Gerontology 501 : Legal and regulatory issues within long ...



Gerontology 501: Applied Legal and Regulatory Issues in Aging

Professor: Julia Walsh, J.D.

Email: juliarwa@usc.edu

Phone: 949-292-5199 (Cell, you can call or text)

Fridays: 10:00 a.m. to 12:50 p.m.

Office Hours: Fridays from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. or by appointment

Introduction

The world is currently facing an “aging boom” as the percentage of the population that is over age 65 rises. This demographic shift has triggered increasing regulation of the delivery of services to an aging population. A practical understanding of laws and regulations that apply to older persons is important for anyone who intends to pursue a career in gerontology or related fields. This course will cover a variety of topics in elder law, with special emphasis on the application of laws and regulations in real-world situations.

Learning Objectives

Students will be able to:

1) Understand how federal, state and local laws and regulations apply to the delivery of services to an aging population

1) Understand the human resource process within the confines of legal and regulatory issues

1) Mitigate legal exposure through customer service

1) Understand how to access regulations and work with regulatory agencies in making correct operational decisions

Readings

There will be no textbooks that you will need to purchase for the course. I will be posting excerpts from different textbooks plus other articles on a weekly basis. These readings are designed to help foster productive responses from topics that will be posted in the discussion section of Blackboard.

Discussion/Class Participation:

Each week, I will post two topics of discussion regarding the information discussed during lecture and from the readings. You are expected to respond to each of these discussion topics. Posts will be graded based on quality, quantity and the level of interaction between students. This interaction is meant to replicate the discussion that

typically occurs in a classroom setting and may lead to other avenues of discussion. Students are encouraged to respond to each other’s posts.

Articles and Responses

There will be a current event section on the blackboard. Each student is required to post an article on legal and regulatory issues that are relevant to the aging population, and then lead the discussion on the article. Students will be able to sign up for a specific week when the article will be posted.

Some weeks may have more than one article and discussion leader in order to accommodate schedules. Students leading the discussion are expected to email the instructor the article and initial discussion question(s) based on the article. The instructor will create a new forum for the question/topic and the discussion leader will then take over moderation duties for the duration of the topic.

You must also reply to each of the articles posted by your classmates.

Due: Discussions will begin each week on Friday afternoon and will continue until the following Friday at 10:00 a.m. PST. Discussion leaders must email the instructor (juliarwa@usc.edu) no later than 10:00 a.m. PST on the day the topic begins & moderate the discussion until the topic closes. Weekend participation is optional, but is open so that all schedules are accommodated.

Critical Thinking Assignments

There will be two critical thinking assignments besides the midterm and the final. They will test your ability to apply laws and regulations to hypothetical situations and make operational decisions. You will be asked to draft a short paper, 2-3 pages in length double-spaced, with your analysis and response to the hypothetical question to demonstrate your understanding of a particular concept or issues. I will post the specifics regarding each assignment two weeks prior to the due date.

Critical Thinking Assignment #1 Due 9/17 (Monday) by 11:00 p.m. PST

Critical Thinking Assignment #2 Due 11/13 (Tuesday) by 11:00 p.m. PST

Midterm Project

Summary: Obtain a state survey for a skilled nursing facility. You can do this by downloading the survey from the web at , or by visiting the facility and obtaining the survey from the administrator. State surveys are public information and have to be available for anyone that asks for them. Please write a paper that critiques their survey. Do you think the deficiencies were valid? Do you agree that their plan of correction would prevent the same deficiencies from happening in the future? What types of incidents that may be litigated could come from a result of those deficiencies and how would attorneys exploit the survey and use it to their advantage in court? Please do not be confined to these questions as you explore the survey process. Prior surveys are also available through the website given above. You can use surveys from prior years as a basis of comparison to see if the facility improved its ratings.

The paper should be 5-8 pages double-spaced. The paper should be submitted through Blackboard no later than 11:00 p.m. PST on 10/15. Although you can type directly into Blackboard, it is better to save your paper in the Microsoft Word format (.doc or .docx) with a title of the file set as your last name & “midterm” (e.g. smith_midterm.docx). Required format is 12 point font with one-inch margins. Citations can be in APA or MLA format. If you have any problems submitting the assignment through Blackboard, you can e-mail the paper to juliarwa@usc.edu.

Due: 10/15 by 11:00 p.m. PST

Final project

The final project will involve a long-term care facility that has multiple issues in each level of care. You will be given a hypothetical scenario and will have to provide the regulatory implications of the issues that are going wrong and how you would fix them in order to mitigate the legal consequences that could occur.

The paper should be 10-15 pages double-spaced. The paper should be submitted through Blackboard no later than 10:00 a.m. PST on 12/17. It should be saved in the Microsoft Word format (.doc or .docx) and the title of the file should be your last name & “midterm” (e.g. smith_midterm.docx). Required format is 12 point font with one-inch margins. Citations can be in APA or MLA format. As with the midterm, if you have any problems submitting the assignment through Blackboard, you can e-mail the paper to juliarwa@usc.edu.

Due: 12/17 by 10:00 a.m. PST

Grading

Articles and Responses 15%

Discussion Topics/Class Participation 15%

Critical Thinking Assignments 20%

Midterm Paper 20%

Final Paper 30%

Statement for Students with Disabilities

Any student requesting academic accommodations based on a disability is required to register with Disability Services and Programs (DSP) each semester. A letter of verification for approved accommodations can be obtained from DSP. Please be sure the letter is delivered to me as early in the semester as possible. DSP is located in STU 301 and is open 8:30 a.m.–5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. The phone number for DSP is (213) 740-0776.

Statement on Academic Integrity

USC seeks to maintain an optimal learning environment. General principles of academic honesty include the concept of respect for the intellectual property of others, the expectation that individual work will be submitted unless otherwise allowed by an instructor, and the obligations both to protect one’s own academic work from misuse by others as well as to avoid using another’s work as one’s own. All students are expected to understand and abide by these principles. Scampus, the Student Guidebook, contains the Student Conduct Code in Section 11.00, while the recommended sanctions are located in Appendix A: . Students will be referred to the Office of Student Judicial Affairs and Community Standards for further review, should there be any suspicion of academic dishonesty. The Review process can be found at: .

8/31 Introduction / Orientation

• Overview of the Class

• History of Laws and Regulations in the U.S.

• Looking forward – demographic shifts and policy issues

9/7 Ethics and Decision Making

• Who is the client

Power of attorney

Conservatorship/Guardianship

9/14 Legal aspects of death and dying

Informed consent

Wrongful death

Assisted Suicide

Advanced directives vs. power of attorney

Critical Thinking Assignment #1 Due 9/17

9/21 Fair housing and ADA

Discrimination

* Race

* Sexual orientation

* Age

* Religion

Pets

Physical ability

Advertising/Marketing

9/28 Medicare and Medicaid

10/5 Skilled Nursing

Staffing requirements

Food service

Architecture and design

Clinical capabilities

Medicare/ Medicaid

Other payment sources

10/12 Residential Care Facilities

Assisted living

Dementia care

Board and care homes

* Staffing

* Design

* Clinical capabilities

* Payment sources

Mid term is due by 10/15

10/19 Home Health / Hospice Care

10/26 Human Resources

Hiring

Management

11/2 Human Resources

Progressive Discipline

Termination

Legal issues

Critical Thinking Assignment #2 Due 11/13

11/9 Ownership Structure

For profit

Not for profit

* Tax exempt status issues

11/16 Fitting information technology within the regulatory environment of long term care

HIPAA

Digital record keeping

Call systems - pros and cons

11/30 Mitigating legal exposure through customer service

12/7 Risk management and insurance issues

Workers compensation

General liability

Abuse

Regulatory agencies: roles and responsibilities

Final paper is due by 12/17 by 10:00 a.m. PST

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