The Week in Health Law

Frank conducts a wide-ranging discussion with lawyer, ethicist, and historian Paul Lombardo.

A conversation with health economist Dr. Melinda Buntin. We discuss Medicaid expansion, Medicare costs, effect of the recession on health care costs, CBO scoring, MIPS, plus a lightning round.

A conversation with health financing expert Dr. J.B. Silvers. We discuss the relative health of exchanges, the nature of health insurance, the 3 Rs, the public option “Hail Mary,” Medicare being more innovative than private healthcare, evolving payment models, the search for teamwork, patient safety, institutional culture, and so much more!

A conversation with David Barton Smith, the author of “The Power to Heal: Civil Rights, Medicare, and the Struggle to Transform America's Health Care System.” We discuss health discrimination and disparities and the role of Medicare in the desegregation of health care during the civil rights era. Plus a lightning round.

A wide-ranging discussion of drug innovation issues with Harvard lawyer-epidemiologist Ameet Sarpatwari, plus a lightning round.

Nick Bagley discusses House v. Burwell and the 3Rs of health insurance. Elizabeth Weeks Leonard discusses the 60 day rule, increased civil penalties and Escobar. Nic Terry discusses Chanko v. ABC and recent HHS-OCR enforcement.

Leo Beletsky discusses there opiate crisis and the curative but unfunded mandate. Erin Fusee Brown discusses Universal health Services v. U.S., ex rel. Escobar. Frank Pasquale with a tour de force on MACRA’s Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS).

Allison Hoffman discusses Gobeille v. Liberty Mutual Insurance and Zubik v. Burwell. Nicole Huberfeld discusses Whole Women’s Health v. Hellerstedt. Abbe Gluck describes a new “book course” approach to teaching health law and the importance of health law perspectives in constitutional law, fed courts, etc.

After a lightning round a discussion on legal epidemiology and related topics with the CDC’s Matthew Penn and Ross Silverman.

An overdue lightning round followed by a great conversation about some of the pressing issues faced by today's physicians, particularly those who practice in urgent care settings.

We discuss Professor Baradaran’s book “How the Other Half Banks” and explore banking’s connections to and parallels with the health care system.

An in-depth discussion with Professor Lupton about the health implications of issues raised in her new book, “The Quantified Self." Topics discussed include the "activated" patient, coercion and wellness plans, and the tendency of big data discussions to turn dystopian.

A broad-ranging discussion about innovation in drug and related markets. How do patent law, FDA regulation, and CMS rate-setting intersect? Is more coordination warranted or possible? Can government insurance systems be leveraged to spur innovation in drugs we need but which may not be particularly profitable?

A special episode of TWIHL discussing health law social media, recorded live at the 39th Annual Health Law Professors Conference organized here at Boston University by the American Society of Law, Medicine and Ethics.

Hank Greely discusses his new HUP book “The End of Sex and the Future of Human Reproduction” and the implications of what he terms “easy PGD.”