Law Commons^™

Hospital Mergers: The Symptoms Of Anticompetitive Consolidation & A Routine Checkup On The Horizontal Merger Guidelines, Stefan Rao Kostas

University of Miami Business Law Review

In 2021, President Biden issued an executive order that addressed the negative implications of market concentration within the healthcare industry. Specifically, President Biden called for the revision of the Horizontal and Vertical Merger Guidelines to enact antitrust safeguards that limit unchecked hospital mergers and promote competition. This Article delves into the role of the healthcare sector in the U.S. economy and how the current state of hospital mergers limits competition and, thus, the quality of care available to patients. Further, this Article studies U.S. federal regulations, case law, and merger retrospectives to uncover pitfalls within the current Horizontal Merger Guidelines. …

Sb 140 - Treatment Of Gender Dysphoria In Minors, Kathleen Kassa, Alexander J. Merritt

Georgia State University Law Review

The Act adds two new subsections that prohibit licensed physicians, hospitals, and related institutions from performing or providing certain forms of gender‑affirming medical treatment, while also defining mechanisms for promulgating and enforcing new prohibitions and exceptions allowing such treatment.

Catch And Contain Novel Pathogens Early!—Assessing U.S. Medical Isolation Laws As Applied To A Future Pandemic Detection And Prevention Model, April Xiaoyi Xu

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform Caveat

As of July 2, 2021, there have been 196,553,009 confirmed cases of the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19), including 4,200,412 deaths, globally. Unfortunately, infectious diseases have been an “unavoidable fact of life” throughout history. While the global community looks forward to a gradual return to normalcy from COVID-19 with an increasing number of individuals getting vaccinated on a daily basis, the COVID-19 public health crisis has exposed significant inadequacies in many countries’ pandemic responses—the United States included. Governing authorities must actively consider more effective solutions to quickly detect and prevent the spread of future pandemics.

One proposed model that offers promising potential, …

The Survival Of Critical Infrastructure: How Do We Stop Ransomware Attacks On Hospitals?, Helena Roland

Catholic University Journal of Law and Technology

Our nation’s infrastructure is under an emerging new threat: ransomware attacks. These attacks can cause anything from individual laptops, to entire cities to shut down for a period of time until the victim pays a ransom to the attacker. Unfortunately, these attacks are on the rise and the attackers have a new target: hospitals. Ransomware attacks on hospitals can temporarily shut down operating room technology and limit physician access to patient files, ultimately threatening the safety of hospital patients and the surrounding community. This paper examines how the threat of ransomware attacks on hospitals is on the rise and what …

The State Giveth And Taketh Away: Race, Class, And Urban Hospital Closings, Shaun Ossei-Owusu

Chicago-Kent Law Review

This essay uses concepts from Bernadette Atuahene’s book We Want What’s Ours: Learning from South Africa’s Land Restitution Program to examine the trend of urban hospital closings. It does so by focusing specifically on the history of Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Hospital, a charitable hospital in South Los Angeles, California that emerged after the Watts riots in 1965. The essay illustrates how Professor Atuahene’s framework can generate unique questions about the closing of urban hospitals, and public bureaucracies more generally. The essay also demonstrates how Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Hospital’s trajectory hones some of Atuahene’s concepts in ways …

The Due Process Conundrum: Using Mathews V. Eldridge As A Standard For Private Hospitals Under The Health Care Quality Improvement Act, Amy L. Moore

Belmont Law Review

In response to growing litigation between doctors and hospitals and the recalcitrance of some hospitals to initiate proper peer review actions against incompetent or unprofessional doctors, Congress passed the Health Care Quality Immunity Act in 1986. HCQIA provided immunity for hospitals that engaged in peer review, presuming immunity from both federal and state law claims if the hospital had satisfied the statutory safeguards. One of these statutory requirements is “adequate notice and procedures” for the doctors at issue. It is abundantly clear in both the legislative history of HCQIA and the case law surrounding HCQIA immunity that section 11112(a)(3) was …

Managing Cumulative Risk, Lauren R. Roth

Mitchell Hamline Law Review

No abstract provided.

Postmodern Social Control: Dividuals And Surveillance, Ernest M. Oleksy

The Downtown Review

As a society's foundational philosophy changes, so, too, will its forms of social control. By using the works of thinkers like Deleuze and Foucault as pivot points, the dynamic nature of social interactions and the agents to mediate those actions shall be investigated. This article includes findings from archival analysis written in a journalistic prose for simplicity of consumption.

Belling The Cat: Implementation Of A Prospective Payment Reimbursement System For Critical Access Hospitals, Its Likely Success, And Political Implications Of This Policy Move, Erin E. Grant

Saint Louis University Journal of Health Law & Policy

Health care is plagued by inefficient reimbursement policies which encourage expensive financial waste with little incentive to maintain care quality. Though no perfect solution exists, effective remedies may require a hard look at programs so far untouched by policy changes. This article discusses the application of a prospective payment system of reimbursement for critical access hospitals, as well as how this policy change would affect rural health care access, costs, and quality of care. Though some fear prospective payment systems of reimbursement would cripple rural health care, evidence shows it would likely promote more cost-efficient care without diminishing quality or …

Underutilized Community Health Needs Assessments: Four Environmental Actions For Hospitals That Improve Community Health, Warren G. Lavey

Health Matrix: The Journal of Law-Medicine

Tax-exempt hospitals' community health needs assessments ("CHNAs") provide an underutilized resource for healthcare organizations and communities. These studies and action commitments, which the Affordable Care Act ("ACA") requires, are linked to financial incentives for hospitals to manage population health.

Black Health Matters: Disparities, Community Health, And Interest Convergence, Mary Crossley

Michigan Journal of Race and Law

Health disparities represent a significant strand in the fabric of racial injustice in the United States, one that has proven exceptionally durable. Many millions of dollars have been invested in addressing racial disparities over the past three decades. Researchers have identified disparities, unpacked their causes, and tracked their trajectories, with only limited progress in narrowing the health gap between whites and racial and ethnic minorities. The implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and the movement toward value-based payment methods for health care may supply a new avenue for addressing disparities. This Article argues that the ACA’s requirement that tax-exempt …

American Hospital Association V. Burwell: Correctly Choosing But Erroneously Applying Judicial Discretion In Mandamus Relief Concerning Agency Noncompliance, Michael L. Labattaglia

Maryland Law Review

No abstract provided.

Terminating The Hospital-Physician Employment Relationship: Navigating Conflicts Arising From The Physician’S Dual Roles As Employee And Medical Staff Member, Gayland Hethcoat

University of Miami Business Law Review

In an effort to meet the challenges of the post-health reform marketplace, hospitals have accelerated the practice of employing physicians. Despite this trend, many hospitals require their employed physicians to also maintain membership and privileges on the medical staff—the self-governing entity comprised of fellow physicians that oversees the practice of medicine within the hospital setting. Recent case law identifies at least two salient issues that will likely arise from physicians’ dual roles as hospital employee and medical staff member and be a point of negotiation and litigation: (1) the applicability of “due process” rights, which are typically afforded in medical …

Legal, Operational, And Practical Considerations For Hospitals And Health Care Providers In Responding To Communicable Diseases Following The 2014 Ebola Outbreak, Jane Jordan, Greg Measer, Asha Agrawal, James G. Hodge Jr.

University of Miami Business Law Review

This article analyzes some of the potential issues that may arise during epidemics or other public health emergencies. It specifically focuses on legal and operational preparedness experiences at Emory University during the 2014 Ebola crisis. Emory University Hospital was the first health care facility in the U.S. to treat patients diagnosed with Ebola Viral Disease (EVD). Although EVD has particularly frightening symptoms and a high mortality rate, its containment and treatment implicate similar legal, practical, and operational issues as other highly infectious and communicable diseases. These issues include laws related to: isolation and quarantine; travel restrictions; duties to treat highly …

America's Unraveling Safety Net: Emtala's Effect On Emergency Departments, Problems And Solutions, Tristan Dollinger

Marquette Law Review

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Piercing The Veil: The Limits Of Brain Death As A Legal Fiction, Seema K. Shah

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Brain death is different from the traditional, biological conception of death. Although there is no possibility of a meaningful recovery, considerable scientific evidence shows that neurological and other functions persist in patients accurately diagnosed as brain dead. Elsewhere with others, I have argued that brain death should be understood as an unacknowledged status legal fiction. A legal fiction arises when the law treats something as true, though it is known to be false or not known to be true, for a particular legal purpose (like the fiction that corporations are persons). Moving towards greater transparency, it is legally and ethically …

Say Sorry And Save: A Practical Argument For A Greater Role For Apologies In Medical Malpractice Law, Matthew Pillsbury

University of Massachusetts Law Review

This article examines both the potential benefits and detriments of the use of an apology in a legal setting. This article uses the specific environment surrounding a medical malpractice case to help illustrate how and why an apology should or should not be proffered by the Defendant. Ultimately, the reader of this article should have a solid understanding of how an apology can be admissible as evidence in the litigation of a medical malpractice lawsuit.

Emergency Medical Treatment & Active Labor Act: Denial Of Emergency Medical Care Because Of Improper Economic Motives, Thomas L. Stricker Jr.

Notre Dame Law Review

No abstract provided.

Don’T Let Go Of The Rope: Reducing Readmissions By Recognizing Hospitals’ Fiduciary Duties To Their Discharged Patients, Thomas L. Hafemeister, Joshua Hinckley Porter

American University Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Rules Of The Fight Must Be Fair: States Should Pass A Uniform Code For Nonprofit Hospital Tax Exemption Of Real Property, Lowell R. Mintz

Journal of Law and Health

The lines have been blurred between a charitable hospital and a profit-generating healthcare business. The definition of charitable care has been under pressure from government taxing authorities seeking to raise tax revenues by challenging the tax exemption for vast amounts of hospital real estate. Charitable hospitals are pushing to expand the definition of charitable care, while at the same time seeking tax exemption for a growing number of satellite properties. This conflict between governments and hospitals is leading to confusion about what qualifies as charity care, warranting nonprofit status, and the privilege of tax exemption. Local taxing authorities, state courts, …

The Long-Term Coercive Effect Of State Community Benefit Laws On Hospital Community Health Orientation, Charles B. Moseley, Jay J. Shen, Gregory O. Ginn

Nevada Journal of Public Health

This study is an examination of the long-term coercive effect of state community benefit laws (CB Laws) on the provision of community health activities in U.S. acute care hospitals. The sample included all the not-for-profit and investor owned acute care hospitals for which 1994 and 2006 AHA Annual Survey data were available. A panel design was used to longitudinally examine the effect that state CB Laws had on hospital community health orientation activities and the provision of health promotion services, after controlling for the influence of other organizational and environmental variables that might affect these activities and services. The authors …

Transplant Candidates And Substance Use: Adopting Rational Health Policy For Resource Allocation, Erin Minelli, Bryan A. Liang

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Organ transplant candidates are often denied life saving organs on account of their medical marijuana drug use. Individuals who smoke medicinal marijuana are typically classified as substance abusers, and ultimately deemed ineligible for transplantation, despite their receipt of the drug under a physician's supervision and prescription. However, patients who smoke cigarettes or engage in excessive alcohol consumption are routinely considered for placement on the national organ transplant waiting list. Transplant facilities have the freedom to regulate patient selection criteria with minimal oversight. As a result, the current organ allocation system in the United States is rife with inconsistencies and results …

Good Medicine/Bad Medicine And The Law Of Evidence: Is There A Role For Proof Of Character, Propensity, Or Prior Bad Conduct In Medical Negligence Litigation, Marc D. Ginsberg

South Carolina Law Review

No abstract provided.

Searching For Proper Judicial Recognition Of Hospital Ethics Committees In Decisions To Forego Medical Treatment, Carol A. Murphy

Golden Gate University Law Review

The issue of withdrawing or withholding life-sustaining medical treatment arises with increasing regularity in the United States, prompted by a growing elderly population and constant technological advances. A Hospital Ethics Committee (HEC) may be utilized to assist in making treatment decisions for incompetent patients, but there is inconsistency in the deference given to HECs by courts. Neither federal nor state statutes have addressed the proper role of HECs in health care decisionmaking, and common law on the subject is conflicting. This comment will explore the levels of judicial scrutiny applied to HEC decisions regarding life-sustaining medical treatment and explore the …

Antitrust Law, Jeffrey L. Henze

Golden Gate University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Risky Ventures: The Impact Of Irs Health Care Joint Venture Policy, Roger P. Meyers

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

IRS oversight of joint ventures between exempt and for-profit organizations has undergone substantial change over the past thirty years. This change has important consequences for the health care industry, where joint ventures have grown increasingly common. In the face of unclear guidance and aggressive enforcement of exemption-policing tools such as the private benefit doctrine and the control test, a hospital risks revocation of its tax-exempt status, or liability for unrelated business income tax, when it engages in a joint venture directly. It may be able to eliminate this risk by operating the same joint venture through a for-profit subsidiary; however, …

Tax-Exempt Hospitals: What Is Their Charitable Responsibility And How Should It Be Defined And Reported?, Nancy M. Kane Dba

Saint Louis University Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Return Of Bargain: An Economic Theory Of How Standard-Form Contracts Enable Cooperative Negotiation Between Businesses And Consumers, Jason Scott Johnston

Michigan Law Review

Among attorneys, judges, and legal academics, there is virtual consensus that the widespread use by business firms of standard-form contracts in their dealings with consumers has completely eliminated bargaining in consumer contracts. I believe that this perception is false, that rather than precluding bargaining and negotiation, standard-form contracts in fact facilitate bargaining and are a crucial instrument in the establishment and maintenance of cooperative relationships between firms and their customers. On this view, which I elaborate below, firms use clear and unconditional standard form contract terms not because they will insist upon those terms, but because they have given their …

Unequal Access: The Crisis Of Health Care Inequality For Low-Income African-American Residents Of The District Of Columbia, Robyn Whipple Diaz

Journal of Health Care Law and Policy

No abstract provided.

Putting Health Care Providers At A Loss And Consumers At Risk: Why Hmos Should Be Held Accountable For The Financial Instability Of Their Delegated Networks., Anish P. Michael

St. Mary's Law Journal

This Comment explores why health maintenance organizations (HMOs) such as PacifiCare should be held accountable for the financial instabilities of their delegated networks. Part II discusses the organization of the managed care system and the assessment of Texas laws currently enforcing managed care in the state. Incorporated in this discussion is a look at the risks delegated networks bear when contracting with HMOs to provide payment for individualized care. Part III analyzes the increasing trend of financial instability by presenting the views of the HMOs, the delegated networks, the health care providers, and the consumers enrolled in the health plan. …