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Health Law

Health Law Blog

Commentary on anything-- if not quite everything-- happening in the health law field, with emphasis on federal developments but including state developments (especially Texas) plus occasional digressions into family law, administrative law, constitutional law, poetry, and other things that matter.

Post Frequency: 1.3/day

Last Entry: November 04, 2020 at 14:12:52

New York City Law Review Issues Call for Papers on Health Care

Posted on December 02, 2007
The New York City Law Review announces a call for papers for its spring symposium, "Critical Condition: What's Ailing Health Care in America?" This event will be held Friday, March 28, 2008, at the Association of the Bar of the City of New York's Meeting Hall in Midtown Manhattan...

AHLA Health Lawyers Weekly, Nov. 30

Posted on December 02, 2007
Some interesting stuff in the Health Lawyers Weekly this time around: Top StoriesOIG Takes Back Power To Investigate Employee Criminal Conduct From FDA -- The Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (OIG) will no longer share responsibility with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for investigating potential criminal misconduct by FDA employees, Inspector General

Informed consent & SCOTUS: A tale of two doctrines

Posted on December 02, 2007
Interesting paper . . . The Constitutional Right to Make Medical Treatment Decisions: A Tale of Two Doctrines JESSIE HILL Case Western Reserve University - School of Law Texas Law Review, Vol. 86, No. 2, December 2007 Case Legal Studies Research Paper No...

WSJ: Health policy caps mean catastrophic coverage may not be there when needed

Posted on November 30, 2007
Yesterday's WSJ ran a story that highlights the plight of the insured middle-class in this country: It's possible to max out a health policy with a $1.5 million cap in the metaphorical blink of an eye. The story is here (though it may require a paid subscription to read it).

When hospice patients don't die quickly enough, Medicare comes knocking

Posted on November 27, 2007
Some years ago, the Medicare program proposed to recoup hospice payments if a patient didn't die within 6 months, which was the probable life-expectancy that a physician had to certify for a patient to receive the Medicare hospice benefit. As I recall, that proposal was met with howls of protest and dropped...

Krugman: Health Care Excuses

Posted on November 09, 2007
Okay, I know he's a liberal (Exh. 1: "The Conscience of a Liberal"), and so am I, so there are times when I suppose Paul Krugman's arguments seem irresistible when they're not. But today's column strikes me as just plain common-sensical. Krugman offers up four common excuses often used to argue against health reform and then refutes them...

Insurer misconduct alleged in California

Posted on November 09, 2007
From today's Modern Healthcare: Calif. insurance chief probes report of cancellationsCalifornia?s insurance commissioner is investigating a report that Health Net rewarded an analyst more than $20,000 in bonuses tied to canceling individual health insurance policies, thereby saving the company millions in medical expenses...

Deputies seize baby to test blood against parents' will

Posted on October 25, 2007
Deputies seize baby to test blood against parents' will - Associated Press -- Here's a nicely framed conflict between public health laws designed to protect newborns vs. parental religious beliefs, in state (Neb.) that doesn't provide a religious exemption for newborn testing...

Iglehart on the House's failure to override Bush's SCHIP veto

Posted on October 21, 2007
John Iglehart, the founding editor of Health Affairs and national corespondent for the New England Journal of Medicine, posted his instant analysis [may require paid subscription] of the House's failure on Thursday to override the President's veto of the SCHIP reauthorization bill, HR 976...

Federeal employees' health plan not much of a model for reform

Posted on October 20, 2007
There's a good analysis of the Federal Employees Health Benefits Plan (FEHBP) by Reed Abelson in The New York Times today. Various presidential candidates are talking about the FEHBP in their stump speeches, suggesting that this country's 47 million uninsured could be covered by the same plan that covers their elected representatives...

Major-party presidential candidates on health reform

Posted on October 04, 2007
Here are links to the major-party presidential candidates' health-policy web pages, which I offer in alpha order and without editorial comment: Joe Biden: http://www.joebiden.com/issues/?id=0003Sam Brownback: http://www.brownback.com/s/Issues/tabid/60/Default...

SCHIP

Posted on October 02, 2007
Here's a news post courtesy of FDLI's SmartBrief: White House to face state SCHIP lawsuits -- New Jersey was the first of several states expected to file lawsuits against the Bush administration over rules set in August that limit state coverage of children's health insurance to exclude children in middle-income families...

FDA's oversight of human-subject research: slim to none

Posted on September 28, 2007
That's the bottom line of a report from the Inspector General of DHHS, according to an article in the New York Times. The IG's report (pdf), and a news release (pdf) about its conclusions, were released today. In his typically media-friendly way, Art Caplan colorfully summarized the report's conclusions this way: "In many ways, rats and mice get greater protection as research subjects in the

Health Lawyers Weekly, September 14

Posted on September 16, 2007
Crowell & Moring partner Art Lerner and counsel Michael Paddock have an analysis of the FTC's recent Evanston Northwestern Healthcare Corp. decision in this week's Health Lawyers Weekly from the AHLA. The decision, in which the Commission held that Evanston's acquisition of Highland Park Hospital violated Section 7 of the Clayton Act but declined to order divestiture, was a rare if not

Vatican reaffirms stance on obligatory nature of ANH

Posted on September 16, 2007
"The administration of food and water even by artificial means is, in principle, an ordinary and proportionate means of preserving life. It is therefore obligatory to the extent to which, and for as long as, it is shown to accomplish its proper finality, which is the hydration and nourishment of the patient...

Insuring the uninsured: the right thing to do, but what's in it for me?

Posted on September 16, 2007
Today's New York Times has an article on the new round of health-care reform proposals that are being advanced by various presidential candidates. On the dim prospects for any of the proposals to extend coverage to the uninsured and improve coverage for the underinsured, the article makes the following point: In short, altruism has its limits, as does the public?s appetite for trade-offs in their

Drake Law School looking for health law/insurance law teacher

Posted on August 30, 2007
Faculty opening at Drake: DRAKE LAW SCHOOL seeks applications for a tenure-track position in the area of health law, insurance law and related fields commencing in the 2008-09 academic year. We are interested in both entry-level and experienced candidates with a J...

Medicare beneficiaries lag in taking advantage of covered screenings and preventive care

Posted on August 27, 2007
From the Wall Street Journal (via AHLA's Health Law Daily [link should be good for about a week]): CMS says Medicare is spending more on prevention efforts. The Wall Street Journal (8/26, McQueen) reported, "Medicare, the federal health-insurance program for older Americans, increasingly is paying for screening tests and immunizations that previously were not covered...

Tax-exempt hospitals and "community benefit"

Posted on August 13, 2007
This is a bit tardy but well worth noting here and reading the underlying documents as time permits. In July the IRS issued an interim report on community benefit in the hospital industry (news release), based upon responses to its 2006 questionnaire to 500 hospitals...

Health Lawyers Weekly, August 10

Posted on August 12, 2007
The AHLA's Health Lawyers Weekly features two articles by lawyers from Hall, Render, Killian, Heath & Lyman, P.S.C., on the IRS' publication in the July 26 Federal Register of its final rule for 403(b) plans (a/k/a tax-deferred annuity plans) and DOL's simultaneous publication of Field Assistance Bulletin 2007-02 containing guidance on how 403(b) plans can avoid compliance with ERISA...

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