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Health Law Health Law deals with regulatory law applicable to healthcare providers, third party payors, and those that provide or pay for health care. Health Law Attorneys assist clients who need legal representation on matters concerning health care. Examples include the representation of physicians, hospitals, physicians groups, nursing homes and health care providers on matters relating to medical malpractice, risk management, peer review boards, Medicare fraud and abuse, health care employment issues and provider regulation. The experienced health lawyer has in-depth knowledge of the healthcare industry and the laws and regulations that affect it. During the course of this semester, we outlined and discussed the major problems and aspects surfacing healthcare through law. This brief review will explain and summarize the in-depth chapters of the book in which we presented in this course. These chapters discussed are chapter 1, Introduction to the American Legal System, chapter 2, Legal Structure of Health Care Organization, chapter 3, Licensing, Regulation, and Accreditation, chapter 6, Criminal Law and Civil Penalties, chapter 8, Medical Staff, chapter 10, Tort Liability and Malpractice, chapter 11, Relationship with the Patient, chapter 12, Treatment Authorization and refusal, chapter 13, Health Care Information, and finally chapter 15, Death and Dead Bodies. The first chapter is a basic introduction to the American legal system. It simply introduces the nature of law, explains the governmental organizations and their functions, lists the different sources of law, and briefly breaks down the organization of the court system. This chapter includes general information about law, including the workings of the legal system and the roles of the branches of government in creating, administering, and enforcing the law. Chapter two introduces the legal structure of health care organizations. The chapter focuses predominantly on hospitals. It explains how a hospital or other health care entity can be one of five types of organizations and also explains the duties, authority, liability, selection, and rights of the board, chief executive officer, and medical staff. Further into the chapter, it discusses some of the legal issues related to conversions between organizational structures; mergers, consolidations, and sales of assets; dissolution of legal entities; relocation and closure of facilities; and bankruptcy.
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