Giuseppe
Emeritus
PREPAREDNESS: A CHECKLIST OF KEY LEGAL ISSUES FOR HEALTHCARE PROVIDERS [Foreword - Excerpts - IOH]
H e a l t h L a w y e r s ’ P u b l i c I n f o r m a t i o n S e r i e s
Informed by a Public Interest Dialogue Session co-sponsored by the American Health Lawyers Association, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Office of Inspector General, U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
The American Health Lawyers Association (Health Lawyers) has made a significant commitment to the development of “best practices” for public health emergency legal preparedness through its Public Information Series.
Community Pan-Flu Preparedness:
A Checklist of Key Legal Issues for Healthcare Providers is the most recent addition to the Series. This Checklist is a scalable tool designed to assist providers along the continuum of care as well as the broader healthcare and public health communities in taking concrete steps to prepare for an influenza pandemic.
On May 2, 2008, Health Lawyers, with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Office of Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) convened a public interest dialogue session to discuss the role of the healthcare sector in community pan-flu preparedness. Health Lawyers, the CDC and HHS invited a select group of 52 participants from diverse federal and state governmental jurisdictions, legal disciplines, the provider and payor communities, academia and national associations that focus on public health, healthcare and the law (listed on page 93).
Participants shared their best thinking regarding legal impediments and implementation challenges to community pan-flu preparedness and practical solutions to such challenges.
Attendees also focused on ways for healthcare providers to coordinate preparedness planning with local, state and federal authorities.
These recommendations were incorporated into the Checklist to reflect the perspectives of numerous public and private stakeholders in order to make the Checklist as practical and relevant as possible.
An inherent challenge in planning for the possibility of a public health emergency is determining what level of preparedness is sufficient. Our country’s healthcare system, similar to our economy in general, operates on a just-in-time basis. In order to compete and reduce costs, businesses order or make products only as necessary, rather than maintain vast inventories. Moreover, the interconnectedness of today’s global economy means that a disruption in the availability of workers, products, parts or services could affect significantly healthcare entities’ surge capacity to accommodate a major disaster.
Given the nature of the supply chains, a public health emergency such as an influenza pandemic that closes international borders, causes worker attrition and suspends travel or the transport of commercial goods would disrupt seriously the delivery of everyday essentials. This interdependence highlights the ongoing need for collaboration within the private and public sectors as well as the importance of applying lessons learned from real world events to our own preparedness efforts.
Without a clear understanding in advance of the relevant legal issues, the healthcare sector’s preparedness and response efforts will be subject to unnecessary confusion at a time when clarity is needed most.
Health Lawyers’ Public Information Series is one of a variety of public interest activities that arise from the Association’s mission statement that pledges us “to serve as a public resource on selected healthcare legal issues.” Available on a complimentary basis, the Series is a collection of informative, consumerfriendly guidebooks and fact sheets on health law
topics of interest to our members, their clients and the public that benefit individuals and communities by promoting health education and health improvement within the broader healthcare community. As such, these publications—and more importantly the lessons contained therein—can and should be used by healthcare providers as a demonstrable form of community benefit.
The Public Information Series is supported in part by generous donations from many Health Lawyers members and members’ firms and organizations. On behalf of Health Lawyers’ Board of Directors, I wish to thank all of the Health Lawyers members and their firms or organizations who have made a contribution and ask those who have not contributed in the past to consider doing so. These contributions support the drafting of guidance that will help the healthcare system and the country at large be more effective during a crisis. This increased ability to navigate difficult times will ultimately serve patients when they are most vulnerable.
Special thanks are extended to my fellow coauthors who generously contributed their time and expertise to this publication: David Abelman, Esq.; Joanne R. Lax, Esq.; Melissa L. Markey, Esq.; Matthew S. Penn, Esq.; Paul W. Radensky, M.D., J.D.; Jeffrey Rubin, Ph.D., CEM; Richard L. Shackelford, Esq.; Marilyn Thomas, Esq.; August J. Valenti, M.D.; and Lisa Diehl Vandecaveye, Esq.
I also wish to extend my sincere appreciation to Cynthia M. Conner, Vice President of Professional Resources and Bianca L. Bishop, Managing Editor, for their ongoing support of the Public Information Series. I am deeply grateful to Sheri Denkensohn, Esq., Special Assistant to the Inspector General, and Lewis Morris, Esq., Chief Counsel to the Inspector General, Office of Inspector General, HHS, for their invaluable assistance in planning the Public Interest Dialogue Session.
I also wish to thank Katherine E. Wone, Manager of Public Interest, and Maggie Russell, Public Affairs Coordinator, for their intensive staff work to coordinate the session. Health Lawyers also wishes to acknowledge the contributions of Montrece McNeill Ransom, J.D., Senior Public Health Analyst, Public Health Law Program of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Anthony D. Moulton, Ph.D., Director of the Public Health Law Program of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in co-sponsoring the public interest dialogue session. Finally, Health Lawyers is grateful to Sara Rosenbaum, J.D., Chair of the Department of Health Policy and the Harold and Jane Hirsh Professor of Health Law and Policy at the George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services for graciously agreeing to host this event.
If you have suggestions for future publications in Health Lawyers’ Public Information Series, please contact Kerry B. Hoggard, CAE, PAHM, Vice President of Membership and Public Interest, at (202) 833-0760 or khoggard@healthlawyers.org or Katherine E. Wone, Manager of Public Interest, at (202) 833-0787 or kwone@healthlawyers.org.
Elisabeth Belmont
President, 2007-2008 American Health Lawyers Association
Task Force Leader, Community Pan-Flu Preparedness:
-
http://www.healthlawyers.org/Conten...fairs/Public_Information_Series/Pan-Flu08.pdf
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H e a l t h L a w y e r s ’ P u b l i c I n f o r m a t i o n S e r i e s
Informed by a Public Interest Dialogue Session co-sponsored by the American Health Lawyers Association, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Office of Inspector General, U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
The American Health Lawyers Association (Health Lawyers) has made a significant commitment to the development of “best practices” for public health emergency legal preparedness through its Public Information Series.
Community Pan-Flu Preparedness:
A Checklist of Key Legal Issues for Healthcare Providers is the most recent addition to the Series. This Checklist is a scalable tool designed to assist providers along the continuum of care as well as the broader healthcare and public health communities in taking concrete steps to prepare for an influenza pandemic.
On May 2, 2008, Health Lawyers, with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Office of Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) convened a public interest dialogue session to discuss the role of the healthcare sector in community pan-flu preparedness. Health Lawyers, the CDC and HHS invited a select group of 52 participants from diverse federal and state governmental jurisdictions, legal disciplines, the provider and payor communities, academia and national associations that focus on public health, healthcare and the law (listed on page 93).
Participants shared their best thinking regarding legal impediments and implementation challenges to community pan-flu preparedness and practical solutions to such challenges.
Attendees also focused on ways for healthcare providers to coordinate preparedness planning with local, state and federal authorities.
These recommendations were incorporated into the Checklist to reflect the perspectives of numerous public and private stakeholders in order to make the Checklist as practical and relevant as possible.
An inherent challenge in planning for the possibility of a public health emergency is determining what level of preparedness is sufficient. Our country’s healthcare system, similar to our economy in general, operates on a just-in-time basis. In order to compete and reduce costs, businesses order or make products only as necessary, rather than maintain vast inventories. Moreover, the interconnectedness of today’s global economy means that a disruption in the availability of workers, products, parts or services could affect significantly healthcare entities’ surge capacity to accommodate a major disaster.
Given the nature of the supply chains, a public health emergency such as an influenza pandemic that closes international borders, causes worker attrition and suspends travel or the transport of commercial goods would disrupt seriously the delivery of everyday essentials. This interdependence highlights the ongoing need for collaboration within the private and public sectors as well as the importance of applying lessons learned from real world events to our own preparedness efforts.
Without a clear understanding in advance of the relevant legal issues, the healthcare sector’s preparedness and response efforts will be subject to unnecessary confusion at a time when clarity is needed most.
Health Lawyers’ Public Information Series is one of a variety of public interest activities that arise from the Association’s mission statement that pledges us “to serve as a public resource on selected healthcare legal issues.” Available on a complimentary basis, the Series is a collection of informative, consumerfriendly guidebooks and fact sheets on health law
topics of interest to our members, their clients and the public that benefit individuals and communities by promoting health education and health improvement within the broader healthcare community. As such, these publications—and more importantly the lessons contained therein—can and should be used by healthcare providers as a demonstrable form of community benefit.
The Public Information Series is supported in part by generous donations from many Health Lawyers members and members’ firms and organizations. On behalf of Health Lawyers’ Board of Directors, I wish to thank all of the Health Lawyers members and their firms or organizations who have made a contribution and ask those who have not contributed in the past to consider doing so. These contributions support the drafting of guidance that will help the healthcare system and the country at large be more effective during a crisis. This increased ability to navigate difficult times will ultimately serve patients when they are most vulnerable.
Special thanks are extended to my fellow coauthors who generously contributed their time and expertise to this publication: David Abelman, Esq.; Joanne R. Lax, Esq.; Melissa L. Markey, Esq.; Matthew S. Penn, Esq.; Paul W. Radensky, M.D., J.D.; Jeffrey Rubin, Ph.D., CEM; Richard L. Shackelford, Esq.; Marilyn Thomas, Esq.; August J. Valenti, M.D.; and Lisa Diehl Vandecaveye, Esq.
I also wish to extend my sincere appreciation to Cynthia M. Conner, Vice President of Professional Resources and Bianca L. Bishop, Managing Editor, for their ongoing support of the Public Information Series. I am deeply grateful to Sheri Denkensohn, Esq., Special Assistant to the Inspector General, and Lewis Morris, Esq., Chief Counsel to the Inspector General, Office of Inspector General, HHS, for their invaluable assistance in planning the Public Interest Dialogue Session.
I also wish to thank Katherine E. Wone, Manager of Public Interest, and Maggie Russell, Public Affairs Coordinator, for their intensive staff work to coordinate the session. Health Lawyers also wishes to acknowledge the contributions of Montrece McNeill Ransom, J.D., Senior Public Health Analyst, Public Health Law Program of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Anthony D. Moulton, Ph.D., Director of the Public Health Law Program of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in co-sponsoring the public interest dialogue session. Finally, Health Lawyers is grateful to Sara Rosenbaum, J.D., Chair of the Department of Health Policy and the Harold and Jane Hirsh Professor of Health Law and Policy at the George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services for graciously agreeing to host this event.
If you have suggestions for future publications in Health Lawyers’ Public Information Series, please contact Kerry B. Hoggard, CAE, PAHM, Vice President of Membership and Public Interest, at (202) 833-0760 or khoggard@healthlawyers.org or Katherine E. Wone, Manager of Public Interest, at (202) 833-0787 or kwone@healthlawyers.org.
Elisabeth Belmont
President, 2007-2008 American Health Lawyers Association
Task Force Leader, Community Pan-Flu Preparedness:
-
http://www.healthlawyers.org/Conten...fairs/Public_Information_Series/Pan-Flu08.pdf
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