Health Law and Policy

Catalog description

Health Law and Policy is a survey course intended to introduce non-lawyers to a selection of foundational legal issues arising in the U.S. health care system. It is taught as a seminar, meaning it will rely on a combination of lectures and discussion. Grading is based on written assignments and Canvas discussion posts. The course addresses how statutes, regulations, case law, and other policy levers – across local, state, and federal levels – shape health and health care and influence various stakeholders, including patients, clinicians, payers, institutions, and others. Across topics, we will take a multidisciplinary approach to consider not only what the law is, but also what it should be, relying on insights from bioethics, public health, economics, and other fields. We will also consider the role of health law as a structural determinant of health, both contributing to structural racism and serving as a potential lever to redress its consequences. Specific course topics include health insurance and reform; regulating the medical profession and clinical relationship; mental health and disability law; legal governance of reproduction and death; public health law; biopharmaceutical pricing and regulation; and human subjects research oversight, among others. Because this is an introductory course, it aims for breadth over depth; even in breadth, however, it is not intended to be comprehensive. More advanced legal issues related to insurance, health care fraud, antitrust, medical malpractice, and intellectual property should be pursued in specialized courses.