Legal Aspects

Talking about the legal aspects of healthcare administration means taking into consideration the law that governs all the transactions that are carried out within the medical field so as to protect both the medical practitioner and the patient, with a dominant motive of bringing about improved quality of life devoid of diseases. It is believed widely that knowledge and the strengthening of these legal aspects will also bring ameliorations in the field of medicine and to this end, efforts are being made to make this set of information on the legal aspects as accessible as possible by feeding them into both the electronic media such as computers, televisions, and radios among others, and print media comprising the newspapers, journals, magazines, and periodicals among others.

The ninth edition of the legal aspects of health tried to fulfill this purpose by taking a historical approach to the legal aspects of health care so as to showcase the accruals that have been made through these undertakings plainly when addressing their counterparts who are the pharmacists, physicians, physical therapists, assistant physicians, imaging technicians and respiratory therapists among others.

Apart from the eighth edition chapter which revised the important issues of patient safety and sought to provide self assessment in evaluating the prospects of healthcare organizations, the World Wide Search chapter sought to inculcate global awareness in health and law –related spheres. This culminated in the ‘’last chapter journey to excellence’’ which after a decade of survey introduced an exotic approach into bolstering these laws to better the medical field by bringing healthcare institutions together (Pozgar & Santucci, 2006).

On the other hand, the basic concepts of insurance portend the derivative, a table which shows the financial transactions that occur between two players; the insurer and the insured, in the field of insurance. The balance between what the two should pay each other being directly proportional to the magnitude of the danger involved for both parties. Although this concept is used as a formula to calculate the “expected payoff”, it is not yet adequate since it ignores the concept of inflation.

According to Durbin, (1990) this problem can be solved by “discounting payoffs by a risk less return” and “using risk –adjusted probabilities that is “risk-neutral probabilities”. When calculating the payoffs. In a case whereby the insurer fails to dissolve risks through decentralization, the standoff can be resolved by “assuming the market price to be the value which will be used to infer the risk-neutral probabilities that determines these values”

Durbin maintains that workers compensation insurance differs from liability insurance since in the former it is mandatory for employers to subscribe for their employees with the major cost component of workers compensation being loss of wages. This also covers occupational injuries and diseases picked at work-the employer assumes responsibility regardless of whose fault it was. It covers against dangers ranging from injuries, diseases, rehabilitation of the employee, loss of salary, medical treatment, to death. Conversely, liability insurance is a coverage that protects against claims against the insurance holder of property damage, personal injury, and negligence.

The complainants could be the employees, the repair people, delivery people who may come into contact with the business property. There are two types of liability insurance: liabilities to non-members which covers mostly under a Comprehensive General Liability (CGL) terms and to members of the firm comprising employees and partners. The CGL normally covers payments resulting from accidents, immediate medical expense as a result of the above, the attorney fee and investigation expenses and the cost of court bonds.

The difference between claims made and occurrence coverage is that the latter caters for claims made and reported to the insurer while the contract remains in force. During the primordial years when the policy is being renewed, the premium increases to take into account the potentiality of claims being reported from both current and previous policy periods. The former, normally regarded as the traditional form of coverage on the other hand is used to provide professional liability insurance. It caters for injury or damage incurred during the policy period regardless of when the claims are reported. Occurrence coverage also provides long term protection for any covered claims that may arise at any time in future (Robinson & Scherlen, 2007).

Reference.

Durbin, D. & Borba, P. (1993).Workers compensation. United States: Kluwer Academic.

Durbin, T.B. & Durbin, T.B. Jr. (1990).Group insurance: basic concepts and alternatives. United States: American College Insurance Group

Pozgar, G & Santucci, N. (2006).Legal aspects of healthcare and administration. United States: James &Bartlett Publishers.

Robinson, M. & Scherlen R. (2007). Drug control. United States of America (USA): State University of New York Press.