CLE Programs

Featuring keynote speaker Professor Wendy Mariner, Edward R. Utley Professor of Health Law, Bioethics and Human Rights at Boston University School of Public Health and professor of Socio-Medical Sciences and Community Medicine at Boston University School of Medicine

• 8:15 a.m.: Registration
• 8:45 a.m.: Welcome Remarks
  Conference co-chairs: Stephen M. Fiore, Esq., Foster & Elridge, Cambridge; J. Michael Scully, Esq., Bulkley, Richardson & Gelinas, LLP, Springfield
• 9 a.m.: Medical Records in the Cloud -- Use of Social Media in Health Care Practice
  While confidentiality is an ethical, legal and treatment requirement of healthcare providers, the methods of communication used in the modern world have moved the boundaries to places far different from those practicing in the healthcare sector in years past. The speed of electronic media including use of social networking sites such as Facebook, Skype and YouTube, as well as use of e-mails and cell phones have expanded the ways of communication. Emphasis will be placed on the ethical, legal and professional issues presented by the use of these forms of communication within the healthcare sector and some of the issues which may be encountered.
• 10 a.m.: Finch v. Commonwealth Health Insurance Connector --  The Decision and its Implications
  The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court rendered two decisions concerning a class action lawsuit filed by Health Law Advocates regarding the constitutionality of excluding legal immigrants from state-subsidized health insurance. This program will provide a historical look at this population’s access to health insurance under Massachusetts health reform and how changes to that access culminated in these landmark decisions. It will also address the commonwealth’s and the plaintiffs’ response to the decisions and the opportunities that legal immigrants will have to access health insurance benefits under the Affordable Care Act.
• 10:50 a.m.: Networking Break
• 11 a.m.: Health Care Needs of Children with Autism: Insurance coverage and other sources for autism-related services
  In 2010 the Massachusetts legislature passed “An Act Relative to Insurance Coverage for Autism,” which requires health insurers to cover certain services for the diagnosis and treatment of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).  An expert panel will discuss the impact of the 2010 law on access to treatment for people with ASD, particularly children, as well as other sources for autism-related services, including special education.
• Noon: Lunch and Keynote Speaker Professor Wendy Mariner speaks on the Supreme Court's decision on the Affordable Care Act
• 1:30 pm: I Apologize -- A Transformation of the Medical System
  This session will provide an overview and history of apology laws that apply in medical malpractice cases. It will also address institutional medical apology programs and the trends and future of apology in medicine from the perspectives of health system, physician, defense counsel and plaintiff counsel.
  

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