Patient Rights Advocate

Business and Law Department  

Career  The successful completion of  the Patient Rights Advocacy classes provides students with the necessary skills to work as A Patient Rights Advocate.  Patient Rights Advocates help guide patients and their families through legal issues presented by the healthcare system to assure that patient medical and health needs are met. Patient Rights Advocates are trained to be leaders and communication specialists who empower others and work collaboratively with health care providers to mediate conflict and facilitate positive change in both the lives of patients and in the healthcare industry. 

Patient Rights Advocates work to protect and enhance patients' rights and become agents of change in the healthcare system. When not working in direct patient rights advocacy, Advocates may choose to work for governmental or non-governmental agencies, in private enterprise, for disease-specific organizations, voluntary associations, or for grassroots or national health policy organizations which foster patients' rights and strengthen capacity among community health providers. Patient Rightss Advocates work in physical and mental health organizations, in the media, and in a variety of hospital and clinic settings.

Certificate of Achievement - 18 units (6 classes)

1. Introduction to Law - Law 10 (current Paralegal class) -  will introduce the student to law, legal reasoning courts, and a variety of topics including consumer protection, administrative law, international law, employment and labor relations,  intellectual property, torts, crimes and cyber crimes, constitutional authority to regulate buisiness - with contextualized readings and assignments in health care law. 

2. Fundamentals of Health Law - (new course)  - will introduce the student to Health Care Law issues with contextualized readings and assignments in health care law including Medicare, Medical, End of Life Legal Issues, Hospice,  health plan coverage and resources, Professional-Patient Relationship, Quality Control Regulation: Licensing of Health Care Professionals, Quality Control Regulation of Health Care Institutions,Liability of Health Care Institutions, Health Care Cost and Access: The Policy Context, Access to Health Care: The Obligation to Provide Care,  Private Health Insurance and Managed Care: State Regulation and Liability,  Regulation of Insurance and Managed Care: The Federal Role,  Public Health Care Programs: Medicare and Medicaid - see Syllabus at http://faculty.smu.edu/tmayo/healsyl.htm - see textbook at HEALTH LAW, by Barry R. Furrow et al. (5th ed., West 2004) - see syllabus at https://courses.law.washington.edu/sanford/H501_Au07/syllabus.aspx

3. Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) - (new course) - will introduce the student to Alternative Dispute Resolution  with contextualized readings and assignments in health care law. 

4. Health Insurance and Managed Care - (new course) - will introduce the student to health insurance and managed carelaw with contextualized readings and assignments in health care law - see http://www.nyu.edu/wagner/syllabus/200701/P11.2848.001.pdf

5. Administrative & Statutory Law - (new course) - will introduce students to administrative rules, regulations, and statutory law, legislative analysis, practice and procedure - with contextualized readings and assignments in health care law

6. Legal Research - (current Paralegal Class) - will introduce the student to legal research on a variety of topice - with contextualized readings and assignments in health care law. 

Textbooks 

1. HEALTH LAW, by Barry R. Furrow et al. (5th ed., West 2004)

2. Alternative Dispute Resolution in a Nutshell, by Jacqueline M. Nolan-Haley, ISBN 0-314-23888-3 

3. Law of Hospital and Health Care Administration, Health Administration Press, Second Ed., 1988 - Southwick AF 

Articles and Books

1. Understanding and Applying Alternative Dispute Resolution Methods in Modern Medical Conflicts, Bryan A. Liang 19 J. Leg. Med. 397 (1998)

2. “Uses for Conflict Resolution in Health Care”, Training Manual, Conflict Management in Health Care – the Inside Scoop for Mediators (April, 2004), Debra Gerardi and Ginny Morrison