Health Law and Policy Commons^™

Panel: Fraud And Abuse, Ellen Mcintyre, Lisa Rivera, Amy Leopard, Tony Hullender

Belmont Health Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Privacy Issues With Healthcare Technology, Professor Charlotte Tschider

Belmont Health Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Dosing Discrimination: Regulating Pdmp Risk Scores, Professor Jennifer Oliva

Belmont Health Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Innovator Liability And Prescription Medication: A Stopgap Measure Patients Deserve, Will True

Belmont Health Law Journal

This Note argues that in the absence of an updated statute and FDA regulation, states should permit plaintiffs to recover under the theory of innovator liability. Despite the theory’s arguable contravention of “traditional common law tort principles” and potentially unfair results against brand-name manufacturers, victims of defective drugs and inadequate warnings should have an avenue for recourse. Forfeiting one’s ability to recover potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages in exchange for paying a cheaper price for medication is not a fair trade. Indeed, the Supreme Court in PLIVA, Inc. v. Mensing (discussed in Section II and arguably the …

An Update Is Required To Continue Using This Regulation: Why The Hipaa Privacy Rule Should Be Modified To Protect A Broader Range Of Health Data, Lauren Caverly Pratt

Belmont Health Law Journal

While there is no constitutional right to privacy of information, general public sentiment leans in favor of keeping personal health data private. More precisely, individuals would like information known only to the individual and other parties to whom he or she chooses to disclose the information. This is because public knowledge of sensitive personal data may harm the individual economically, socially, or in other intangible ways. The benefits of public knowledge of such individually identifiable health data do not outweigh these potential harms. Privacy should be the default.

To achieve this, HIPAA must be expanded to protect private health data …

Independent Freestanding Emergency Centers: The Face Of An Alternative Model To Healthcare In Rural America, Alisha Patel

Belmont Health Law Journal

This Note will attempt to provide a background of rural healthcare disparities and the issues facing these regions. This Note will also explore the history of IFECs in the United States to better understand the context of the issues and reasons as to why emergency regulations such as EMTALA do not already extend to IFECs. Part 1 of this Note will examine the origin of IFECs and their role in the healthcare landscape today. Part II will discuss EMTALA and the challenges associated with IFECs during a public health emergency. Lastly, Part III of this Note will highlight the advantages …

A Game Theoretic Approach To Balance Privacy Risks And Familial Benefits, Ellen W. Clayton, Jia Guo, Murat Kantarcioglu, Et Al.

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

As recreational genomics continues to grow in its popularity, many people are afforded the opportunity to share their genomes in exchange for various services, including third-party interpretation (TPI) tools, to understand their predisposition to health problems and, based on genome similarity, to find extended family members. At the same time, these services have increasingly been reused by law enforcement to track down potential criminals through family members who disclose their genomic information. While it has been observed that many potential users shy away from such data sharing when they learn that their privacy cannot be assured, it remains unclear how …

O-High-O: A Policy Note On Ohio's Current Push For Recreational Marijuana Legislation And How Other States Have Created Successful Recreational Marijuana Laws, Alexander M. Stewart

Et Cetera

Many states have gone on to pass comprehensive recreational marijuana laws that have greatly benefitted their economy, public health, and criminal justice system. Ohio currently allows for the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes, and there has been past attempts to enact legislation that would legalize the recreational use of marijuana, but the past proposals failed to gain the widespread support required to become law. This Note seeks to analyze and understand other states’ legislation in an attempt to understand what successful recreational marijuana legislation looks like. This Note concludes with a comprehensive proposal that contains all the essential elements …

Liberating Legal Aid: Reducing Covid-19'S Justice Gap And Promoting Health By Removing The Legal Services Corporation's Class Action And Advocacy Restrictions, Molly C. Schmidt

Cleveland State Law Review

The Legal Services Corporation (LSC) is the single-largest funder of civil legal services, or legal aid, in the United States. The COVID-19 pandemic underscored a longstanding and growing problem faced by ow-income Americans served by LSC-funded legal aid organizations: the growing "justice gap." The justice gap represents the unmet civil legal needs of low-income Americans. The justice gap perpetuates poverty, conceals health-harming legal problems, and furthers racial disparities. Despite the LSC’s essential role in reducing the justice gap and promoting “equal access to justice,” Congress consistently underfunded the LSC before and during COVID-19. Congress has also prohibited the LSC-funded legal …

Peer-Supervision Of Nursing Professionals: A Shield Against Burnout, Kyle Gamache, Sarah Gamache, Joseph Robillard

Journal of Wellness

Introduction: Burnout is a major risk in healthcare professions and is a significant contributor to the current nursing shortage. Strategies to combat burnout of healthcare professionals are in desperate need. The purpose of this project is to introduce the clinical peer supervision model as a method to alleviate burnout in nursing professionals.

Approach: Eight nurses from in-patient settings participated in a peer-supervision support group, modeled after existing European nursing and mental health provider-support protocols. To assess the effect of this intervention, qualitative data analysis was conducted on the transcripts of session and the results described. All participants reported statistically high …

Adolescent Use And Co-Use Of Tobacco And Cannabis In California: The Roles Of Local Policy And Density Of Tobacco, Vape, And Cannabis Retailers Around Schools, Georgiana Bostean, Anton M. Palma, Alison A. Padon, Erik Linstead, Joni Ricks-Oddie, Jason A. Douglas, Jennifer B. Unger

Sociology Faculty Articles and Research

Adolescent tobacco use (particularly vaping) and co-use of cannabis and tobacco have increased, leading some jurisdictions to implement policies intended to reduce youth access to these products; however, their impacts remain unclear. We examine associations between local policy, density of tobacco, vape, and cannabis retailers around schools, and adolescent use and co-use of tobacco/vape and cannabis.

We combined 2018 statewide California (US) data on: (a) jurisdiction-level policies related to tobacco and cannabis retail environments, (b) jurisdiction-level sociodemographic composition, (c) retailer locations (tobacco, vape, and cannabis shops), and (d) survey data on 534,176 middle and high school students (California Healthy Kids …

Shifting Into “Neutral”: Evaluating Mediation As A Peaceful Alternative To The Forceful Resolution Of The 2022 Canada–Freedom Convoy Dispute, Teresa (Tessa) Griego

Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal

In early 2022, the Canadian government found itself confronted by a group of truck drivers—in what came to be known as the “Freedom Convoy”—protesting government-imposed restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic. This article evaluates how mediation could—and should—have been used as an effective means for the government and protestors to resolve their dispute. It begins by defining the government health and safety measures that prompted the protests and describing the ensuing protest movement by the Freedom Convoy. The article then discusses the protest’s implications on commerce and on the communities where it was located. Next, the article describes the unilateral …

Taking Care Of Business: An Empirical Examination Of The Top S&P 500 Companies And Their Role As Public Health Regulators During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Megan M. O’Malley

University of Miami Business Law Review

Data from the top 15 constituents by weight on the S&P 500 is assembled to identify trends among the policies these companies implemented in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic. Some policies were fairly consistent across the board, especially in regard to remote work opportunities and health and safety measures for essential and/or in-person employees. Other policies, including vaccination requirements and vaccine incentives, varied across and within industries. Some companies that were examined went beyond the relevant federal, state, or local requirements in effect at the time, while other companies pushed back against public health guidance.

Center For Health & Homeland Security Newsletter, Spring 2023

Newsletter

No abstract provided.

House Bill 1316 & Senate Bill 0538: Paid Leave For Adoptive And Foster Parents, Lilia Zylstra, Caroline Shutley, Sydney Reyes, Evelyn Mankowski

[Archive] Belmont University Research Symposium (BURS)

House Bill 1316 and its companion Senate Bill 0538 propose that employees of the state of Tennessee should be allotted up to 6 weeks paid leave if they become a foster parent to a minor or adopt a minor. To better understand HB 1316 and SB 0538 from a social work perspective, it is vital to examine how the proposed bill promotes the importance of human relationships, the dignity and worth of a person, and social justice—while also recognizing where the bill has room for growth. This study of HB1316 will provide an in-depth analysis of the bill from a …

The Commerciality Of Non-Profit Hospitals Requires Them To Be Taxed: Bringing The Debate To A Conclusion, Edward A. Zelinsky

Articles

It is now time to conclude our prolonged debate about the tax-exempt status of nonprofit hospitals. The contemporary nonprofit hospital is a commercial enterprise, materially indistinguishable for tax purposes from its profit-making, taxed competitor. The federal income tax and the states’ income, sales and property taxes should treat all hospitals alike, regardless of whether such hospitals are nonprofit or for-profit enterprises. In the interests of equity and efficiency, these similar institutions should be taxed similarly.

As a political matter, nonprofit hospitals will continue to defend their tax-exempt status. Like any other lucrative, vested interest, nonprofit hospitals will continue to fight …

Prosecuting Excessive Pricing Of Pharmaceuticals Under Competition Law: Evolutionary Development, Frederick M. Abbott

Scholarly Publications

Prosecution of pharmaceutical companies for excessive pricing of products under competition law is now a reality. As recently as a decade ago, such prosecutions were virtually nonexistent. That situation has changed dramatically as competition authorities in Europe and South Africa have pursued a significant number of such prosecutions and have levied substantial fines against the investigated parties. While the United States has traditionally led in policing the pharmaceutical market against anticompetitive misconduct, in this specific arena it has fallen behind, principally because federal courts so far have refused to acknowledge excessive pricing as a cause of action under Section 2 …

Put Your Money Where Their Mouths Are: A Case For State-Based Investment In Anti-Shaming Policies For School Lunch Programs, Shayna Roth

Northwestern Journal of Law & Social Policy

Despite its goals for feeding hungry students, the federal government’s National School Lunch Program falls short due to a lack of guidance and resources. One consequence of these circumstances is shaming practices where schools use fear, punishment, and socioeconomic segregation tactics to mitigate meal price deficits. The federal government and several state governments attempt, and sometimes succeed, to enact legislation to improve school lunch programs, but efforts are few and far between. This Note draws on effective state laws to advocate for increased legislative action on school meals across all states, specifically addressing and prohibiting shaming practices. Eliminating this barrier …

Introduction: Access To Healthcare Symposium, Yvonne F. Lindgren

Faculty Works

The four Articles in this Access to Healthcare symposium edition address the different ways that the U.S. healthcare delivery system is failing marginalized communities, including individuals who are disabled, who are birthing, who are women of color or represent another marginalized group, or who live in poverty. The result is a rich conversation that uncovers the complex systems that contribute to unequal access to health care and unjust disparities in health outcomes in the United States.

Severe Mental Illness And The Death Penalty: A Menu Of Legislative Options, Richard J. Bonnie

Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice

In 2003, the American Bar Association established a Task Force on Mental Disability and the Death Penalty to further specify and implement the Supreme Court’s ruling banning execution of persons with intellectual disability and to consider an analogous ban against imposing the death penalty on defendants with severe mental disorders. The Task Force established formal links with the American Psychological Association, the American Psychiatric Association, and the National Alliance on Mental Illness and the final report was approved by the ABA and the participating organizations in 2005 and 2006. This brief article focuses primarily on diminished responsibility at the time …