2022-2023 Registration Guide

AREAS OF FOCUS

Health and Biomedical Law The health and biomedical field concerns the role the law plays in a variety of circumstances, including: promoting the quality of health care; organizing the delivery and financing of health care; assuring adequate control of the cost of health care; promoting access to necessary health care; protecting the rights of individuals who receive care and provide care; conducting research to improve the products, services, and methods for delivering health care; and representing the interests of organizations, institutions, and agencies that provide products and services used in the health care system. Health and biomedical lawyers must be conversant on all of these subjects, but typically develop some areas of expertise within these broad parameters. Areas of specialization can include: the organization and finance of the health care system; private health insurance; public insurance programs; the regulation of health care professionals and health care institutions; the regulation of research activities in all life sciences fields; and the local, state, federal and international governmental entities and private accrediting bodies that regulate all of this activity. In addition, the field encompasses the criminal and other constraints on compensation arrangements for health care organizations and physicians; the tax status of health care institutions; and transactional arrangements among health care entities and professionals. The field also comprises issues such as: ethical and legal issues arising in patient care and research situations; how medical personnel and insurers make decisions of medical necessity; the role of grievance and appeals when services are denied; and the role of liability for provision of health care services. Lawyers practicing in the health and biomedical law field have unique opportunities to work in the area where public policy and private ordering of transactional arrangements converge. Given the breadth of substantive law areas covered by the field, it is not surprising that practitioners must develop a deep and extensive variety of practice skills. Strong, basic writing and analytical skills provide the foundation for successful health and biomedical law practice. Skills in advising and counseling are also essential. The overall practice of health and biomedical law demands the ability to negotiate successfully with private and public entities and to conduct investigations of disputed processes and procedures. Certain areas, such as health care fraud and antitrust practice, may call upon litigation skills in the criminal and civil realms, including prosecutorial skills. The health and biomedical lawyer may find himself or herself working in a number of practice settings: private practice, ranging from small offices to large, multinational law firms; government agencies, including all levels of state and federal prosecutors' offices; private regulatory bodies; legislative and other policy offices; public interest groups; industry, trade or professional organizations; legal services and other public interest organizations; and in-house settings within insurance, pharmaceutical, medical device, life sciences, hospitals, academic medical centers.

Recommended Courses

Antitrust

Health Law

Biomedical Law and Public Policy

Other Relevant Courses

Mediation

Administrative Law

Advanced Legal Writing

Medical Malpractice

Mental Health and Disability Law (Galway)

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