Healthcare Law Specialization

This course explores how statutes, regulations, common law, and market forces help or hinder three major goals of policy makers: increasing access, reducing cost, and improving quality. We will examine the Supreme Court’s rulings on the ACA and other legal aspects of modern health care reform. Learners who successfully complete this course will be able to describe the laws, regulations, common law and market forces that shape our health care system and identify areas where ideas and innovation are needed; explain the malpractice system and how it influences medical practice; and analyze legal aspects of the ACA.

What does it take to comply with privacy laws?

In this course, we’ll look at the practical aspects of navigating the complex landscape of privacy requirements. Better understanding privacy laws and data protection will enable you to protect your organization and the constituents that depend on your organization to safeguard their personal information. First, we will examine the historical context that drove the creation of laws, best practices, and other standards for protecting personal information. We will also consider where in the U.S. privacy laws exist and which sectors remain unregulated. Next, we will focus on the federal health privacy law, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) – and what it takes to comply with it. How do you know the scope of the requirements? And once you know HIPAA applies, how do you actually put measures in place to ensure compliance? We’ll explore the notion that one cannot have privacy without strong security and examine various models that promote the security of personal information. We’ll look closely at breach notification laws – one of the most significant drivers of change in organizations – and discuss strategies for the improvement of data protection overall. Lastly, we will look at international law, state law, the unique and important role of the Federal Trade Commission in protecting privacy. Most importantly, we get practical – we will discuss real-world, practical approaches to how compliance professionals can navigate the complex landscape of privacy requirements to best protect their organizations.

This course begins with an overview of general intellectual property law in the United States, then examines how the policy choices behind those laws shapes the behavior of major players in the healthcare industry. We will examine how patents and trademarks shape the behavior of pharmaceutical companies, and how complex issues involving medical research in university settings, and ownership of genetic information and material, are resolved by intellectual property laws. The course concludes with in-depth case studies of an international pharmaceutical company, a major medical device company, and a start-up in the emerging DNA-testing industry.