Law Commons^™

False Claims: The Coordinated Exploitation Of The United States Government By The Healthcare Industry, Grady Mcmichen

Journal of Law and Health

The False Claims Act (FCA) has a long-standing history of protecting the United States government from being defrauded by merchants and other parties submitting claims for repayment. Affording Americans who have enrolled in Medicaid and Medicare expansion plans the same protection afforded to the federal government will allow for action to be brought to prevent large hospital networks from engaging in price-fixing behaviors. Implementing this change will have the effect of reducing healthcare prices for all Americans.

Applying the False Claims Act at the price-fixing level will have the largest affect; however, it is still important to iron out procedures …

Hacking Hipaa: "Best Practices" For Avoiding Oversight In The Sale Of Your Identifiable Medical Information, Riyad A. Omar

Journal of Law and Health

In light of the confusion invited by applying the label "de-identified" to information that can be used to identify patients, it is paramount that regulators, compliance professionals, patient advocates and the general public understand the significant differences between the standards applied by HIPAA and those applied by permissive "de-identification guidelines." This Article discusses those differences in detail. The discussion proceeds in four Parts. Part II (HIPAA’s Heartbeat: Why HIPAA Protects Identifiable Patient Information) examines Congress’s motivations for defining individually identifiable health information broadly, which included to stop the harms patients endured prior to 1996 arising from the commercial sale of …

A New Age Of Evolution: Protecting The Consumer’S Moral And Legal Right To Know Through The Clear And Transparent Labeling Of All Genetically Modified Foods, Halie M. Evans

Journal of Law and Health

The United States government, until recently, did not require the labeling of genetically modified organisms (GMOs). On July 29, 2016, President Barack Obama signed into law the National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standard (NBFDS). This law directs the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to create regulations that require manufacturers to disclose certain bioengineered products on food labels. On December 20, 2018, the USDA released the final regulations for the NBFDS, which requires food manufactures, importers, and certain retailers to ensure bioengineered foods are appropriately disclosed. The final regulations include provisions that will leave the majority of GMO derived foods unlabeled. …

Time For Change: Stepping Up The Fda's Regulation Of Dietary Supplements To Promote Consumer Safety And Awareness, George Kennett

Journal of Law and Health

People are often looking for that quick fix when it comes to their health. With dietary supplements so readily available on the market, the public assume that they have been through rigorous testing. Dietary supplements are not tested as much as consumers believe. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not initiate the same type of testing and analysis for supplements as it does for food, drink and medication. Given that people are now choosing supplemental meal replacements and the like, as opposed to whole foods, regulations drastically need to be stepped up in an effort to emphasise public safety. …

Consumer-Directed Prescription Drug Advertising: Effects On Public Health , William E. Holtz

Journal of Law and Health

This Paper will evaluate the effectiveness of the current FDA regulatory scheme regarding consumer-directed prescription drug advertising. Part II discusses the relevant history of consumer-directed prescription drug advertising of prescription drugs which is a relatively new practice in the United States. Possible explanations are reviewed for why the change in focus from physicians to consumers as the targets of such advertising has occurred. Part III explains the major classifications of consumer-directed advertising that the FDA has categorized and examines the differences existing among them. Part IV focuses on the current FDA regulatory scheme and begins to expose some of the …

Searching For The Holy Grail: The Human Genome Project And Its Implications , Allison Morse

Journal of Law and Health

This Paper will explore the ethical considerations of the reductionist paradigm that the Human Genome Project represents, and analyze how this paradigm affects our political institutions, our family relationships, and even our identity. Part Two will provide the scientific background for a discussion of the Human Genome Project. It will begin by defining two competing theoretical constructs scientists use when exploring biological phenomenon: reductionism and organism. This Part will then offer a rudimentary explanation of how genes function. Yet even this rudimentary explanation illustrates the complexity involved in the functioning of genes, leaving the reductionist notions of genes as the …

Misconceptions And Misleading Information Prevail - Less Regulation Does Not Mean Less Danger To Consumers: Dangerous Herbal Weight Loss Products, Jennifer Sardina

Journal of Law and Health

This Note will examine the dangers associated with current dietary supplement regulation under the DSHEA and the problem of ill-informed consumers. As reflected in the title of this Note, misconceptions about dietary supplement regulation are abundant; consequently, section II of this Note will further discuss and offer illustrations in support of this position. Part III gives an overview of current regulation under the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994. Also a brief discussion of the legislation that preceded the DSHEA is offered in section VI. Part V of this Note analyzes and defines the dietary ingredients that are …