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• Organizations, Associations and Agencies
• Dictionaries and Tools
• Journals and Full-Text Materials
• Internet Guides and General Resources
• Federal and International Legislation
• State Health Legislation
• Consumer and Patient Information
• Other Resources

  Medical Law Resource Guide

organizations, associations and agencies

• Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)
  AHRQ is a federal agency concerned with quality and evidence-based information. It provides links to documents, reports, legislation and other useful information for health professionals and consumers. An example of a relevant conference document is Evidence: Its Meanings in Health Care and in Law
• American Association of Medical Colleges- Government Affairs and Advocacy
  Links to current federal issues, related documents and government sites of interest to physicians and health care administrators.
• American Bar Association - Health Law Section
  The ABA site offers links to portals, continuing education, journals and other resources. Some materials restricted to members.
• American College of Legal Medicine
  'The College: educates and assists healthcare and legal professionals, advances the administration of justice, influences health policy and improves healthcare, promotes research and scholarship, and facilitates peer group interaction.'
• American Hospital Association Compliance Site
  Site maintains a list of links to current issues of interest to hospitals; the AHA Regulatory Standards Manual is for members only.
• American Medical Association - Legal Issues for Physicians
  Includes links to current medical issues and regulatory and compliance information.
• The American Society of Law, Medicine and Ethics
  'Providing scholarship, debate, and critical thought to the community of professionals at the nexus of law, health care, and ethics.'
• American Health Lawyers Association
  Links to publications, conferences, news, listservs, and journals.  Membership required for access to most content.
• Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO)
  The primary accreditation organization for healthcare facilities provides links to standards information, government relations, HIPAA and other related materials.
• Medical Society of Virginia
  Links to bills of interest (Talking Points) as well as the current legislative agenda and news items.
• World Association for Medical Law
  Links to medical law publications, courses and legislation from various countries.

dictionaries and tools

• Introduction to Basic Legal Citation - Cornell Law School
  Based on the 18th edition of the Blue Book (updated January 2006).
• Using the Shepard's Citations Service - LexisNexis
  A tool helpful in determining the validity of a legal case and a finding aid for additional supportive documents.
• Online Legal Dictionaries
  A selection of legal and other specialty dictionaries from yourDictionary.com
• Online Medical Dictionaries and Glossaries
  An extensive listing of general and specialized tools from yourDictionary.com
• AAMC Government Affairs & Advocacy Site Tutorial
  An online tutorial to help locate 'information organized around legislative and regulatory information "hubs" in the areas of teaching hospitals, teaching physicians, HIPAA and other topics.
• Legal Medicine
  An interactive site from the VCU Health System that surveys 8 topic areas including Risk Management, Consent to Treatment, Medical Malpractice in Virginia, and Special Patients. Each unit has objectives, pre-test, case, course content and a post-test.
• American Health Lawyers Association Listservs
  AHLA hosts 17 moderated e-mail discussion groups covering all aspects of healthcare law.
• Portals, Indexes and Search Engines
  A selection from the Center for Health Law Studies, St. Louis University School of Law.

journals and full-text materials

• Lexis Nexis VCU
  Use the Legal Research link to find full-text law reviews, legal news, case law, statutes and regulations. Available to VCU users on both campuses OR off-campus with EZProxy.
  
  
• PubMed VCU
  Search for literature on health law topics indexed by PubMed, from the National Library of Medicine. Useful MeSH headings include Legislation, the names of statutes, the use of the subheading legislation & jurisprudence and other health care-related terms. Available to VCU users on both campuses OR off-campus with EZProxy.
  
  
• VCU Libraries E-Journals VCU
  Titles include Annals of Health Law, DePaul Journal of Health Care Law, Journal of Contemporary Health Law and Policy and others. Available to VCU users on both campuses OR off-campus with EZProxy.

internet guides and general resources

• BNA Health Care
  Daily news of developments in health care law and policy.
• Davis Wright Tremaine LLP - Health Care Practice
  Links from the law firm in the areas of advisory bulletins, compliance, and general health care links.
• Employment Law- An Overview Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School
  Links to federal and state departments and legislative materials on employment law, labor law and collective bargaining and arbitration.
• FindLaw - Health Law
  An array of resources including medical illustrations and anatomical models, employment links, related government agencies and and message boards.
• Health Law Sites by Topic
  From Antitrust to Telemedicine, links selected by the Center for Health Law Studies, St. Louis School of Law.
• Health Law Websites
  Indiana University School of Law links on bioethics, provider liability, healthcare financing and others.
• HealthPathfinder
  Contains hundreds of annotated links from the University of Houston's Health Law and Policy Institute to sites pertaining to health law, health policy, and general health.
• Health Hippo
  Health Hippo is a collection of policy and regulatory materials related to health care' and includes a page of related search engines.
• Health Law: An Overview - Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School
  Links to federal and state departments and legislative materials in the area of health law.
• HealthLeaders - Health news articles from 100 newspapers and periodicals, with a business focus. Free.
• HospitalAdminLinx Links to current news on law, ethics, health policy, managed care and other health care administration topics, including a daily email newsletter.

federal and international legislation

• CDC Public Health Law Program
  'Information on public health laws, education and training, case studies in using law as a public health tool, and other resources developed by CDC and by a growing number of partners.'
• Department of Health & Human Services - Policies and Regulations
  U.S. health care standards, laws & regulations, policies and guidelines, review boards and testimony links.
• Food And Drug Administration - Laws Enforced and Related Statutes
• Legislative Branch Resources on GPO Access
• Code of Federal Regulations
  The codification of the general and permanent rules published in the Federal Register by the executive departments and agencies of the Federal Government.
• United States Code
  The codification by subject matter of the general and permanent laws of the United States, divided by broad subjects into 50 titles.
• THOMAS: U.S. Legislation on the Internet
  From the Library of Congress, legislation, The Congressional Record, and committee information.
• WHO International Digest of Health Legislation
  Contains a selection of national and international health legislation, summarized or mentioned by title, with links to full text where available.

state health legislation

• Forum for State Health Policy Leadership
  The mission of the site "is to improve decision making and leadership among state legislators with respect to current and emerging critical health policy issues."
• Virginia General Assembly Legislative Information System
  Code and regulations, as well as bill and other legislative activity links.
• Virginia Department of Health
• Virginia Department of Health Professions - Case Decisions in last 90 days
  Health Regulatory Boards list Case Decisions and provide links to an 'Online License Look-up'.
• Virginia Department of Health Professions - Law & Policy - VDH
  Includes links to laws and regulations which pertain to all health professions as well as laws for a specific board, and regulatory work of Virginia's health regulatory boards.
• Virginia Health Information
  Information on 'hospitals, health insurance types, HMOs, nursing facilities, physicians, retirement centers and other health care providers. VHI also licenses databases and creates special reports for employers, researchers, consultants, and health care providers.''
• Virginia State Bar - Health Law Section

consumer and patient information

• Health HIPPO
  Links to news, law, consumer guides and other tools on specific health care issues such as HIPAA, insurance, Family and Medical Leave Act for the public.
• National Health Law Program
  Designed to provide ' Justice in Health Care for Low Income People' the site has links to news, Medicare, Medicaid, managed care, advocacy information and other materials.

other resources

• Running A Hospital
  Blog by Paul Levy, President and CEO, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.
• Let's Talk Health Care
  Blog by Charlie Baker, President and CEO, Harvard Pilgrim.
• Medical Legal Humor
  Stuart M. Rees' look at the lighter side.
• National Guideline Clearinghouse
  A database of clinical practice guidelines which can be helpful in determining the standard of care in medical malpractice cases.