LLM Health Care Law and Regulation

The course begins with an overview of the U.S. health care industry and then addresses the law that affects major portions of that industry and those it serves. Relationships among individual health care providers (e.g., physicians), institutional providers (e.g., hospitals, nursing homes, clinics), and patients of those providers are explored, as are various statutory entitlements (e.g., Medicare, Medicaid, EMTALA), medical malpractice concepts, preemption effects of ERISA, patient privacy/consent issues including HIPAA mandates, and the policing of fraud and abuse. The class will examine the health law that resulted from the health reform legislation signed by the president in March, 2010. Finally, the course will review how the antitrust laws impact the structure and conduct of health care providers. (3 credits).