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LAW-2243 Health Law
Prof. Renee M. Landers, Prof. Marc A. Rodwin,
3 credits day; 3 credits evening.
Course required for the Health and Biomedical concentration.
The course introduces students to the United States health care system. The course will examine
the law relating to health care institutions, (hospitals, managed care organizations, and other
payers and providers) and selected health care programs such as Medicare and Medicaid.
Specifically, the course examines how health care providers are reimbursed, the regulation of
health care facilities, the tax status of health care institutions, fraud and abuse laws, the patient-
doctor relationship, informed consent, and selected issues in bioethics. The casebook will be
supplemented by current legal materials.
Faculty comments
: Professor Landers: This course is one of two courses specifically required
for the Health and Biomedical Law Concentration. The course provides an introduction to the
structure and function of the means of delivering health care services in the United States.
Because of the tremendous influence of public policy and government regulation on health care,
the course begins with an examination of health care policy by considering how the law
addresses medical error and mechanisms for achieving distributive justice in health care services
through a case study of organ transplantation. The course also provides background on the
regulation of health care organizations, such as hospitals, managed care organizations, and
insurance entities, and considers in some detail public health insurance programs such as
Medicare and Medicaid. Time permitting, the course touches on the professional relationships in
health care organizations, corporate, tax, fraud and abuse, and antitrust issues relevant to health
care enterprises. In addition to covering these topics, the course in health law provides insights
into the overlapping and separate roles of state, local, and federal governments in health care
policy, and offers the opportunity for comparisons with analogous policies in other legal
systems. Given the recent enactment of federal health reform legislation, the course will consider
how the changes attempt to address problems identified in recent approaches to providing health
insurance and delivering health care. Finally, the course will identify future areas ripe for
reform—regulating the cost and quality of health care. Teaching method: This professor uses
Socratic instruction with heavy emphasis on student discussion, including discussion of problems
in navigating health care insurance and delivery systems and holding practitioners and
institutions accountable for quality of care.
Methods of evaluation:
Paper: Approximately 40% of the course grade is based on a writing assignment distributed to
students approximately midway through the semester. Papers are usually not more than 7
typewritten pages in length. The topic for this paper usually invites students to evaluate a current
health care reform proposal.
Class Participation: Participating in class is a part of the learning process for all students and the
professor. Regular class attendance, therefore, is encouraged. For truly outstanding participation
in class, course grades may be raised by a half letter grade, e.g. from “B-” to “B”.
Examination: Evaluation for work in the course is based also on a final examination. The
examination typically consists of approximately two-thirds essay questions and approximately