Case study and research paper approaches

¶ … health law and administrative law, according to Jost (2004), are law domains that are representative of the various approaches to classification. By definition, "health law encompasses law as it affects a particular industry -- the health-care industry" (Jost 2004). This particular kind of classification, therefore, regulates the relationship between the various healthcare industry stakeholders, including, but not limited to, the government, patients, health-care professionals, and health-care providers. Administrative law on the other hand is defined by the Black's Law Dictionary as "the law governing the organization and operation of the executive branch of government (including independent agencies) and the relations of administrative agencies with the legislature, the executive, the judiciary, and the public" (Jost 2004).

The agencies I select in an attempt to define how such agencies interact with the health care industry are The Federal Trade Commission, the Food and Drug Administration, and the Department of Justice. To begin with, being an independent federal agency, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) concerns itself with the protection of consumers in an attempt to create a market that is not only competitive but also strong. This it does via the enforcement of a variety of laws -- particularly antitrust laws and consumer protection laws. It is important to note that the relevance of competition in the healthcare market cannot be overstated. This is more so the case given that it has some inherent benefits to consumers via the containment of costs, quality enhancement, and enhanced innovation. FTC ensures that firms in the health care industry do not engage in anticompetitive behavior that could be detrimental to consumers. One of the antitrust enforcement policies issued by FTC regards mergers and seeks to protect consumers against activities that are anticompetitive in nature. It should be noted that while this particular agency lacks the powers to enforce its rulings directly, it has the courts at its disposal for enforcement purposes.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), on the other hand, concerns itself with the regulation of the release of health-related products as well as foods items that are new in to market. In so doing, it seeks to protect members of the public from ingesting, making use of, or consuming cosmetic products, drugs, and foods that could be unsafe or impure. One of the areas where the agency is most renowned for its involvement is in the regulation of new drugs - particularly in their development stage. To fulfill its mandate, the agency has in place rules specifying mandatory new-drug clinical trials. It is for this reason that FDA closely follows the testing of numerous drugs that are pending release in an attempt to highlight how they affect their intended user. The influence FDA, therefore, has in the pharmaceutical and biotech industry is huge. On being established, the law, according to FDA (2015), "authorized FDA to demand evidence of safety of new drugs issue standards for food, and conduct factory inspections."

Next, we have the Department of Justice, or simply put, DOJ. This particular agency of the federal government is critical when it comes to not only the enforcement of federal laws, but also the allotment of justice for those found guilty of various crimes, and the enhancement of an impartial and fair justice system. Without this key agency, the federal government would lack the much needed arm to handle its legal work. There are many administrative units under DOJ that facilitate the enforcement of federal laws. For instance, DOJ has an initiative commonly referred to as HEAT -- Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team - whose mandate is to fast-track the prevention as well as prosecution of health care fraud.

Part 2

Discrimination in Providing Health Care Services

When seeking healthcare services, many people could encounter some form of discrimination on the basis of their race, gender, or even sexual orientation. It is important to note that although people are not always aware of this; there are various laws that seek to protect patients from differential treatment when seeking health care services. Specifically, patients are protected by Federal law from just about any kind of discrimination. Examples of the said protections:

Health insurers are prohibited, under the Affordable Care Act, from varying rates on the basis of an individual's health status or gender. An example: Patient A and Patient B should pay the same if they are comparable, regardless of the fact that one of the patients is a woman who on the basis of her gender could seek gynecological services from time to time.