Health Law Research Online Good for You or Hazardous to your Health? Spencer L. Simons Elizabeth Schneider SWALL Annual Meeting, 2006 Austin, Texas April.

Health Law Research OnlineGood for You or Hazardous to your Health?

Spencer L. Simons Elizabeth Schneider

SWALL Annual Meeting, 2006Austin, TexasApril 7, 2006

Health Sites v. Health Law Sites• Legal Information Institute

http://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/index.php/Health

• ABA Health Law Sectionhttp://www.ABAnet.org/health/home/html

• Health Law Section, State Bar of Texashttp://www.texhealthlaw.org

• Guide to Health Law, Hieros Gamoshttp://www.hg.org/health.html

• Georgetown University Law Library Research Guide - Health Law

http://www.ll.georgetown.edu/guides/health.cfm

• Government Accounting Office Reportshttp://www.gao.gov/docsearch/topic.php

Introduction• Assumption: we all are now familiar with the WWW and

“how to”. • “Health Law”: subsumes many subjects. • Related Information: Medical, public health,

pharmaceutical, organizations and professions. • High and growing importance for professionals and

general public. • Result: Astounding number of sites of high quality, and

plenty of bad ones. • Focus: a few of the best sites for critical purposes,

mostly for the professional librarian assisting professionals or the public.

• A warning about traps for the unwary.

Overview• Introduction• Glossaries and Acronyms• Megaportals and Pathfinders• Health Law specialty sites• "Warm up" sites for the non-specialist• Best medical literature sites• Key reference works • Medical images• Directories and Physician information• Medical Statistics• Bioethics• Elder laws• Consumer-oriented sites• Warning to the unwary

Glossaries & Acronyms

• Glossaries of Commonly Used Health Care Termshttp://www.academyhealth.org/publications/glossary.htm

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/encyclopedia.html

• Acronyms

http://www.CMS.hhs.gov/acronyms

MegaPortals & Pathfinders• Hieros Gamos

Provides many links to legal and news resources, directories, and practice oriented materials. Intended audience; law firms.http://www.hg.org

• Health Pathfinder – University of Houston Law CenterProvides hundreds of annotated links from the UHLC Health Law

and Policy Institute’s web page. Covers health law, health policy, and general health. http://www.law.uh.edu/healthlaw/pathfinder/homepage.html

• Health Law & Medicine PageAn extraordinarily inclusive page created by Prof. Tom Mayo, SMU Law School. Includes much of what you’ll find on other portals and pathfinders, plus surprising things representing Prof. Mayo’s personal interests. Much on Texas. Worth exploring.http://faculty.smu.edu/tmayo/twmlinkshealthmedicine.htm#misc

Health Law Topical Sites• HIPAA

HHS guide to HIPAA. http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/hipaa/

• Medicare/Medicaid Guides for the Public Official sites to inform the public. http://www.ssa.gov/mediinfo.htm

• Medical MalpracticeGuide to understanding elements and strategies involved in medical malpractice claims, including the litigation process, medical experts,

and confidential status of medical records. Many links to common examples of malpractice in medical specialties and procedures.

http://www.lectlaw.com/tmed.html

• Healthcare ManagementThis site is provided by a consultant, but has a wealth of links to information on healthcare administration, finance, managed care, directories, and more for hospital, physician, nurse and other

executives.http://www.pohly.com/books_index.html

“Warm Up” Sites

• MedicineNet.comProvides easy to read introductions to many medical topics. A

good place to start before using more technical resources. Includes a medical dictionary.

http://www.medicinenet.com

• Aetna IntelliHealthProvides information to the public from expert sources, including Harvard Medical School and Columbia University School of Dental and Oral Surgery,

http://www.intellihealth.com

Best Literature Sites

• Entrez MedLineA service of the National Library of Medicine, includes over 15 million citations for biomedical articles back to the 1950's. Citations are from MEDLINE and additional life science journals. PubMed includes links to many sites providing full text articles. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi

• PubMed CentralPubMed Central is the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) free

digital archive of biomedical and life sciences journal literature. http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov

• MeSH Terms & Definitions, at Health on the Net Foundationwww.hon.ch/home.html

Key Reference Works

• Physicians Desk ReferenceFor professionals and the public. Registration required, but free.

http://www.pdr.net/pdrnet/librarian

• Merck Manual of Diagnosis & Therapyhttp://www.merck.com/mrkshared/mmanual/home.jsp

• American Heart Association’s Heart & Stroke Encyclopediahttp://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jthml?identifier=10000056

Medical Images

• Numerous sites contain medical images.

• Medical Images on the Web Provided by McGoogan Library of Medicine at the U. of Nebraska

Medical Center, provides links to a number of collections of images.

http://www.unmc.edu/library/reference/medimage.html

Directories & Physician Information

• National Health Information Center A health information referral service, which puts health professionals

and consumers who have health questions in touch with appropriate organizations.http://www.health.gov/nhic/

• American Medical Association’s Doctor Finder Provides basic professional information on virtually all MDs and DOs in U.S. and possessions.

http://dbapps.ama-assn.org/aps/amahg.htm

• Docinfo.org Provides public access to disciplinary records. Maintained by

the Federation of State Medical Boards. http://www.docinfo.org/

Medical Statistics• National Center for Health Statistics

http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/default.htm

• Glasgow University Library’s Medical Statistics on the Internet

http://www.lib.gla.ac.uk/Depts/MOPS/Stats/medstats.shtml

• Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ Research, Statistics, Data & Systems

http://new.cms.hhs.gov/home/rsds.asp

• American Cancer Society’s statistical data site http://www.cancer.org/docroot/STT/stt_0.asp

• Section 3 of the Statistical Abstract of the United States http://www.census.gov/prod/www/statistical-abstract.html

Bioethics• American Journal of Bioethics

http://www.bioethics.net

• ABOJ Weekly News & UpdatesWeekly compilation of full text articles on bioethical and health law topics. Subscriptions are free, but subscription is required. http://www.bioethics.net/news.php

• NIH Bioethics Research on the Webhttp://www.nih.gov/sigs/bioethics/

• National Reference Center for Bioethics LiteratureThe Kennedy Institute of Ethics library and information services page.http://www.georgetown.edu/research/nrcbl/

• National Bioethics Advisory Commission Digital Archivehttp://www.georgetown.edu/research/nrcbl/nbac

More Bioethics• President’s Council on Bioethics

Contains reports, background materials, and related sites including links to prior bioethics commissions.

http://www.bioethics.gov

• Center for Bioethics and Human DignityTopical information and resources. Brings a Christian worldview to

bear on these matters. Exists to help individuals and organizations address the pressing bioethical challenges of our day. http://www.cbhd.org/index.html

• Center for the Study of BioethicsAt the Medical College of Wisconsin. Includes a link to Bioethics

News.http://www.mcw.edu/bioethics/

• Center for Bioethics at Columbia UniversityOnline bioethics gateway.http://www.bioethicscolumbia.org/resources.html

Elderlaw• ElderLaw Answers

Provides legal information, not legal advice. Provides the best information on the Internet on critical issues facing seniors. Also provides a network of highly qualified elder law attorneys nationwide.

http://www.elderlawanswers.com

• Senior Law HomepageSource of information that senior citizens, attorneys, social workers and financial planners can access. Created by Goldfarb Abrandt Salzman & Kutzun of New York City. Contains links to sources.

http://www.seniorlaw.com

• Megalaw.com’s Elder Law PageContains links to statutes, agencies and resources, national elder law organizations and resources, and state elder law web sites.

http://www.megalaw.com/top/elder.php

Elder Law: Nursing Homes• Medicare’s Nursing Homes page

Has information on nursing home inspections, alternatives to nursing homes, paying for long term care, residents’ rights, nursing home publications and nursing home related sites. There is also a checklist

for selecting a nursing home. Its best feature may be Nursing Home Compare, which makes it possible to compare individual nursing

facilities. http://www.Medicare.gov/nursing/overview.asp

• State Nursing Home Resources Prepared by individual states, but with national applicability.

http://www.cdphc.state.co.us/hf/static/ncf.htm (Colorado)

http://www.health.state.ny.us/facilities/nursing (New York)

http://www.idph.state.il.us/a-zlist.htm#N (Illinois)

Several Maryland agencies and legal organizations have compiled the information here to help people to know what your choices are ahead of time.http://www.oag.state.md.us/consumer/nurshome.htm (Maryland)

Nursing Homes, continued• AARP Policy & Research for Professionals in Aging

Nursing Home Fact Sheet provides a good introduction to the topic. Also information on costs, quality, long term care insurance and nursing home trends.

http://www.aarp.org/research/longtermcare/nursinghomes

• Nursing Home Information Site Prepared by a social worker. Information presented helps with

questions relating to nursing homes, Medicare, Medicaid, long term care insurance, patients’ rights and advanced treatment. Includes nursing home ratings which claim to be unbiased. http://www.angelfire.com/tn/NursingHome

• CareScoutAllows user to search and compare a variety of facilities include nursing homes, assisted living facilities, house health agencies and hospice agencies. http://www.carescout.com

Elder Law: Guardianship

• National Guardianship Association Good information of what constitutes guardianship. Links to resource

agencies. http://www.guardianship.org

• Disability Law Center of Alaska– Introduction to Guardianship

Very good introductory material.

http://www.dlcak.org/publications/guardianship/

Elder Law: Elder Abuse• National Center for Elder Abuse

Source of information and assistance on elder abuse. Provides links and directories, laws and legislation, statistics and research and resources.

http://www.elderabusecenter.org

• Elder AbuseInformation on types, possible causes, links, and resources.

http://www.geocities.com/~elderly-place/abuse.html

• Elder Abuse and Neglect: In Search of SolutionsBy the American Psychological Association’s Office on Aging. Offers a

good discussion of the topic.

http://www.apa.org/pi/aging/eldabuse.html

• Department of Justice’s Elder Abuse PageBy the Office for Victims of Crimes. Includes links to support

organizations.http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/ovc/help/ea.htm

Consumer-Oriented Sites

Many sites, particularly governmental, have some consumer oriented information.

• MedLinePlusA service of the NLM and NIH, it includes consumer- oriented information on over 700 health topics, drug information, an illustrated encyclopedia, and links to numerous directories.http://medlineplus.gov/

• Center for Drug Evaluation and ResearchFDA site with professional and industry-oriented information, but also much accessible drug information for the consumer.

http://www.fda.gov/cder/

Warning to the Unwary• Web has many dubious sites by self-styled experts and

advocates.• Here are sites seeming to give objective information, but

look closely:A portal to commercial sites

A site selling a supposed antidote (not supported by medical experts)

A site for law firms soliciting p.i. and class action claimants