This course focuses on the health care needs of the elderly in long term and post-acute care. This health care sector includes short-term care following a hospital stay, nursing homes, home care, hospice care, assisted living, life plan retirement communities and senior housing for more independent seniors. The course will touch on some of the many legal, policy, and demographic challenges facing the long term and post-acute care sector, including staffing shortages, emerging remote monitoring and artificial intelligence tools, in lieu of hands-on care, and the implications of these innovations on quality of care; malpractice, financing, regulatory oversight, and even cultural challenges as more and more seniors come to expect a menu of care options beyond the traditional nursing home setting. Other legal and health policy topics include potential fraud and abuse risks, industry consolidation as stand-alone operators struggle to survive, and the role of the not-for-profit sector.
