Health Policy And Law Basics

Role of PolIcy and law In HealtH caRe and PublIc HealtH The forceful influence of policy and law on the health of in- dividuals and populations is undeniable. Policy and law have always been fundamental in shaping the practice of individual health care in the United States and to achieving both every- day and landmark public health improvements.

Centuries-old legal principles have, since this country’s inception, provided the bedrock on which healthcare quality laws are built, and today the healthcare industry is regulated in many different ways. Indeed, federal and state policy and law shape virtually all aspects of the healthcare system, from structure and organization, to service delivery, to financing, and to administrative and judicial oversight. Whether per- taining to the accreditation and certification of individual or institutional healthcare providers, requirements to provide care under certain circumstances, the creation of public insur- ance programs, the regulation of private insurance systems, or any other number of issues, policy and law drive the health- care system to a degree unknown by most people.

In fact, professional digests that survey and report on the subjects of health policy and law typically include in their pages information on topics like the advertising and market- ing of health services and products, the impact of health ex- penditures on federal and state budgets, antitrust concerns, healthcare contracting, employment issues, patents, taxation, healthcare discrimination and disparities, consumer protec- tion, bioterrorism, health insurance, prescription drug regula- tion, physician-assisted suicide, biotechnology, human subject

LEarNING OBJECtIVES

by the end of this chapter, you will be able to:

Describe generally the important role played by policy and • law in the health of individuals and populations

Describe three ways to conceptualize health policy and law•

IntRoductIon In this chapter, we introduce the role played by policy and law in the health of individuals and populations and describe three conceptual frameworks with which you can approach the study of health policy and law. Later, we narrow our focus, providing a measure of clarity in an area that is neither readily discernable—even to those who use and work in the health care and public health systems—nor easily redrawn by those who shape them through policy and law.

The goals of this chapter are to describe why it is impor- tant to include policy and law in the study of health care and public health and how you might conceptualize health policy and law when undertaking your studies. To achieve these goals, we first briefly discuss the vast influence of policy and law in health care and public health. You will have a much better feel for how far policy and law reach into these areas as you proceed, but we dedicate a few pages here to give you a sense of why it is critical to examine policy and lawmaking as part of your broader health studies. We then describe three ways to conceptualize health policy and law. As you will dis- cover, the three conceptual frameworks are interwoven, with no one framework dominating the discussion.