Health Law Pathway

The health care industry comprises more than one-sixth of the entire economy—larger even than the automobile industry.  It is also a large consumer of legal services.  Law firms ranging from the largest to the smallest provide legal services to hospitals, health insurance companies, nursing homes, physicians' practices, home health agencies, and pharmaceutical and device manufacturers, to name some of the more prominent.  In addition, many of the larger providers of health care goods and services employ a large number of lawyers in-house.  Although there a few areas of health law that are substantively unique—such as Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement, certificate of need requirements, and fraud and abuse prohibitions—much of health law involves the application of other areas of law—such as corporate law, employment law, and real estate law—to the health care industry’s special circumstances.