Course Description PSHM 3080:

This course provides an overview of the laws governing health care institutions and the ethical dilemmas facing health care managers and providers. You will examine the ethical principles utilized to examine health care issues. You will also evaluate the procedures followed by health care organizations in making legal and ethical decisions.  Such contemporary issues as cloning (and other alternative methods of reproduction), euthanasia, organ donation and the financing of health care will be addressed.  

At the conclusion of this course, you will be better prepared to face the complex moral issues raised by contemporary and emerging medical practice, whether as a consumer or as a health care provider. 

Course Learning Outcomes: Upon successful completion of this course, you will be able to: 
 

1. Develop expertise in applying law and ethics to the process of ethical decision-making
2. Examine and discuss the intellectual and social resources available to people confronting life and death decisions. 
3. Examine and discuss the ideals guiding the routine activities of health care workers through review of legal cases and scenarios.
4. Apply knowledge and skills while examining the issues through both written critiques and virtual classroom discussions. 
5. Demonstrate a practical application of the theories discussed in class through completion of an interview assignment will expose students to practical applications of the theories and health care laws discussed in class.           

Course Description PSHM 5080:

This course explores the legal and ethical issues found in the health care system, and investigates the health care administrator as decision-maker, leader and moral agent. The goal of the course is to equip future health care administrators with the knowledge and skills necessary to recognize legal and ethical issues that arise in health care practice, to be prepared to evaluate situations that may have legal or ethical implications, to know when to seek legal or ethics committee counsel, and to have an understanding of the implications of health care law on their own decision making. This course will focus on the principles and theories of law as they relate to health care delivery, health care management and administration, examination of the applications of laws in relation to health care liability prevention and risks facing administrators, managers and practitioners.

Course Learning Outcomes – Upon successful completion of this course, the participant will be able to: 

1. Distinguish and discuss the role of the federal government and the various state governments in promoting and protecting the health of citizens;
2. Communicate the interpretive understanding of a case or statute, or a complex regulatory scheme, both orally and in writing.
3. Interpret the complex relationship between the US health care system’s major key stakeholders - providers, government and private payers, employers, regulators, and patients.
4. Analyze the differences between legal and ethical behavior.
5. Evaluate various ethical issues and interpersonal conflicts that exist within the healthcare delivery system.
6. Demonstrate a methodology for values analysis and ethical decision-making that can be used successfully in the healthcare setting.
7. Examines common fact patterns that give rise to legal liability for health professionals, and how to develop strategies to minimize it.