Health Law

BBS Assignment #2

Module 11 of your text addresses health care reform  including tort reform and patient safety regulations. This assignment gives you a chance to explore these issues in more detail.

Step One –

• Become familiar with various tort reform efforts including alternative approaches to address patient injuries.
• Become familiar with patient safety efforts including error tracking and disclosure.
• Become familiar with adverse events and medical errors

Step Two – Research your state (CA)  laws and regulations online and answer the following.

1.  Has your state adopted any laws, rules/regulations, or any other kind of standards about “never events” or “sentinel events.”

a. If so, what are they and how are they enforced?

b.  If not, do you think your state should adopt laws, rules/regulations, or standards about never events? Why or why not?

c. If you think your state should, what should the laws, rules/regulations, or standards require or prohibit in terms of never events?

2.  Has your state adopted any laws, rules/regulations, or any other kind of standard about disclosing adverse events to patients?

a. If so, what are they and how are they enforced?

b.  If not, do you think your state should adopt laws, rules/regulations, or standards about disclosing adverse events? Why or not?

c. If you think your state should, what should the laws, rules/regulations, or standards require in terms of disclosing adverse events?

Step Three – Pick some other aspect of “health care reform” in your state and answer the following questions

1. What change/reform did you choose to examine and why did you choose it?
2. What change/reform was made? 
3. How do the changes affect prior or previously existing laws?
4. Why do you think these changes were made?
5. What results do you think will occur as a result of the changes?