Center Director

Professor Janet L. Dolgin, Director

Welcome

Hofstra Law School’s Institute for Health Law and Policy was designed to meet the need for education and training of attorneys in the rapidly expanding field of health law, provide instruction for health care professionals who are encountering increasingly complicated laws affecting the delivery of health care, and provide a center of excellence for the study and formulation of health care policy.

Health care expenditures in the U.S. have grown to approximately $2.2 trillion annually. That represents more than 16% of the gross national product (GNP). In all likelihood, health care costs will continue to increase in both dollar amount and percent of GNP. Moreover, the health care system in the U.S. has failed in many aspects. Although the U.S. spends significantly more on health care than any other nation, it ranks below most developed countries in the parameters that measure the quality of health care. More than one third of people in the U.S., aged 19 to 64, are uninsured or underinsured.

In responding to these and other shortcomings of the U.S. health care system, the federal Congress and state legislatures have passed many complex laws that require careful study and analysis by attorneys and that make health care providers increasingly dependent on lawyers. At the same time, health care providers, including physicians, nurses, hospitals, nursing homes, home health agencies, and insurers, need some training for dealing day to day with the complexities of health care law.

The Institute aims to participate in the development and assessment of health care policies that will provide for stabilizing costs while improving the quality of health care for everyone.