LAWPUBL 746 : Special Topic: Comparative Health Law and Policy
Law
2022 Semester Two (1225) (15 POINTS)
Course Overview
Overview
Comparative Law and Policy introduces, contextualises, and examines the development and reform of domestic health care systems through law and policy, with a particular focus on the legislative and regulatory tools that policymakers can use to address particular challenges related to cost, quality, equity, access, and sustainability. The course will analyse the strengths and weaknesses of domestic healthcare systems in New Zealand, the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia, Canada, and other nations, as well as consider potential reforms to improve those systems
Course outline
Our health shapes our lives, our opportunities, and our communities. How nations provide healthcare can enhance or hinder nearly all other aspects of society – including the economy, employment, education, the environment, and civil rights. Law and policy are integral to the development of healthcare systems, but their use can both promote and hinder improvements in health outcomes. This course aims to enable students to reflect critically on the development and coordination of domestic health systems and the use of law and policy to shape and reform those systems. More broadly the course covers a range of issues of significance to domestic health systems, including access to affordable health care, public health preparedness, health equity, climate change, the balance of individual rights with state power, and the obligations of nations to their citizens in times of crisis.
The class will first explore why and to what extent nations should value the health of their population. Next, the course will introduce different models of domestic health systems along with their founding assumptions and underlying principles. Then we will analyse the key features, strengths, and weaknesses of different national health systems, focusing in particular on systems in New Zealand, the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, and Australia, among others. The class will then introduce and analyse the critical role that law and policy play in the design and reform of health care systems and how legislators, regulators and the courts can shape the health of nation. Finally, students will collaborate in groups to develop a presentation proposing specific reforms to address an existing challenge in a domestic healthcare system. Materials for this class will include a diverse array of academic scholarship from legal, economic, medical, health policy, and health services research sources, as well as government materials including legislation, regulations, guidance documents, and caselaw.
Syllabus
The course seeks to develop an interdisciplinary understanding of comparative health law and policy and the capacity to use legal and policy tools to address challenges facing healthcare systems. Topics may include:
● Health as a Social Good: Should Nations Care About Health?
● Theoretical Models of Health Systems
● Financing, Structure and Regulation of Domestic Health Systems
● Comparison of Domestic Health Systems
● The Role of Law and Policy as Tools to Improve Healthcare Systems
● Ethical Challenges in Health Systems
● Climate Change and Sustainable Health Systems
● The Balance of Individual Autonomy and State Power
● The Regulation of Innovations in Healthcare
● Addressing Key Challenges Facing Domestic Healthcare Systems
Lecturer Biography
Professor Jaime King’s field is health law and policy with a special focus on the use of law and policy to develop, reform, and regulate domestic health systems. Dr. King’s current research analyzes the use of legal and regulatory tools to counteract the price and quality effects of market consolidation in private healthcare markets. She is the co-founder and Executive Editor of the Source on Healthcare Price and Competition, a multidisciplinary web-based resource for information and analysis about healthcare price and competition. Professor King has provided testimony and advice to the U.S. House of Representatives, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the California and Washington State legislatures on matters related to healthcare price and competition. Her scholarship also addresses questions of individual autonomy and the states’ police power, including, but not limited to, medical decision making and constitutional and regulatory questions regarding reproductive genetic testing. Professor King is a co-author of the 8th edition of the leading U.S. health law casebook: Health Law Cases and Problems (West Publishing, 2018). Her research has been published in the New England Journal of Medicine, Nature, Health Affairs, and numerous law journals, and her work has been referenced in the New York Times, the Atlantic Monthly, and Slate Magazine. She currently serves as the President of the Board of the American Society of Law, Medicine, and Ethics.
Prior to joining the Faculty of Law in 2020, Professor King served as the Bion M. Gregory Chair in Business Law and Professor of Law at the University of California, Hastings College of the Law. Through her role as Associate Dean and Faculty Director of the UCSF/UC Hastings Consortium on Law, Science, and Health Policy, she developed and helped facilitate collaborations between faculty and learners from the University of California’s medical sciences campus at UCSF, the public health school at UC Berkeley, and the law school at UC Hastings. In 2016, Professor King co-founded and co-directed the Master in Science of Health Policy and Law degree program, which was transdisciplinary, online, and jointly conferred by UCSF and UC Hastings Law.
Capabilities Developed in this Course
| Capability 1: | Disciplinary Knowledge and Practice |
| Capability 2: | Critical Thinking |
| Capability 3: | Solution Seeking |
| Capability 4: | Communication and Engagement |
| Capability 5: | Independence and Integrity |
Learning Outcomes
- Know and understand the features of different theoretical models for domestic health systems; (Capability 1.1)
- Understand the fundamental elements of how nations structure, finance, and regulate domestic health systems (Capability 1.1, 2.1 and 2.2)
- Analyse the strengths and weaknesses of domestic health systems in a particular area; (Capability 2.1, 2.3 and 3.1)
- Be able to reflect critically on the development and application of the law to healthcare systems and healthcare crises (Capability 3.1, 3.2 and 4.1)
- Analyse and evaluate the policy tools available to government to address challenges facing a domestic healthcare system and the appropriate application of those tools (Capability 2.1, 2.3, 3.1 and 3.3)
- Demonstrate the ability to apply the knowledge and skills developed in the course to new situations and policy challenges; (Capability 2.1, 2.2 and 3.1)
- Develop and demonstrate an advanced level of skill in the planning, execution, and communication of original research through completion of a research essay; (Capability 2.2, 2.3, 4.2, 4.3, 5.1 and 5.2)
- Demonstrate an advanced level of skill in collaboration and working on a team toward a common goal (Capability 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 5.1 and 5.2)
- Demonstrate and improve their verbal communication skills by providing contributions to class discussion (Capability 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 5.1 and 5.2)
Assessments
| Assessment Type | Percentage | Classification |
|---|---|---|
| Class Participation | 10% | Individual Coursework |
| Collaborative Presentation | 15% | Individual Coursework |
| Research Essay Proposal and Outline | 10% | Individual Coursework |
| Research Essay | 65% | Individual Coursework |
| 4 types | 100% |
| Assessment Type | Learning Outcome Addressed | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | ||
| Class Participation | ||||||||||
| Collaborative Presentation | ||||||||||
| Research Essay Proposal and Outline | ||||||||||
| Research Essay | ||||||||||
Workload Expectations
This is a standard 15-point course. There will be around 18 hours of lectures in this course. As a general guide, you should expect a workload of three hours outside of the classroom for each hour spent in class. The guideline for the total workload for this course is 100 hours.
Delivery Mode
Campus Experience or Online
This course is offered in two delivery modes:
Campus Experience and Online
Learning Resources
Course materials are made available in a learning and collaboration tool called Canvas which also includes reading lists and lecture recordings (where available).
Please remember that the recording of any class on a personal device requires the permission of the instructor.
Student Feedback
At the end of every semester students will be invited to give feedback on the course and teaching through a tool called SET or Qualtrics. The lecturers and course co-ordinators will consider all feedback and respond with summaries and actions.
Your feedback helps teachers to improve the course and its delivery for future students.
Class Representatives in each class can take feedback to the department and faculty staff-student consultative committees.
At the end of every semester students will be invited to give feedback on the course and teaching through a tool called SET or Qualtrics. The lecturers and course co-ordinators will consider all feedback and respond with summaries and actions.
Other Information
Academic Integrity
The University of Auckland will not tolerate cheating, or assisting others to cheat, and views cheating in coursework as a serious academic offence. The work that a student submits for grading must be the student's own work, reflecting their learning. Where work from other sources is used, it must be properly acknowledged and referenced. This requirement also applies to sources on the internet. A student's assessed work may be reviewed against online source material using computerised detection mechanisms.
Class Representatives
Class representatives are students tasked with representing student issues to departments, faculties, and the wider university. If you have a complaint about this course, please contact your class rep who will know how to raise it in the right channels. See your departmental noticeboard for contact details for your class reps.
Inclusive Learning
All students are asked to discuss any impairment related requirements privately, face to face and/or in written form with the course director, lecturer or tutor.
Student Disability Services also provides support for students with a wide range of impairments, both visible and invisible, to succeed and excel at the University. For more information and contact details, please visit the Student Disability Services’ website http://disability.auckland.ac.nz
Special Circumstances
If your ability to complete assessed coursework is affected by illness or other personal circumstances outside of your control, contact a Student Academic and Support Adviser as soon as possible before the assessment is due.
If your personal circumstances significantly affect your performance, or preparation, for an exam or eligible written test, refer to the University’s aegrotat or compassionate consideration page https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/students/academic-information/exams-and-final-results/during-exams/aegrotat-and-compassionate-consideration.html.
This should be done as soon as possible and no later than seven days after the affected test or exam date.
Learning Continuity
In the event of an unexpected disruption, we undertake to maintain the continuity and standard of teaching and learning in all your courses throughout the year. If there are unexpected disruptions the University has contingency plans to ensure that access to your course continues and course assessment continues to meet the principles of the University’s assessment policy. Some adjustments may need to be made in emergencies. You will be kept fully informed by your course co-ordinator/director, and if disruption occurs you should refer to the university website for information about how to proceed.
Student Charter and Responsibilities
The Student Charter assumes and acknowledges that students are active participants in the learning process and that they have responsibilities to the institution and the international community of scholars. The University expects that students will act at all times in a way that demonstrates respect for the rights of other students and staff so that the learning environment is both safe and productive. For further information visit Student Charter https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/students/forms-policies-and-guidelines/student-policies-and-guidelines/student-charter.html.
Disclaimer
Elements of this outline may be subject to change. The latest information about the course will be available for enrolled students in Canvas.
In this course students may be asked to submit coursework assessments digitally. The University reserves the right to conduct scheduled tests and examinations for this course online or through the use of computers or other electronic devices. Where tests or examinations are conducted online remote invigilation arrangements may be used. In exceptional circumstances changes to elements of this course may be necessary at short notice. Students enrolled in this course will be informed of any such changes and the reasons for them, as soon as possible, through Canvas.