Newswise — A new and comprehensive analysis of the America’s Affordable Health Choices Act (HR 3200) provides a detailed examination of the major changes in existing laws made by the measure. The analysis is part of an ongoing project of The George Washington University Hirsh Health Law and Policy Program, within the School of Public Health and Health Services (SPHHS), to advance public understanding of the legal dimensions of national health reform.
“We are witnessing one of the most significant and important discussions on the future of the American health care system in the nation’s history. The changes that are being considered will affect not only those laws that govern coverage, access, and financing, but also the relationship between law and matters of health care quality, health equity, system efficiency, and the formation and operation of health care markets,” said Sara Rosenbaum, Hirsh Professor of Health Law and Policy and Chair of the Department of Health Policy. Professor Jane Hyatt Thorpe, who directs the comparative analysis project for the Hirsh Program, added, “The comprehensive analysis of HR 3200 released today is uniquely designed to help policy makers, health professionals, and consumers understand how the legislation addresses reform and how these legislative reforms may in turn affect the course of law. ”
The comparative analysis uses a special health reform legal taxonomy developed by GW Hirsh Program faculty and staff. The taxonomy is an analytic tool that provides a uniform and consistent mechanism for understanding in detail the key elements of health reform, including access, coverage, affordability, quality, health, financing, and the organization of health care markets, across the various proposals. The taxonomy is used to generate an analytic and comparative analysis of the various proposals that can be viewed independently or comparatively (side by side) in a user-friendly format to provide a consistent and comparative understanding of each legislative proposal.
In addition to HR 3200, the taxonomy has been used to analyze the Healthy Americans Act (S. 391), the Patient’s Choice Act (S. 1099), and the American Health Security Act of 2009 (S. 703). Future additions will include legislative proposals as they move through the Senate. The comparative analysis and interactive tool is available on the Department of Health Policy’s Web site at www.gwumc.edu/sphhs/departments/healthpolicy/healthreform/.
About Hirsh Health Law and Policy ProgramThe Hirsh Health Law and Policy Program, one of the largest law and health policy educational endeavors in the nation, was established in 1997 and endowed by Dr. and Mrs. Harold and Jane Hirsh. Located in The George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services Department of Health Policy, the program offers unique educational opportunities designed to provide a solid grounding in health law and policy to candidates for law degrees, practicing lawyers who seek to specialize in health law and policy, and health policy students. Through an interdisciplinary approach, the program advances understanding of how the law influences all phases of health care, health policy and public health, and how the changing health care system affects traditional areas of the law. The program also prepares participants for a broad range of health law-related careers. For more information on the Hirsh Program, visit www.gwumc.edu/sphhs/departments/healthpolicy/Academics/hirshHealthLaw/index.cfm. For more information on the George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services, Department of Health Policy, visit www.gwumc.edu/sphhs/departments/healthpolicy.
About The George Washington University Medical CenterThe George Washington University Medical Center is an internationally recognized interdisciplinary academic health center that has consistently provided high-quality medical care in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area since 1824. The Medical Center comprises the School of Medicine and Health Sciences, the 11th oldest medical school in the country; the School of Public Health and Health Services, the only such school in the nation’s capital; GW Hospital, jointly owned and operated by a partnership between The George Washington University and a subsidiary of Universal Health Services, Inc.; and the GW Medical Faculty Associates, an independent faculty practice plan. For more information on GWUMC, visit www.gwumc.edu.
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