Health Law and Policy Commons^™

Proposed Federal Osha Standards For Wildfire Smoke, Keenan Layton

Seattle Journal of Technology, Environmental & Innovation Law

With the rise of global temperatures, climatologists predict a corresponding increase in the frequency and severity of wildfires in the Pacific Northwest. Rising temperatures are expected to create drier conditions in forests, thereby creating environmental conditions more prone to forest fires. Wildfires have become a common enough occurrence in the Pacific Northwest that summers have become synonymous with smoky conditions, but the issue is not constrained to this region. Though the Pacific Northwest has recently acted as a harbinger of increasing wildfires, environmental scientists forecast an increase in fire risk throughout the Western United States. The predicted rise in forest ...

Laboratories Of Exclusion: Medicaid, Federalism & Immigrants, Medha D. Makhlouf

Faculty Scholarly Works

Forthcoming Dec. 2020

Medicaid’s cooperative federalism structure gives states significant discretion to include or exclude various categories of immigrants. This has created extreme geographic variability in immigrants’ access to health coverage. This Article describes federalism’s role in influencing state policies on immigrant eligibility for Medicaid and its implications for national health policy. Although there are disagreements over the extent to which public funds should be used to subsidize immigrant health coverage, this Article reveals that decentralized policymaking on immigrant access to Medicaid has weakened national health policy. It has failed to incentivize the type of state policy experimentation ...

Healthcare Licensing And Liability, Benjamin Mcmichael

Indiana Law Journal

The United States’ affordable care crisis and chronic physician shortage have

required advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) and physician assistants

(PAs) to assume increasingly important roles in the healthcare system. The increased

use of these nonphysician providers has improved access to healthcare and lowered

the price of care. However, restrictive occupational licensing laws—specifically,

scope-of-practice laws—have limited their ability to care for patients. While these

laws, by themselves, have important implications for the healthcare system, they also

interact with other legal regimes to impact the provision of care. Restrictive scopeof-

practice laws can increase the malpractice liability risk of ...

Access To Lifesaving Medical Resources For African Countries: Covid-19 Testing And Response, Ethics, And Politics, Matthew M. Kavanagh, Ngozi A. Erondu, Oyewale Tomori, Victor J. Dzau, Emelda A. Okiro, Allan Maleche, Ifeyinwa C. Aniebo, Umunya Rugege, Charles B. Holmes, Lawrence O. Gostin

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has revealed how strikingly unprepared the world is for a pandemic and how easily viruses spread in our interconnected world. A governance crisis is unfolding alongside the pandemic as health officials around the world compete for access to scarce medical supplies. As governments of African countries, and those in low-income and middle-income countries around the world, seek to avoid potentially catastrophic epidemics and learn from what has worked in other countries, testing and other medical resources are of concern. With accelerating spread, funding is urgently needed. Yet even where there is enough money, many African health ...

Blockchain Is The Key To Facilitating The Healthcare System, Andrea Ortega

Blockchain Law

The healthcare industry is one of the world’s largest industries, accounting for 17.7% of the United States Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Unsurprisingly, the health spending share is projected to rise from 17.7 percent, as reported in 2018, to 19.7 percent by 2028. The U.S. spends more on healthcare than any other country in the world. Being that we spend the most on healthcare, one would assume that we are the healthiest nation in the world. Unfortunately, despite the highest spending, “Americans experience worse health outcomes than [our] international peers.”

It is time for the United ...

In Or Out: Calculation Of The Medical Loss Ratio And Its Effect On The Affordable Care Act, Cynthia Yi

Boston College Law Review

On March 18, 2019, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held, in Morris v. California Physicians’ Service, that when calculating the Medical Loss Ratio (MLR) provision of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), there is no distinction between services from in-network or out-of-network providers. Specifically, the Ninth Circuit held that the numerator of the MLR may include out-of-network services as part the insurance company’s incurred claims. The Ninth Circuit was the first to interpret the MLR provision and address whether there was any basis in the language or spirit of the ACA to ...

Covid-19 And The Conundrum Of Mask Requirements, Robert Gatter, Seema Mohapatra

Washington and Lee Law Review Online

As states begin to loosen their COVID-19 restrictions, public debate is underway about what public health measures are appropriate. Many states have some form of mask-wearing orders to prevent the spread of COVID-19 infection. Public health guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization has conflicted. From a public health point of view, it is not clear what the right answer is. In the absence of directives, individuals are also making their own choices about mask use. At a time when public health measures, like shelter-in-place orders and social distancing, are being used to ...

Digital Smartphone Tracking For Covid-19: Public Health And Civil Liberties In Tension, I. Glenn Cohen, Lawrence O. Gostin, Daniel J. Weitzner

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

This Viewpoint compares manual and digital strategies for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) contact tracing, describes how countries in Asia and Europe have used smartphone tracking, and discusses privacy and discrimination concerns and strategies for balancing public health and civil liberties in the US.

Postscript: Covid-19 And The Legal Determinants Of Health, John Coggon, Lawrence O. Gostin

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

This is a short postscript to the Public Health Ethics special issue on the legal determinants of health. We reflect briefly on emerging responses to COVID-19, and raise important questions of ethics and law that must be addressed; including through the lens of legal determinants, and with critical attention to what it means to protect health with justice.

Human Rights In Global Health: Rights- Based Governance For A Globalizing World Edited By Benjamin M. Meier And Lawrence O. Gostin1, Regiane Garcia, Kristi Heather Kenyon

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

THIS GROUNDBREAKING COMPILATION, edited by two scholars who helped to establish the “health and human rights” field, systematically explores the structures and processes of human rights implementation in global health institutions while arguing that a rights-based approach to health governance advances global health. The 640-page volume brings together forty-six experienced scholars and practitioners who have contributed to twenty-five chapters organized into six thematic sections. This “unprecedented collection of experts” provides unique, hands-on insights into how the “institutional determinants of the rights-based approach to health” facilitate—or hinder—the “mainstreaming” of human rights into global health interventions. The institutional determinants, which ...

The Right To A Public Trial In The Time Of Covid-19, Stephen E. Smith

Washington and Lee Law Review Online

Maintaining social distance in the time of COVID-19 is a public health priority. A crowded courtroom is an environment at odds with public health needs. Accordingly, until science determines otherwise, it will be necessary for judges to manage courtroom attendance and exclude the public from trials, wholly or in part. Courtrooms may be closed to the public, despite the Sixth Amendment’s right to a public trial, when the closure is justified by a strong government interest and is narrowly tailored to further that interest. Typically, this heightened scrutiny is applied on a case-by-case basis and turns on a case ...

Law In The Time Of Covid-19: Legal Considerations Amidst A Growing Crisis, Justice Tecson

GGU Law Review Blog

COVID-19 has resulted in the destabilization of several aspects of human society, which may potentially cause an influx in litigation in certain practice areas such as employment, healthcare, and contract law. Although the legal effects of the pandemic have yet to be seen in their entirety, having knowledge of the potential legal issues better prepares individuals and businesses in dealing with this increased risk of litigation and could possibly help mitigate the circumstances caused by this viral, unprecedented attack on humanity.

When Does A Major Outbreak Become A Public Health Emergency Of International Concern?, David N. Durrheim, Lawrence O. Gostin, Keymanthri Moodley

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

The process of determining whether a Public Health Emergencies of International Concern (PHEIC) exists and should be declared has drawn increasing criticism over the past few years with allegations that it is more political than technical. Delaying declaration, where appropriate, means that the opportunity of garnering international solidarity and necessary resources in the early phases of epidemics, when public health measures may be more effective, is lost. A reform agenda aimed at enhancing WHO/Emergency Committee transparency and objectivity for the PHEIC declaration process is required.

High Health Care Spending And Developing Technology: Proton Beam Therapy, Yoojeong Jaye Han

Duke Law & Technology Review

No abstract provided.

Investigating Healthcare Fraud: Its Scope, Applicable Laws, And Regulations, Nicole Forbes Stowell, Carl Pacini, Nathan Wadlinger, Jaqueline M. Crain, Martina Schmidt

William & Mary Business Law Review

Healthcare costs are not only an enormous strain on the U.S. economy but are expected to increase in the foreseeable future. Not surprisingly, clever fraudsters view the healthcare industry as a lucrative and attractive hotspot for illegal activity. Although federal and state governments have increased their funding and prosecution efforts relating to healthcare fraud, this fraud continues to be a major threat to the U.S. economy and every patient and consumer. The impact of healthcare fraud is substantial and far-reaching. Healthcare fraud in the U.S. affects not only the government, but also insurance companies, patients, healthcare providers ...

State Prosecutors At The Center Of Mass Imprisonment And Criminal Justice Reform, Nora V. Demleitner

Scholarly Articles

State prosecutors around the country have played a crucial role in mass imprisonment. Little supervision and virtually unsurpassed decision making power have provided them with unrivaled influence over the size, growth, and composition of our criminal justice system. They decide which cases to prosecute, whether to divert a case, whether to offer a plea, and what sentence to recommend. Their impact does not stop at sentencing. They weigh in on alternative dockets, supervision violations, parole release, and even clemency requests. But they are also part of a larger system that constrains them. Funding, judicial limits on their power, and legislative ...

Minding The Gaps In Regulation Of Do-It-Yourself Biotechnology, Barbara J. Evans

DePaul Journal of Health Care Law

No abstract provided.

Patenting Antibodies: A Complication In Written Description Jurisprudence, Krisha Yadav-Rajan

DePaul Journal of Health Care Law

No abstract provided.

Artificial Intelligence And Technology In Health Care: Overview And Possible Legal Implications, Sarah Kamensky

DePaul Journal of Health Care Law

No abstract provided.

When Improper Disposal Leads To More Than Hospital Visits: The Need For A National Standard For Used Medical Sharps, Albana Zherka

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

No abstract provided.