HCMT-535: Health Care Law

HCMT-535: Health Care Law

Course Description and Prerequisite

Students learn to apply elements of regulation, law and ethics to the administrative process in a variety of healthcare settings and situations. Healthcare administrators can avoid many legal disputes by understanding basic concepts such as patient rights, informed consent and privacy regulations. Course themes include the legal barriers that interfere with process improvement, malpractice, and the limits on sharing information across institutions. Students analyze recent legal developments, including the Affordable Care Act, medical marijuana, and right to die legislation.

Prerequisite: HCMT 515: Health Care System and Design Innovation

http://classlist.champlain.edu/ (Links to an external site.)

Student Centered Learning Outcomes

Analyze the conflicts between the “medical culture” and “legal culture” in healthcare systems and develop methods (process, policy) to reconcile these differences in a manner that creates a practical, realistic operational environment.

Using concepts of medical liability and malpractice, create guidelines for managers to use to determine if a particular case should be referred to legal counsel.

Analyze and evaluate various patient rights doctrines, and explain the practical, operational ramifications of their proper and improper execution.

Using the concept of “continuity of care”, evaluate the dispositions of case-study patients, create protocols that reflect best practice, and assess the practical consequences of proper and improper interpretations of the regulations.

In compliance with privacy regulations, reconcile the conflicting demands of patient privacy and medico/ethical considerations. In compliance with statutory and regulatory requirements of healthcare organizations, such as professional and facility licensure, accreditation, and certificate of need, create innovative policy and processes that will assure organizational compliance and employee stewardship.

Assess and evaluate the care disparities created by the often conflicting priorities inherent in the multitude of statutes and regulations that govern public insurance programs such as Medicare and Medicaid, and propose policy that could lead to equitable access, in compliance with specific rules related to fraud and abuse.

Assess the impact of evolving healthcare system policies and regulations upon statutes related to privacy and security (HIPAA), payment methodologies, universal coverage.

Through the use of creative thinking and innovative design, conceptualize new paradigms of government interaction with the healthcare system through its regulatory domain.

Textbook(s) and Technology Requirements

Required Texts

There is no textbook required for this course. Links are embedded in the course itself. Additional research is also required.

Technology Requirements

Information on the technology in all CPS courses can be found in the Student Resource Center.

Topic Outline

• Week 1: Overview of Legal System
  • Hierarchy of Laws
  • Brief Structure of the Legal System
  • Legal Thinking
• Week 2: Patient Rights
  • Contract Formation & Termination
  • Informed Consent
  • Surrogate Decision-making & Advance Directives
  • Aid in Dying
• Week 3: Privacy & Records
  • Traditional Privacy Law
  • HIPAA
  • Records & Data Compliance
• Week 4: Litigation
  • Liability Basics
  • Medical Negligence
  • Medical Wrongful Death
• Week 5: Regulation of Licenses and Institutions
  • Professions
  • Institutions
• Week 6: Additional Issues
  • Government Programs & Compliance
  • Business Governance & Best Practices
    • Sarbanes-Oxley
    • Stark/Anti Referral
    • Antitrust
    • Employment Law
    • Discrimination
  • Health Insurance Regulation
• Week 7: Internal Governance of Institutions
  • The Board
  • The Management
• Week 8: The Future of Healthcare Law
  • ACA
  • Further Proposed Reforms
  • Capstone Project

Methods of Assessment

Your final grade will be determined based on:

Discussions:

Weekly discussions are an integral part of learning at Champlain College and represent a significant portion of a student’s overall grade. In order to be successful, students should:

1. Post a thorough, well-crafted initial response that fully addresses and develops all aspects of the prompt by the due date.
2. Engage substantively throughout the discussion period by responding to others with questions or comments that demonstrate interest, build upon the ideas of others, and encourage elaboration.
3. Apply and integrate concepts from this course as well as from quality resources including journals, websites, readings from another class, relevant work or life experience, etc.
4. Demonstrate attention to style, structure, grammar, etiquette, and proper citation of references to maintain academic integrity.

Discussion grades are determined using the rubric below. The descriptions show what exemplary work looks like for each aspect of an overall discussion.

Written Assignments:

Your written assignments will be assessed using the following rubric:

Student Resources & Policies

Academic Honesty Policy

Champlain College students are expected to be familiar with and adhere to the College’s policy for Academic Honesty. (Links to an external site.) Academic honesty entails creating original assignments, using your own words, and when using the words and ideas of others, documenting those sources using the method specified in this course. Please consult with your instructor if you are in doubt. Violations of the policy could result in a grade of F on the assignment or in the course as well as dismissal from the College.

Grading Policies

CPS Grading Policy (Links to an external site.)

Grading Scale (Links to an external site.)