By American Bar Association
Physicians and their counsel will explore the role of doctors in today’s changing health care environment during the American Bar Association Healthcare Delivery & Innovation Conference, Sept. 26-27. Sessions will cover reproductive health delivery; physician shortages; alternative therapies, including medical marijuana; the impact of private equity-owned physician staffing; and privacy issues.
The Healthcare Delivery & Innovation Conference, sponsored by the ABA Health Law Section and the Chicago Medical Society, will take place Sept. 26-27 at the Fairmont Millennium Park Hotel in Chicago.
Dr. Gita Pensa, adjunct associate professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, will deliver the keynote address on Physician Litigation Support: Time for a New Paradigm on Friday at 8:30 a.m. CDT.
Conference highlights include:
• “Recent Legal Developments in Reproductive Health Delivery” — The panel of experts will cover the real-world impacts of court decisions on reproductive health care providers, how to help providers navigate their jurisdiction’s legal landscape surrounding reproductive health care and what the future may hold for reproductive health providers and regulations governing their practice.
• “Balanced Innovation: Regulatory Landscape of AI and Digital Health” — AI can analyze big data sets, dramatically improve patient outcomes, reduce costs and enhance operational efficiencies, and it is frequently integrated into digital health solutions to enhance their capabilities. At the same time, the use of AI technologies in digital health presents a unique set of legal challenges. A panel of experts will explore these challenges, focusing on privacy concerns, regulatory compliance, liability issues and the ethics of AI decision-making in health care.
• “Ethics: Health Care Privacy is a Hot Mess” — An increasingly complicated set of laws and regulations impacting how health data can be used are confusing, overlapping and often borderline incomprehensible, yet lawyers working in this area have an ethical duty of competence. A panel of experts will explore the key developments affecting health care privacy and legal considerations for providers, payors, lawyers and other entities that handle health data; evaluate options for addressing privacy compliance; and discuss how to find value in health data in a manner that navigates legal considerations and risks.
• “Impact of Private Equity-Owned Physician Staffing Organizations on Patient Safety, Patient Care and Physician Workforce: A Case Study” — With private equity firms having deepened investments in the health care sector in recent years, particularly in staffing firms, an expert panel will discuss PE’s impact on the economically challenged U.S. health care delivery system, specifically on patient care models and the physician workforce. They will provide a case study and real-time examples to explore the operational realities faced by hospitals that support the engagement of PE-backed firms to meet their staffing needs, the opportunities and challenges doctors and advanced practice providers face when hospitals choose this staffing model and the legal issues raised for the hospitals, affected physicians and APPs.
• “Health Care Has a Math Problem: Evaluating Physician Shortages and Solutions” — Today, patient needs far outweigh physician supply. With a focus on the specialty of cardiology, a panel of experts will outline the physician shortage problem and discuss why it continues to grow, including due to burnout, demographic shifts in new workforce entrants and other underlying problems. They will offer potential solutions and associated legal pitfalls as well as provide a view of physician shortage projections, increase understanding of continuing physician shortages and worsening patient access and evaluate possible solutions.
• “The Grass Is Greener – Expanding Access to Alternative Therapies” — The regulatory structure for medical marijuana, now legal in 38 states, continues to evolve. Using Louisiana as an example, a panel of experts will discuss issues related to scope and expansion, patient access, legislative advocacy and product and program improvement. They will provide insight on the structure of a medical marijuana program and conversion of oversight from the board of pharmacy to the department of health; ongoing efforts to improve the program; physician and health care provider engagement; the evolution of medical marijuana product offerings and treatable conditions; and the potential for decriminalization of other therapies, such as psilocybin.
For additional information on the conference, visit www.americanbar.org/groups/health_law.
(https://www.americanbar.org/news/abanews/aba-news-archives/2024/09/health-care-delivery-aba-health-law-conference/)
Physicians and their counsel will explore the role of doctors in today’s changing health care environment during the American Bar Association Healthcare Delivery & Innovation Conference, Sept. 26-27. Sessions will cover reproductive health delivery; physician shortages; alternative therapies, including medical marijuana; the impact of private equity-owned physician staffing; and privacy issues.
The Healthcare Delivery & Innovation Conference, sponsored by the ABA Health Law Section and the Chicago Medical Society, will take place Sept. 26-27 at the Fairmont Millennium Park Hotel in Chicago.
Dr. Gita Pensa, adjunct associate professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, will deliver the keynote address on Physician Litigation Support: Time for a New Paradigm on Friday at 8:30 a.m. CDT.
Conference highlights include:
• “Recent Legal Developments in Reproductive Health Delivery” — The panel of experts will cover the real-world impacts of court decisions on reproductive health care providers, how to help providers navigate their jurisdiction’s legal landscape surrounding reproductive health care and what the future may hold for reproductive health providers and regulations governing their practice.
• “Balanced Innovation: Regulatory Landscape of AI and Digital Health” — AI can analyze big data sets, dramatically improve patient outcomes, reduce costs and enhance operational efficiencies, and it is frequently integrated into digital health solutions to enhance their capabilities. At the same time, the use of AI technologies in digital health presents a unique set of legal challenges. A panel of experts will explore these challenges, focusing on privacy concerns, regulatory compliance, liability issues and the ethics of AI decision-making in health care.
• “Ethics: Health Care Privacy is a Hot Mess” — An increasingly complicated set of laws and regulations impacting how health data can be used are confusing, overlapping and often borderline incomprehensible, yet lawyers working in this area have an ethical duty of competence. A panel of experts will explore the key developments affecting health care privacy and legal considerations for providers, payors, lawyers and other entities that handle health data; evaluate options for addressing privacy compliance; and discuss how to find value in health data in a manner that navigates legal considerations and risks.
• “Impact of Private Equity-Owned Physician Staffing Organizations on Patient Safety, Patient Care and Physician Workforce: A Case Study” — With private equity firms having deepened investments in the health care sector in recent years, particularly in staffing firms, an expert panel will discuss PE’s impact on the economically challenged U.S. health care delivery system, specifically on patient care models and the physician workforce. They will provide a case study and real-time examples to explore the operational realities faced by hospitals that support the engagement of PE-backed firms to meet their staffing needs, the opportunities and challenges doctors and advanced practice providers face when hospitals choose this staffing model and the legal issues raised for the hospitals, affected physicians and APPs.
• “Health Care Has a Math Problem: Evaluating Physician Shortages and Solutions” — Today, patient needs far outweigh physician supply. With a focus on the specialty of cardiology, a panel of experts will outline the physician shortage problem and discuss why it continues to grow, including due to burnout, demographic shifts in new workforce entrants and other underlying problems. They will offer potential solutions and associated legal pitfalls as well as provide a view of physician shortage projections, increase understanding of continuing physician shortages and worsening patient access and evaluate possible solutions.
• “The Grass Is Greener – Expanding Access to Alternative Therapies” — The regulatory structure for medical marijuana, now legal in 38 states, continues to evolve. Using Louisiana as an example, a panel of experts will discuss issues related to scope and expansion, patient access, legislative advocacy and product and program improvement. They will provide insight on the structure of a medical marijuana program and conversion of oversight from the board of pharmacy to the department of health; ongoing efforts to improve the program; physician and health care provider engagement; the evolution of medical marijuana product offerings and treatable conditions; and the potential for decriminalization of other therapies, such as psilocybin.
For additional information on the conference, visit www.americanbar.org/groups/health_law.
(https://www.americanbar.org/news/abanews/aba-news-archives/2024/09/health-care-delivery-aba-health-law-conference/)