Evolving Role of Health Policy

The law has a profound effect on the way health care in the United States is organized, financed, and delivered, as well as on the means by which quality and accountability are maintained and the public's health and environment are protected. Furthermore, as the U.S. health system — which consumes one-seventh of the national economy and whose structure and operations have worldwide implications — continues to experience its greatest transformation in more than a century, health law is undergoing major evolution, with enormous implications for the health system as a whole. Indeed, in recent years, laws relating to the U.S. health system have assumed an increasingly important role in foreign policy and international health practice.

As recently as a generation ago, health law operated within relatively circumscribed parameters. Today, however, health law is recognized as a major area of specialized law practice and as one of the broadest and fastest-growing areas of the legal profession. Nowhere is this recognition and growth more evident than in Washington, D.C., where health law occupies center stage, from Medicare and national health reform legislation to laws that regulate the health care industry and health care transactions, environmental laws, and laws protecting the public from unsafe medical care.

Because health law is so important to the operation of the U.S. health system, health lawyers occupy a critical position within the system. Whether the issue is traditional civil or criminal firm-based law practice, Congressional legislation, agency regulation, lawmaking at the state and local level, or consulting, the demand is high for individuals who combine legal training with specialization in health services management, public health, health care practice, and health policy analysis.