for the health care system in the U.S. The State of Oregon took a unique approach to reduce unintended pregnancy rates within its borders. Oregon enacted a statute that authorized pharmacists to prescribe hormonal contraceptives, which expanded the scope of practice of pharmacists. This Article explores whether states, instead of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), should regulate the scope of practice of health care professionals. This Article further explores the impact of Oregon’s law on access to hormonal contraceptives, safety of women’s health, and costs …

Optimizing Private Antitrust Enforcement In Health Care, Anne Marie Helm

Saint Louis University Journal of Health Law & Policy

Americans are paying too much for health care services and insurance, in large part due to insufficiently competitive markets. Waves of consolidation have fortified providers and insurers with market power, resulting in higher prices and lower quality for consumers. As antidotes, advocates have proposed various legislative, regulatory, and enforcement solutions. Yet, unlike public antitrust enforcement, private antitrust enforcement is either not mentioned or criticized as sour grapes from competitors or a money grab by consumers. Instead of ignoring or bashing private litigation, those looking to address the health care pricing crisis in the United States should be looking to optimize …

The Anti-Competitive Potential Of Cross-Market Mergers In Health Care, Jaime S. King, Erin C. Fuse Brown

Saint Louis University Journal of Health Law & Policy

Health care consolidation in the United States has been widespread at all levels and across all entities. This consolidation has extended beyond horizontal mergers of hospitals or other providers to include out-of-market mergers, or cross-market mergers. Cross-market mergers include the merger or acquisition of any health care entity that does not directly compete with the acquiring entity in the same product or geographic market. Antitrust enforcers have historically had little in the way of market theory, economic models, or empirical data to inform their analyses on the potential impacts of cross-market mergers on competition. However, recent developments in economic theory …

Competition As Policy Reform: The Use Of Vigorous Antitrust Enforcement, Market-Governance Rules, And Incentives In Health Care, Emilio Varanini

Saint Louis University Journal of Health Law & Policy

In health care, the increase in market concentration on both the insurer side and the provider side has led to insurers and providers acquiring market power. Insurers and providers, in turn, have used that market power to charge higher prices to employers providing employees with medical care without corresponding increases in the quality of that care. Responding more generally to the increase in market concentration in many industries in the United States with a range of inimical effects for the nation’s economy, the Obama Administration suggested a range of policy solutions that this article groups under the term “Competition as …

Taking Quality Of Health Care Seriously In Provider Merger Analysis, Kent Bernard

Saint Louis University Journal of Health Law & Policy

Traditionally, antitrust analysis had no method to quantify the benefits of better health care outcomes from a potential merger to balance them against the potential for increased costs. However, a branch of health care economics allows for that calculation. This approach has not been used in antitrust analysis to date, but United States law is flexible enough to allow such an approach, and the 2010 Horizontal Merger Guidelines contemplate it in Section 5. It enables us to use established procedures to put quality of care into health care merger analysis.

Teaching The Law Of American Health Care, Elizabeth Weeks, Nicole Huberfeld, Kevin Outterson

Saint Louis University Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Cutting Across The Bias: Teaching Implicit Bias In A Healthcare Law Course, Vernellia Randall, Tshaka Randall

Saint Louis University Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Turducken Task Of Teaching Health Care Financing, Thomas L. Greaney

Saint Louis University Law Journal

No abstract provided.

A Journey Through The Health Care Safety Net, Brietta R. Clark

Saint Louis University Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Mergers And Monopolies: An Examination Of The Cyclical Effect Of Anti-Competition And A Lack Of Rate Regulation In Health Care, Madeline J. Bainer

Saint Louis University Journal of Health Law & Policy

Health care costs continue to rise, forcing consumers to make difficult choices between seeking expensive treatment and risking the consequences without. To combat the inflation of health care costs, the Affordable Care Act implemented a number of policies aimed at improving the quality of care while lowering the cost of that care. In order to accomplish the goals of the Affordable Care Act, health care systems began merging with one another and acquiring smaller groups to incorporate into a vast network of providers. However, many of these mergers offer little value to consumers. Instead, they ultimately drive up the cost …

Is There A Moral Obligation For Health Care Organizations To Develop Robust Advance Care Planning Programs?, Thomas D. Harter

Saint Louis University Journal of Health Law & Policy

Advance care planning (ACP) has become an integral part of patient care because of its ability to help guide treatment decision making for individuals in need of medical care but who have lost the ability to communicate—temporarily or permanently—due to illness or injury. Not all persons have the same treatment threshold; some persons value their lives above all else and will accept a high level of physical debility regardless of personal discomfort to stay alive. Others value their individual personal comfort over the length of their lives and will refuse otherwise life-sustaining treatment if they believe the treatment will cause …

Hitech Act: Building An Infrastructure For Health Information Organizations And A New Health Care Delivery System, Kalle Deyette

Saint Louis University Journal of Health Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

The Difficulty Accommodating Health Care Workers, Nicole Buonocore Porter

Saint Louis University Journal of Health Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

The Health Care Workforce: How To Understand Accommodations, Leslie Francis, Anita Silvers

Saint Louis University Journal of Health Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

Health Care Reform And States’ Rights: Did We Learn Anything From The Civil War?, Lisa Sewell Demoss

Saint Louis University Public Law Review

No abstract provided.

What Patients With Disabilities Teach Us About The Everyday Ethics Of Health Care, Elizabeth Pendo

All Faculty Scholarship

In Healers: Extraordinary Clinicians at Work, by David Schenck and Dr. Larry Churchill, and in What PatientsTeach: The Everyday Ethics of Health Care, their follow-up with Joseph Fanning, the authors look at theeveryday experience of health care and the relationships that shape it. This article expands upon that inquiry by exploring the experiences and challenges of patients with disabilities and by exploring what patients withdisabilities can teach us about the everyday ethics of health care.

The authors of What Patients Teach provide a framework in which to focus on the everyday experience ofhealth care from the perspective of patients. This …

Health Care Reform & Antitrust Enforcement—A Cure For Health Plan Merger Market Definition Under A Post-Health Care Reform Regime, Daniel C. Fundakowski

Saint Louis University Law Journal

No abstract provided.

A Next Step In Health Care Reform: Ensuring The Protection Of Employee Rights Under The Family And Medical Leave Act, April G. Dawson

Saint Louis University Law Journal

On March 23, 2010, President Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act into law. Notwithstanding the current constitutional challenges to the law, this historic legislation reaffirmed the basic principle that everyone should be afforded the opportunity to have security when it comes to health care. Such security also includes security in employment when a serious health condition causes an employee to be out of work for a temporary period of time. Indeed, it was the recognition of the need for job security during a time of illness which led Congress to enact the Family and Medical Leave Act …

A History Of Health Care For The Indigent In St. Louis: 1904–2001, Daniel R. Berg, M.D.

Saint Louis University Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Race, Health, And Health Care, David R. Williams

Saint Louis University Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Healthcare’S Hidden Civil Rights Legacy, David Barton Smith, Ph.D.

Saint Louis University Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Dynamic Conservatism And The Demise Of Title Vi, Gordon Bonnyman

Saint Louis University Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Racial Disparities In Health Care And Cultural Competency, Lisa C. Ikemoto

Saint Louis University Law Journal

No abstract provided.

When The “Machine That Goes ‘Ping’” Causes Harm: Default Torts Rules And Technologically-Mediated Health Care Injuries, Nicolas P. Terry

Saint Louis University Law Journal

No abstract provided.

How Health Care Attorneys Can Discern Vernon, Successor Liability And Settlement Issues, Greg Radinsky

Saint Louis University Law Journal

No abstract provided.