Because there seems to be growing interest in health care law at SCU Law, I thought I’d feature a few blogs today that explore health care law.  If you’re curious about a career in health care law, reading blogs by practitioners can be an excellent way to find out more about this specialty.  Most people tend to think that health care lawyers concentrate on medical malpractice or patient care issues, but actually, health care attorneys spend most of their time advising clients on financial and contractual relationships with other health care providers, Medicare and Medicaid laws, IRS rules for tax-exempt organizations, and licensing matters.  You can find out more about a career in health care law from this Harvard guide.  The following blogs from health care consultants, law firms, and attorneys will give you a solid idea of what’s going on in health care law today:  1) Health Care Law Blog from Holland and Hart; 2) Bob Coffield’s Health Care Law Blog; 3) HealthNex, a blog by IBM staff on electronic medical records and information technology; 4) The Health Care Blog by Matthew Holt, a health care consultant; 5) Jeff Drummond’s HIPAA Blog, which focuses on federal laws governing the privacy of medical records; and 6) Garlo Ward PC’s blog on long-term care law.  The best-known academic health care law blog is co-authored by Thomas Mayo and S. Elizabeth Malloy at HealthLawProf Blog.  Check out any of the blogrolls on these blogs to find more useful links to health care legal resources on the Internet.

The American Human Development Index announced its results today on the state of inequality in the United States and how it compares with other, industrialized, nations.  The report found that the United States currently ranks 42nd in the world in life expectancy, and 34th in infant mortality.  It also found that although the United States makes up but 5% of the world population, it comprises over 24% of the world's prisoners.  Perhaps most shocking, however, was the study's finding on the life expectancy gap.  It found that Asian-American men had the highest life expectancy, and African-American men the lowest.  The average difference in life expectancy between the two groups is a staggering 50-year difference.

American inequality highlighted by 30-year gap in life expectancy -- The Independent (UK)