700 Level Courses
710 - Introduction to Health Law (3)
This course counts as a Perspective Elective course.
This course provides a broad survey of the most fundamental legal issues surrounding the delivery of health care in America. No prior knowledge of health law is required. Major topics include state and federal regulation of health care providers and institutions; tort liability in the context of medical care; patient and provider rights and obligations; public and private insurance systems; and basic issues in bioethics and public health. By the end of this course, students should understand both the current state of American health law, and the social forces that have shaped its historical development. (Blum, Sawicki, Singer)
711 - Corporate Transactions in Health Law (3)
This course covers the business and legal issues that arise in health care transactions and the business and regulatory environment surrounding transactions. Topics covered will include organizational operations, the contents and role of organizational documents, and the application of tax laws to transactions. Students will analyze organizational documents and prepare presentations on issues presented by transactions. Prerequisite: Health Care Business & Finance. (Singer)
713 - Health Law Directed Study (1, 2 or 3)
This course counts as a Non-Graded Course.
Open to: LL.M., M.J., S.J.D., and D.Law students. Prerequisites: none. LL.M., M.J., S.J.D., and D.Law students may earn credit for participation in a targeted research tutorial. The scope and subject are chosen with the guidance of a faculty member who directs the students. (J.D. students can research in the health law field, but must register for the J.D. Directed Study.) (Singer, Blum)
714 - Health Law Graduate Externship (1, 2 or 3)
This course provides an overview of American law as it relates to emerging ethical issues in medicine and health care. It is intended to give students an appreciation of the ways in which medical practice and decision-making are guided by modern American principles of constitutional, tort, administrative, and criminal law. Students will learn how the law’s regulatory powers have been used to set boundaries in medicine, and, in turn, how theories of medical ethics and practice have informed modern legal developments. Topics covered vary from year to year, but may include issues in end-of-life care, research ethics, reproductive autonomy, distributive justice, and genetic technology. (Sawicki).
This course introduces students to the cases, statutes, and legal doctrines relating to the rights, treatment, and incarceration of mentally ill and mentally retarded persons. Topics covered include: competency to stand trial, insanity defense, defense of drugged or intoxicated condition, right to refuse treatment, right to marry and procreate, and psychiatric malpractice. Students will discuss real-life cases and examples to compare and contract application of the law and policies. (Cohen, Monahan)
718 - Life Sciences, Research, and the FDA (2)
This course serves as an introduction to the growing area of health law known as "life sciences." The theme for this course centers on the research and development of pharmaceutical drugs and devices and the role of the FDA in regulating this process. Topics covered will include genomics, personalized medicine, the FCPA, basic patent and intellectual property issues, and financing. Students will learn to analyze the FDA approval process. (Zacharakis)
719 - Health Care Labor Law Seminar (1)
This course serves as an introduction to labor and employment in the health care industry. Topics covered will include union representation, supervisory status, harassment and discrimination, independent contract relationships, employment at will, and wage and hour standards. (Schurgin)
720 - Health Care Payment and Policy (2-3)
Health Care Payment and Policy covers the types of health care payors and the relationships between them, including HMOs, PPOs, CMPs, Medicare and Medicaid, and other managed care arrangements. Topics will include utilization review, ERISA, agency doctrine, and payor operational and contracting issues. Students will become familiar with managed care contracts and analyze health care plans and policies. (Blum)
723 - Law and Public Health (2-3)This course explores the role of law and government regulation in the area of public health. The public health process (measurement, problem definition, strategy, design, implementation and evaluation) is explored in reference to current issues that are both timely and expositive of the ways in which law and regulation shape public health practice on the state and federal level. Topical areas for analysis and discussion are drawn from the primary environments of public health, biological, physical, social, individual behavior, and national/international health systems. Students are required to work on group projects, and are required to write a research paper. (Blum)
725 - Antitrust in the Health Care Field (1)
This course will cover antitrust aspects of the operation of health care institutions. Topics will include medical staff privilege, hospitals mergers and joint ventures, trade association activities, and managed care contracts. (Marx)
727 - Annals of Health Law Editorial Board (3)
This course counts as a Non-Graded Course.
Open to: J.D., LL.M., M.J., S.J.D., and D.Law students by permission only. Prerequisites: none. Annals of Health Law Executive Editors are solely responsible for the management of the entire process of publication of the Annals, including selecting the staff, communicating with authors, and performing final edits on all articles before publication. Additionally, Executive Editors oversee the planning of the annual symposium, maintain the website, and work on other special projects. These selected positions require immense dedication and responsibility. Executive Editors must possess superior legal knowledge and editing/writing skills. Additionally, the abilities to manage, delegate and supervise others are essential. (Singer)
728 - International Health Law (2)
729 - Health Care Litigation and Medical Malpractice (2)
This course counts as a Skills course.
This course will cover key areas of health care litigation. Students will explore the substantive and procedural law of medical negligence litigation and perform pretrial and trial tasks, including drafting pleadings and motions, arguing motions, and deposing experts. Additional topics will include compliance and internal investigations, licensing procedures, technology litigation, managed care litigation, and ERISA preemption. (Burke)
730 - Government Health Policy (2)
This course will introduce students into the roles of government, charitable, and private institutions in identifying, preventing, and addressing public health issues. Students explore the role of state government, federal government, and the private sector in addressing issues surrounding healthcare delivery, access, financing, quality, cost control, the uninsured, transparency, and public health. Students will have the opportunity to draft analysis of government policies and work in teams to present on a public health issue. (Carvalho, Deaton)
733 - Annals of Health Law Senior Editor (2)
734 - Annals of Health Law Editing Seminar (1)
This course counts as a Non-Graded Course.
Open to: J.D., LL.M., M.J., S.J.D., and D.Law students by permission only. Prerequisites: none. The members of the Annals of Health Law are responsible for editing and cite-checking article submissions, including providing substantive recommendations. They generally assist the Senior Members with the preparation of articles for publication. Members must be organized, detail-oriented, and dedicated to their role in the Annals publication process. They must possess superior cite-checking and editing skills. Additionally, each member must write an article of publishable quality for Advance Directive, the Annals online counterpart. (Singer)
736 - Health Law Advanced Research Seminar (2)
Open to: J.D., LL.M., M.J., S.J.D., and D.Law students. Prerequisites: Instructor permission is required. Students work with health law faculty, writing a short article on a particular current health law issue. The article must be written in law journal format, with the goal of publication in a newsletter or trade journal. Students will research the issue and will be encouraged to interview experts in the area. (Blum)
White collar crime. In recent years, this topic has dominated the news and the discussion from living rooms to boardrooms to congressional offices. Our study in this seminar will follow two lines of inquiry: the issues raised by the procedural/ethical concerns; and the substantive law itself.
First, we will study some of the basic issues common to most federal white collar crime criminal prosecutions. In this regard, we will examine the problems endemic to the prosecution of organizations for criminal offenses; procedural and ethical problems faced by both defense and prosecutors and defense counsel; the use of privileges at trial; the grand jury process; evidence gathering techniques; and the potential conflict between federal and state prosecutors in their respective attempts to curb white collar crime.
Next we will survey substantive offenses and genre. This semester, we will examine federal prosecutions of conspiracy, official corruption (including perjury and false statements); mail and wire fraud; securities fraud; RICO; and examine homicide by corporations.
739 - HIPPA and Health Care Privacy Law (1)
This course covers the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act and the statutory and regulatory framework for the privacy of health information. Students will learn about the historical basis of privacy and developing case law in the area. Other topics will include data security, oversight, and breaches. (Zacharakis)
741 - Health Care Business and Finance (3)
This course is designed to introduce students to the business of health care, including the types, formation and operation of health care organizations. Topics covered will include health care finance, taxation, payment and coverage. Students will learn about basic transactions, including collaborations, mergers, and joint ventures and the application of securities laws to these transactions. The course will also cover basic financial operations and corporate governance and students will become familiar with basic organizational documents. (Singer)
742 - LL.M. Seminar -Health Law (1)
Open to: LL.M. students only (or J.D. students by instructor permission). Prerequisites: none. This course reviews current health law practice topics and examines problem areas confronted by practitioners. The format varies between practitioner-led discussions and problem-solving sessions. (Singer)
This course counts as a Skills, Perspective Elective and an Experiential Learning course.
Access to Health Care is designed to sensitize students to the plight of the uninsured and medically underserved. Topics covered will include poverty and racial and ethnic disparity in medical treatment. This course involves travel for site visits over the week of Spring Break. A paper will be required for the successful completion of the course. Students should plan to pay for travel expenses.
749 - Anti-Kickback Law and False Claims Act (1)
This seminar will serve as an introduction to health care fraud and abuse, with a focus on the federal anti-kickback law and the False Claims Act.
750 - LL.M. Paper -Health Law (3)
Open to: J.D., LL.M., M.J., S.J.D., and D.Law students. Prerequisites: none. Each LL.M. student must write a paper of publishable quality. The paper, written under the guidance of a faculty advisor, should integrate a number of issues covered in the health law curriculum. It is expected that each LL.M. paper will make an important contribution to health law literature. Students' papers will be considered for publication in Loyola's Annals of Health Law. (Singer, Blum)
751 - LL.M. Paper Supervision - Health Law (3)
Open to: LL.M. students only with permission. LL.M. students who do not complete the LL.M. Paper within the requisite period of time must register for this class each semester until the paper has been accepted by the advisor. (Singer, Blum)
753 - Health Care Reform Law (1)
Health Care Reform Law covers the basic components of current health care reform legislation; pending changes to existing laws, regulations, and payment structures; the impact on public health care; and the impact on private health care institutions and payers. The course covers the skills of analyzing potential new policies for health care providers and payers. (Prebil)
754 - Introduction to Health Justice (3)
This course counts as an Experiential Learning and a Skills course.
Prerequisite: Students must be available to participate in a mandatory 2-day orientation prior to the start of the semester. The Health Justice Project is a live-client clinical course designed to provide law students with an intensive, challenging education in the fundamentals of legal practice, systemic advocacy, interdisciplinary collaboration, community service and professional values. Students enrolled in Introduction to Health Justice are trained as client advocates and intake specialists. Students conduct intake and, through direct interaction with clients, practice issue spotting, interview skills and creative problem-solving. Clients may present with variety of matters related to health, such as housing code violations, special education, public benefits denials and other critical needs. Students will also gain an understanding of interdisciplinary collaboration in the practice of law and an overview of legal systems that respond to poverty and health disparities. Students will participate in bi-monthly supervisory meetings. Enrollment in the course requires submitting an application (visit www.luc.edu/healthjustice for details) and receiving faculty permission. Professor Emily Benfer serves as the Clinic Director. Intake: Thursdays 3-5pm. (Benfer)
755 - Health Justice Project I (4)
This course counts as an Experiential Learning and a Skills course.
Prerequisites: Introduction to Health Justice recommended. Students must be available to participate in a mandatory 2-day orientation prior to the start of the semester. The Health Justice Project is a live-client clinical course designed to provide law students with an intensive, challenging education in the fundamentals of legal practice, systemic advocacy, interdisciplinary collaboration and community service and exploration of professional values. Through direct interaction with and representation of clients and involvement in a medical-legal community partnership, students practice lawyering skills, exercise responsibility, engage in creative problem-solving and, where appropriate, systemic advocacy. Students engage in multiple aspects of the medical legal community partnership including: training and education of healthcare providers and frontline staff to screen for social determinants of health problems (such as food instability, unstable source of income, public benefits denials, substandard or unsanitary housing conditions, etc.); representation of clients referred by healthcare provider; and systemic advocacy projects. Cases may include a variety of matters related to health, such as housing code violations, special education, public benefits denials and other critical needs.
Enrollment in the Clinic requires a significant time commitment and flexibility in the student’s schedule. Students are required to attend hearings and court appearances and tend to other client matters throughout the semester. Students are required to participate in a weekly 2-hour seminar and weekly 3-hour offsite client intake. Law students in the second semester of their second year or in their third year of law school are eligible to participate in the Health Justice Project. Enrollment in the course requires submitting an application (visit www.luc.edu/healthjustice for details) and receiving faculty permission. Professor Emily Benfer serves as the Clinic Director. Seminar: Wednesdays 3-5pm; Precepting: Tuesdays 3-5pm. (Benfer)
756 - Interdisciplinary Health Advocacy (2)
This course counts as an Experiential Learning and a Skills course.
Interdisciplinary collaboration between lawyers and other professionals such as social workers, doctors and mental health professionals is an innovative way to address the complex social problems faced by low-income individuals and families. This experiential seminar will provide students with an opportunity to participate in an interdisciplinary collaboration to address health problems of low-income patients. Students will become a member of a team of doctors, social workers and lawyers and explore communication and ethical issues among disciplines. Activities include actively participating in “precepting” and case rounds with medical and social work partners and the training and education of healthcare providers and frontline staff to screen for social determinants of health problems (such as food instability, unstable source of income, public benefits denials, substandard or unsanitary housing conditions, etc.).
Students are strongly encouraged to apply for and enroll the companion class, the Health Justice Project. Students must be available to participate in a mandatory 2-day orientation prior to the start of the semester. (Benfer)
757 - Advanced Health Justice Project (2)
This course counts as an Experiential Learning and a Skills course.
Prerequisites: Health Justice Project I. Students who successfully complete Health Justice Project are eligible to become advanced participants in the clinic. Students enrolled in the Advanced Health Justice Project may engage in policy work or direct representation. Students will participate in bi-monthly supervisory meetings. Faculty permission required. Professor Emily Benfer serves as the Clinic Director. (Benfer)
758 - Health Policy Practicum (1-3)
This course counts as a Skills course.
This course addresses key policy challenges facing the health care industry. Students meet in class once each week to discuss the role of policy and private law in the health care industry. Additionally, students work with health law organizations to identify policy needs and write policy paper and proposals. (Blum)
More than 50 million Americans have disabilities, even as the population just begins to age significantly. The Americans with Disabilities Act was passed in 1990 as a key civil rights law to help persons with disabilities obtain access to employment, government functions at all levels, and most public Accommodations. This seminar will explore how our disability laws have succeeded, and failed, to fulfill their promise. We will also examine closely the significant recent activity by the Supreme Court in this evolving, dynamic area of the law. Each student is expected to select a topic of particular interest to him or her, perform an in-depth review of the law related to that topic, and write a paper on the subject. Student's progress will be tracked through class discussion, informed reaction papers and the final research paper. (Coustan)
761 - Advanced Health Justice Policy (2)
This course counts as a Skills course.
Students who successfully complete Health Justice Project or Introduction to Health Justice are eligible to become advanced participants in the policy clinic. Students enrolled in the Advanced Health Justice Policy course may engage in policy work. Students will participate in bi-monthly supervisory meetings. Faculty permission required.
763 - Health Care Informatics (1)
This course will cover the legal issues surrounding the creation and operation of electronic interfaces between patients and the health care system. Topics will include statutory and case law applicable to electronic medical records, uses of electronic elements in medical practice, and institutional health care information systems. (Teske)
764 - International Health Law (2 - 3)
This is an upper division elective which focuses on key issues in international/comparative health law and policy encountered in the global arena. While there are no explicit prerequisites, students should have some background in public health law as well as general health law. The class will be taught in a tutorial fashion requiring students to be involved in three group project exercises on selected topics. In addition each student will be required to write two papers. Topics to be covered include international public health law institutions, WHO, WTO, UN, NGOs, the role of private law, and legal issues surrounding topics such as communicable disease prevention and treatment, climate change and health, sanitation, violence and public health, population planning and control, migration and health, trafficking in people and organs, global e-health, micro-financing and health. Readings will be assigned, largely from web based materials. (Blum)
765 - Constitutional Issues in Health Law (2)
The Supreme Court’s recent decision upholding the major provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act has brought new attention to the intersection between constitutional law and health care. This seminar gives students the opportunity to engage deeply with some of the most compelling constitutional issues of our time, including the use of federal spending powers to expand state Medicaid programs; the health insurance mandate as a regulation of interstate commerce; federalism conflicts in the medicalization of marijuana; medical providers’ free speech rights; compelled commercial speech in the tobacco industry; religious objections to controversial medical procedures; cruel and unusual medical treatment of prisoners; as well as substantive due process challenges relating to public health, end of life care, and reproductive autonomy.
768 - Topics In Long Term Care (2)
Provides students with an overview of key subjects in the diverse and growing field of long term care. For this seminar long term care will be cast broadly as an area that deals with various populations that have profound and ongoing health needs. While much of the course will focus on statutory and regulatory law, significant emphasis will be placed on public policies in long term care which underpin particular legal issues.
770 - Doctoral Dissertation Research I (2)
This course counts as a Non-Graded course.
Open to: S.J.D. and D.Law students only. Prerequisites: none. Candidates will be required to rework the doctoral proposal s/he submitted with his/her admission application into a 30-40 page summary paper which shall serve as a roadmap for the first draft of the dissertation. Students must also make a presentation on an aspect of their research to a group of doctoral students and advisors. (Blum)
772 - Doctoral Dissertation Research II (2)
This course counts as a Non-Graded Course.
Open to: S.J.D. and D.Law students only. Prerequisites: Doctoral Dissertation Research I. Candidates must draft a detailed dissertation outline, have it evaluated by his/her advisor, and incorporate any necessary changes into a final outline. Once the dissertation outline is approved, the first draft of the dissertation should be completed and submitted to the advisor. (Blum)
773 - Doctoral Dissertation Supervision (0)
This course counts as a Non-Graded Course.
Open to: S.J.D. and D.Law students only. Prerequisites: Doctoral Dissertation Research I and II, Bibliography Tutorial. The dissertation advisor will work with the candidate to form a doctoral committee comprised of the advisor and two outside readers. (In the case of foreign students, one outside reader may be sufficient.) The committee will assist the student by consulting on dissertation substantive issues, reviewing the working draft and approving the final product. Dissertations should represent important contributions to the field, (minimum length 150 pages and double spaced, format or style) but specific format and content needs to be clarified between the candidate, the advisor, and the committee. Once clarified, the suggested format must be followed. Once the dissertation has been completed, it must be presented at an open forum to be attended by interested members of the law school community. Students must enroll in this course during both fall and spring semesters of his/her second year. (Blum)
775 - Physician Regulation Seminar (1)
This course is designed to introduce students to the laws, agencies, and other bodies that license, regulate and discipline physicians. Topics covered will include licensing proceedings and hearings and health care entity policies addressing these issues. (Pomerance)
793 - Administrative Law and Health Care Regulation (3)
This course focuses on the roles of federal and state agencies and government branches in regulating health care. Students will learn the fundamentals of administrative law through a health care lens. Topics covered will include government rulemaking, investigations, and enforcement. Students will learn how to locate and understand the interplay of sources of administrative law and analyze statutes and regulations. (Meites)
797 - Risk Management, Patient Safety, and Quality (2)
The course will utilize case studies for learning and applying knowledge related to the key roles and responsibilities of the health care risk manager. Through the readings and case studies students will learn to identify legal, ethical, administrative, and risk management issues and to reach resolutions for the problems presented. (Youngberg)
798 - Topics in Health Care Compliance (2)
This course is designed to expose M.J. students to key legal concepts in the health care corporate compliance field, which may be broadly defined as the application of internal corporate initiatives to ensure compliance with applicable federal and state laws and regulations. Particular emphasis will be placed on Anti-kickback Statute, the Stark law, the False Claims Act and its whistleblower provisions. Readings will derive from various sources: case law, legislation, regulations, government reports and legal articles. Underlying course themes will include how to structure an effective compliance program and the role of government enforcement arms in controlling health care costs. (Carroll)