Health Care Policy, Health Care Law - Term Paper Example

The policies govern almost all areas of health care including finances, operations and management, and public, preventive and long-term health care (Hoffman, 2003). Most health care policies are based on the integral concept of universal access to health care for all alike, irrespective of their race, caste, culture and socioeconomic status. Health care policies can be broadly classified into two main types, viz. single-payer system and social insurance system. In the United States, the existing health care policy is an amalgamation of both these systems (Hoffman, 2003). Examples of health care policies include Medicare and Medicaid which are government-based health care insurance programs (Hoffman, 2003).

Health care law is a branch of law that encompasses all the federal, state and local legislation and policies regarding the health care industry, which cater to both the health care providers and those at the receiving end of the spectrum, i.e. the patients (Texas Board of Legal Specialization, 2010). Health care law is multifaceted and includes ‘TORTS, contracts, antitrust, and insurance (West's Encyclopedia of American Law, 2008)’. Some examples of health care laws include laws regarding medical malpractice, professional misconduct, informed consent and contracts (West's Encyclopedia of American Law, 2008).

Regulatory Bodies are agencies or organizations at either a public or a private level that are formed with the aim of supervising and exercising control over their concerned domains. The role of regulatory bodies is multi-tiered and multi-faceted. They function to register all health care practitioners and medical personnel and ensure the maintenance of and adherence to the pre-requisite standards of health care provision by these registered individuals. Moreover, they also ensure the safety and protection of the patients accessing the available health care facilities (British Medical Association, 2009). Examples of functions of regulatory bodies include accreditation and licensing and audits of insurance companies.

Health care compliance refers to the adherence to the preset standards, including both ethical and practice standards which have been set by the law and the regulatory bodies, by health care practitioners. Examples of health care compliance include reimbursement, grant accounting, managed care and OSHA, amongst others (HCCA, 2010).
The health care system functions via a complex interplay between health care policies, which govern the health care law, the implementation of which is overlooked by regulatory bodies which ensure health care compliance on the part of the health care providers. Thus, from a systems perspective, the components of the health care policies formulate the health care law. The health care law then sets and defines standards that are to be followed by all health care practitioners. The implementation of these laws is ensured by regulatory bodies which ensure that medical practitioners adhere to the compliance standards.