Law and Healthcare System Administration - Research Paper Example

 There is no denying the fact that health care services are the aspect of social existence that touch the life of almost all the Americans in one way or other at the most crucial and sensitive times in their lives like death, birth and illness. In the last few decades, the technological developments have manifold enhanced the quality of health care and the prospects of patient recovery. The miracles unraveled by modern medicine have graduated the American health care system to be one of the best in the world. Still, it goes without saying that irrespective of the technological breakthroughs, the accessibility, cost and the quality of health care services have turned out to be salient legal and legislative issues. The gargantuan rise in the cost of healthcare services have placed the federal, state and local governments under immense stress, and irrespective of the high costs, not all the Americans have access to the same quality of health care. Hence, there came into existence multiple statutory provisions aimed at enhancing health care accessibility in an impartial and just manner. The health care administrators simply cannot ignore these statutory and ethical provisions during the course of their duty. In that context, the quality and sanctity of the physician-patient relationship is of immense importance. A patient needs to have the requisite confidence in the professional competence of one’s physician and must feel no hassles and restraints in being able to confide in one’s physician. There is no denying the fact that for a great proportion of physicians the quality and sanctity of their relationship with their patients is of pivotal importance. A viable physician-patient relationship is dependent on a number of imperatives like mutual respect, the availability of time, knowledge and skill competence, the perspective that the physician and patient tend to share, and the trust between the two of them. However, it does needs to be mentioned that the physician-patient relationship also comes under the jurisdiction of many legal norms and provisions aimed at formally consolidating the integrity of this relationship (Pozger, 2011). In a similar strain it also goes that the quality and integrity of the hospital-patient relationship pertains to the worth that a health care facility tends to place on one’s patients. Hospital-patient relationship is of cardinal importance in the sense that it is the patients who stand to be the eventual customers and consumers of health care services. A hospital needs to lay stress on the legal and ethical prerogatives like extending all the relevant information to a patient so as to help one to make informed decisions and leaving the final choice to the patient as to the health care services one wants to avail or avoid. Choice is of paramount relevance in the hospital-patient relationships and it is the duty of the health care deliverers and administrators to assure that the patient is properly informed as to how to avail any particular health care service. Again these prerogatives are also protected and governed by legal provisions (Pozger, 2011). It is a fact that many relationships, be it physician-patient or hospital-patient are governed by contracts. Also, many external legal principles set limits on the nature and content of a contractual relationship in health care (Miller, 2006, p. 155). As every person with a commonsense knows that a contract happens to be an agreement between a patient and a health care entity or facility that can be enforced legally. However, a positive minded health care administrator needs to focus on the positive aspects of the contract principle in the sense that the primary purpose of a contract is to facilitate compliance and not to create situations and conditions that lead to litigation (Miller, 2006, p. 155). The same stands to be true of the warranties. A warranty is a promise made by a health care entity or facility that certain conditions will be met while delivering the health care services (Kavaler & Spiegel, 1997, p. 373). Any failure to uphold this promise by a health care entity or facility simply amounts to a breach of warranty that is subject to legal measures (Kavaler & Spiegel, 1997, p. 373). It goes without saying that most of the health care professionals and facilities need to be careful while extending warranties in the sense that in the sphere of health care, there always stand to be variations and discrepancies between what is expected and the end results. This applies to both the expressed warranties that are discernibly expressed and the inferred warranties extended in the sales and marketing literature (Kavaler & Spiegel, 1997, p. 373). Yes, it is a fact that in health care, the burden of proving the salient elements of negligence lies on the plaintiff (Stone & Matthews, 1996). These elements are that the physician owned a duty of care to the plaintiff; the physician violated the standards of care as they are applicable, the plaintiff suffered an injury owing to this negligence that could be compensated for and the injury could actually be placed in proximity to the challenged negligence (Stone & Matthews, 1996). However, this does not mean that the health care professionals should not take seriously the ethical and legal aspects of their conduct and duty. In that contract it needs to mentioned that though the governing board of a health care corporation has no direct role in the day to day operations of a health care facility within its scope, it is expected to honor many legal and statutory responsibilities like monitoring and providing inputs in short term strategic plans and approving the long term strategic plans (McDonagh, 2005). The budget of a health care corporation is also approved by the governing board (McDonagh, 2005). The governing board also adopts policies pertaining to billing and credit collection, fees, repairs, renovations, leasing, and the like (McDonagh, 2005). Hence the governing board of a health care corporation does have a decisive say in looking to it that the corporation complies with its legal responsibilities and corporate social responsibilities. The primary functions of laws are to assure that the things proceed smoothly and in a just manner. Therefore the health care administrators need to respect the laws in both their spirit as well as content. References Kavaler, Florence & Spiegel, Allen D. (1997). Risk Management in Healthcare Institutions. New York: Jones & Bartlett. McDonagh, Kathryn J. (2005). The Changing Face of Healthcare Boards. Frontiers of Health Services Management, 21(3), 31-33. Miller, Robert D. (2006). Problems in Healthcare Law. New York: Jones & Bartlett. Pozger, George D. (2011). Legal Aspects of Healthcare Administration. New York: Jones & Bartlett. Stone, Julie & Matthews, Joan. (1996). Complementary Medicine and the Law. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Read More