Law Commons^™

Sissel V. Hhs - Original Complaint, Matt Sissel

Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act Litigation

No abstract provided.

Medicare Physician Fees: The Data Behind The Numbers, Laura A. Dummit

National Health Policy Forum

Medicare’s physician fee schedule distributes nearly $60 billion annually and is a critical determinant of individual physicians’ incomes, beneficiaries' access to health care services, and Medicare spending, as well as the basis for physician fees used by many private payers. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) relies on data derived from expert judgment and other sources to update the fee schedule. Although CMS’s methods and data for maintaining the fee schedule have improved over the years, concerns remain about medical specialty society involvement and the lack of an effective ”counterweight” to vested interests in establishing and updating the …

A Conflict By Any Other Name Would Smell As Foul: A Comment On The Appointment Of A Vice-President Of Pfizer To The Cihr Governing Council, Jocelyn Downie

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

If one had to pick the pharmaceutical company most associated with unethical and illegal conduct this past year, it would likely be Pfizer. So it seems reasonable to respond with disbelief and outrage to the federal government’s October 5, 2009 appointment of Dr. Bernard Prigent – Vice President, Medical Director and registered lobbyist for Pfizer Canada – to the Canadian Institutes of Health Research Governing Council (CIHR GC). This is the body that sets the strategic direction for most federally funded health research in Canada. A senior executive from a for-profit pharmaceutical company should not be given a seat at …

Kinder V. Geithner - Original Complaint, Peter Kinder

Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act Litigation

No abstract provided.

Tapping The Potential Of The Health Care Workforce: Scope-Of-Practice And Payment Policies For Advanced Practice Nurses And Physician Assistants, Robert Cunningham

National Health Policy Forum

Expanding coverage and increasing delivery of team-based care are likely to entail a growing role in the
health system for advanced practice nurses (APNs), physician assistants (PAs), and other nonphysician clinicians. These professions have already grown rapidly and have increased access to primary and specialty care, especially in rural and other underserved areas. This background paper provides an overview of the role of APNs and PAs. It reviews the primary features of the training and credentialing of these health professions, including the impact of public policies and market forces on their growth and deployment. It describes variations in state scope-of-practice …

Seven-Sky V. Holder - Amended Complaint, Susan Seven-Sky

Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act Litigation

No abstract provided.

Newsletter, Summer & Fall 2010

Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Mid-Atlantic Ethics Committee Newsletter, Summer 2010

Mid-Atlantic Ethics Committee Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Ensuring Government Accountability During Public Health Emergencies, Fazal Khan

Scholarly Works

The main argument of this Article is that the gravest threat to civil liberties during a public health emergency (PHE) stems from federal powers premised on post-9/11 national security justifications, not putative state powers under the Model State Emergency Health Powers Act (MSEHPA). While I concur with earlier assessments that the MSEHPA is seriously flawed and that PHEs should be construed as primarily federal issues, going forward, more critical attention needs to be focused on the federal role during PHEs as the initially alarming MSEHPA appears to be more of a paper tiger. First, as the responses to Hurricane Katrina …

The Hydra, Carl E. Schneider

Articles

Almost nobody favors long consent forms for prospective research subjects. Almost everybody thinks they interfere with informed consent's purpose-good decisions. Nevertheless, almost everybody believes consent forms have long been getting longer. Years ago, Paul Appelbaum lamented the "tendency to cram ever more information into consent forms." Weeks ago, Ilene Albala and her colleagues (one of them Appelbaum) reported in IRE: Ethics & Human Research that the length of one institutional review board's forms "increased roughly linearly by an average of 1.5 pages per decade. In the 1970s, the average consent form was less than one page long and often only …

Keeping Health Insurance After A Job Loss: Cobra Continuation Coverage And Subsidies, Kathryn Linehan

National Health Policy Forum

Many Americans under 65 have health insurance through an employer. Beginning in 1985, a federal law known as COBRA required that eligible workers and their dependents have the option to continue employer-based group health coverage when employment is terminated. Because premiums for COBRA coverage can be very expensive, the 111th Congress included provisions in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (and subsequent legislation) to temporarily subsidize premiums for those who have lost their jobs since September 2008. This issue brief outlines the eligibility rules for COBRA as well as the current COBRA subsidies. It also discusses the possible …

Florida V. Hhs - U.S. Motion To Dismiss, United States Department Of Health And Human Services

Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act Litigation

No abstract provided.

Health Care Shortage Designations: Hpsa, Mua, And Tbd, Eileen Salinsky

National Health Policy Forum

A wide variety of federal programs designed to improve access to health care services rely on specific criteria to designate areas and populations eligible for funding and other types of aid. Two related yet distinct designations, the Health Professional Shortage Area (HPSA) and the Medically Underserved Area (MUA), are most commonly used to identify underserved people or places. This background paper reviews the methodologies currently utilized in these designations, identifies the federal programs that use these designations to allocate resources, describes proposals that have been advanced to consolidate and improve these designations, and discusses key issues and challenges for future …

Heath Care Spending: Why Is Miami An Outlier?, Laura A. Dummit, Mary Ellen Stahlman

National Health Policy Forum

The National Health Policy Forum’s site visit to Miami focused on the complex factors that drive health care spending and is the latest in a series on the dynamics of health care markets. Miami has long been recognized as having among the highest Medicare per capita spending in the country, along with high rates of uninsured, strong managed care presence, and a history of health care fraud. This colorful health care market brings into stark relief many of the reasons for high and growing health care spending across the country. It also highlights several issues involved in building and maintaining …

Serious Mental Illness In Florida Nursing Homes: A Study Of Resident, Facility And Cost Characteristics, Marion Becker, Shabnam Mehra

Mental Health Law & Policy Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

State Constitutionalism And The Right To Health Care, Elizabeth Weeks Leonard

Scholarly Works

This Article examines state constitutions and health care rights. Notably, close to a third of states’ constitutions recognize health while the U.S. Constitution contains no reference. Ample scholarly commentary exists on the absence of a right to health care under the U.S. Constitution but little attention has been paid to state constitutional law. This Article begins by explaining the absence of a federal right and the rationale for looking to state constitutional protections for health. The Article then provides a comprehensive survey of state constitutional provisions and judicial decisions enforcing or interpreting them. The survey reveals certain common themes and …

Physician Assessment: Measuring Competence And Performance, Lisa Sprague

National Health Policy Forum

No abstract provided.

The Attack On Nonprofit Status: A Charitable Assessment, James R. Hines Jr., Jill R. Horwitz, Austin Nichols

Law & Economics Working Papers

American nonprofit organizations receive favorable tax treatment, including tax exemptions and tax-deductibility of contributions, in return for their devotion to charitable purposes and restrictions not to distribute profits. Recent efforts to extend some or all of these tax benefits to for-profit companies making social investments, including the creation of the new hybrid nonprofit/for-profit company form known as the Low-Profit Limited Liability Company, threaten to undermine the vitality of the nonprofit sector and the integrity of the tax system.

Reform advocates maintain that the ability to compensate executives based on performance and to distribute profits when attractive investment opportunities are scarce …

Information And Incentives: Improving The Health Of New York City's Low-Income Population, Kathryn Linehan, Lisa Sprague

National Health Policy Forum

The National Health Policy Forum sponsored a site visit to New York City (NYC) in April 2010 to explore health care delivery for Medicaid beneficiaries and the uninsured in New York City’s hospital-dominated market. New York offers real-time examples of government policy and provider initiatives in health information technology (IT) and quality improvement being played out on a large, complex, and dynamic stage with multiple stakeholders. Site visit participants heard from providers and others who discussed efforts to improve the quality of care for low-income New Yorkers through a variety of methods, such as the adoption and use of electronic …

Law & Health Care Newsletter, V. 17, No. 2, Spring 2010

Law & Health Care Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Health Law Outlook - Volume 3, Issue 2 (Spring 2010)

Health Law Outlook (archive)

Inside this issue:

• Reforming New Jersey's Vaccination Exemption Policy: The Conscientious Exemption Bill, Michael Poreda
• Value-Based Insurance Design: One Non-Legislative Health Reform Option, Kate Freed
• The Rigorous Requisites to Compassionate Use in New Jersey: The Highs (and Lows) of Legalizing Medical Marijuana, Nicole Hamberger
• So Close and Yet So Far: The Debate Over Legalization of Medical Marijuana, Stephanie Mazzaro
• Accountable Care Organizations: A New Thing With Some Old Problems, Professor Thomas L. Greaney
• Electronic Cigarettes: A Tobacco Product or a Drug-Device Combination, Mat McKennan
• "He Who Has Health Has Hope, and He Who Has …

At&T V. Hulteen: The Ghost Of The Supreme Court On Pregnancy Discrimination And Pay Equality For Women’S Pension Benefits In America, Walakewon Blegay

Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

Historically, discrimination against women concerning childbirth and pregnancy was legally sanctioned and resulted in fewer advantages for women in the workforce. Most employers discharged a woman as soon as she became noticeably pregnant, and if she returned, she was considered a new, rather than a returning employee. Before 1978, many employers would give female employees a maximum of thirty days of credited pregnancy-related disability leave, while non-pregnant employees would receive unlimited credit for disability leave. In 1978, Congress enacted the Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA), requiring that employers treat pregnant employees the same as employees who were not pregnant.

These laws …

Money, Meet Mouth: The Era Of Regulation And Prescription Drug Importation/Reimportation, Aaron Wong

Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

The author explores why our country has failed to devote the necessary resources to health care, and in particular prescription drug importation and reimportation, in an economic and legal context. He analyzes the unique market characteristics of the pharmaceutical industry, the framework of pharmaceutical drug regulation including prescription drug importation, and the regulatory structure of importation in general. Part II provides background on the health care industry and prescription drug markets in the U.S. and abroad. Part III examines legislative proposals for drug importation and reimportation and the controversial congressional reaction to rising prescription drug prices in the U.S. Part …

Regulating Secondhand Tobacco Smoke In The Americas: A Comparison Of The Top Down And Bottom Up Approaches In Brazil And The United States, Leigh Warren

Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

The author presents a comparative analysis of the legal approaches to regulate Second Hand Smoke (SHS) in Brazil and the United States. Part II reviews the FCTC, its objective to achieve smoke-free public places, and the legal framework supporting freedom from SHS as a human right. Parts III and IV examine Brazil’s top down and the United States’ bottom up approaches to regulating SHS through legislative and judicial measures. Part V presents a comparative analysis of the two approaches and offers recommendations based on lessons learned from each approach. Because neither approach is perfect, Part V also discusses the role …

Reexamining Models Of Disability And Applying Rationality, Morality, And Ethics To Support Disability Rights In Context Of Genetics, Gary C. Norman

Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

The author discusses genetic and assistive reproduction science and technology in light of their impact on people with disabilities. Specifically, he focuses on the prism of the models through which disability is recognized. If applied in a manner such that the best facets of both models of disability can bear forth, then the position of the author, a person with a vision disability, is that his colleagues in the disability civil rights movement should not reflexively excoriate genetic and assisted reproduction science and technology. However, safeguarding people with disabilities, who are a discrete and insular minority across the globe, against …

Legal Preparedness For Pandemic Influenza: Is Virginia Ready?, Kristen Digirolamo

Law Student Publications

This paper attempts to identify the legal issues at stake during a pandemic and how those issues need to be discussed as a whole when preparing. Part II of this paper will give a brief description of pandemic influenza and look at the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918. Part III will examine the origins of legal authority during a pandemic at the federal, state, and local levels of government. Part IV will look at some of the specific legal issues that may arise during a pandemic and discuss what decision-makers need to be thinking about in order to plan comprehensively. …

Medical Rights For Same-Sex Couples And Rainbow Families, Anisa Mohanty

Law Student Publications

The present state of the law regarding medical rights for same-sex couples and their families is highly inconsistent. A handful of states permit same-sex marriage. Another handful of states recognize same-sex marriages from other states, allow civil unions with state-level spousal rights for same-sex couples, or extend some or nearly all state-level spousal rights to unmarried couples in domestic partnerships. With these widely disparate levels of recognition, it becomes difficult for same-sex couples to navigate their options and rights when a loved one—a partner or child—has a medical emergency or is in the hospital. In Part II, this Comment will …

Not So Hip?: The Expanded Burdens On And Consequences To Law Firms As Business Associates Under Hitech Modifications To Hipaa, Benjamin K. Hoover

Law Student Publications

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (“HIPAA”) governs the management of protected health information (“PHI”) by covered entities (e.g., health care providers) and their business associates. However, the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (“HITECH”), contained within the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, drastically alters the scope of HIPAA regulations with regard to business associates, including law firms that routinely handle the PHI governed by HIPAA. Under the HITECH Act, the definition of “business associate” is expanded, and these entities are treated as “covered” for purposes of the HIPAA security regulations; this …

Counting The Cost, Marc A. Clauson

History and Government Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

From Almshouses To Nursing Homes And Community Care: Lessons From Medicaid's History, Sidney D. Watson

All Faculty Scholarship

Home and community-based services are support and long-term care services that offer an alternative to institutional care for those who need assistance with life's daily activities. For Lois Curtis of Atlanta, one of the plaintiffs in the Olmstead v. L.C.¹ who spent most of her life in mental institutions, it means a live-in companion who helps her with the day-to-day activities of living in her own home, like managing finances, cooking meals, and keeping track of medications.² For Larry McAfee, another Georgian who was quadriplegic, community-based services involved round-the-clock personal care, wheelchair accessible bathrooms and kitchens, a specialized …