Standard

Posted: 03/19/08

R State Standard £ Institutionally Developed College: n/a

MAS 101 - Legal Aspects of the Medical Office

Course Description

Introduces the basic concept of medical assisting and its relationship to the other health fields.  Emphasizes medical ethics, legal aspects of medicine, and the medical assistant's role as an agent of the physician.  Provides the student with knowledge of medical jurisprudence and the essentials of professional behavior.  Topics include:  introduction to medical assisting; introduction to medical law; physician/patient/assistant relationship; medical office in litigation; as well as ethics, bioethical issues and HIPAA.

Competency Areas	Hours
Introduction to Medical Assisting	Class	3
Introduction to Medical Law	D. Lab	0
Physician/Patient/Assistant Relationship	P. Lab/O.B.I.	0
Medical Office in Litigation	Credit	3
Ethics
Bio-Ethical Issues, State Laws, and HIPAA

Prerequisite:	Program Admission
Corequisite:	n/a

Course Guide

Competency	After completing this section, the student will be able to:	Hours
		Class	D.Lab	P.Lab/ O.B.I.
INTRODUCTION TO MEDICAL ASSISTING		4	0	0
Role of the medical assistant	Identify clinical and administrative duties and various types of medical practices.
Professional organizations	Identify professional affiliation within the medical assisting field.
History of medicine	Identify historical men and women and their medical contribution.
Future directions	Adhere to current government regulations.
INTRODUCTION TO MEDICAL LAW		5	0	0
Legal vocabulary	Define selected legal terms.
Criminal and civil law	Distinguish between criminal and civil causes of action.
	Define Good Samaritan Laws.
PHYSICIAN/PATIENT/ASSISTANT RELATIONSHIP		5	0	0
Types of contracts and consent	Distinguish between implied and expressed contracts and informed and uninformed consent.
Formation of a contract	Define the physician/patient/assistant relationship initiation and termination.
Elements of a contract	Describe the three elements that make a contract valid.
MEDICAL OFFICE IN LITIGATION		6	0	0
Legal vocabulary	Define selected legal terms.
Negligence versus malpractice	Distinguish between negligence and malpractice.
Elements of a civil malpractice suit	List the elements of a civil malpractice cause of action.
Personal and professional liability	Identify liability as it applies to personal and professional actions.
ETHICS		2	0	0
Codes of ethics	Identify selected codes of ethics.
Unethical conduct	List actions that indicate unethical conduct.
BIOETHICAL ISSUES, STATE LAW, HIPAA		8	0	0
Bioethical issues	Discuss and list bio-ethical issues.
Abortion	Discuss arguments given pro and con to abortions.
	List theories of when life begins.
	Identify guidelines for abortion in ambulatory care.
Organ allocation	Discuss criteria/issues to be considered in organ procurement.
Advance directives	Discuss the Patient Self-Determination Act.
	Explain differences between the various advanced directives.
	Describe the factors to be considered when patients are making out the living will.
State laws	State the basic functions of the Medical Practice Act.
	Identify duties of the physician to the public concerning mandatory reporting issue.
	Discuss current state laws relevant to the role of a medical assistant.
HIPAA	Discuss regulations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).
	List the impact HIPAA has on health care.
	Identify consequences (penalties) regarding breach of patient health information confidentiality.
Medical records	State the ownership and apply the legal doctrine of privileged communication to the contents of the medical record.

Suggested Resources

TEXTS

Beaman, N. & Fleming-McPhillips, L. (2007). Pearson’s comprehensive medical assisting. Upper Saddle River, NJ:

Prentice Hall.

Cody, J. (2007). Medical assisting made incredibly easy: Law and ethics. Philadelphia: Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins.

Fremgen, B. F. (2005). Medical law and ethics. 2^nd ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Judson, K., Harrison, C., & Hicks, S.B. (2006). Law & ethics for medical careers. 4^th ed. New York: Glencoe/McGraw

Hill.

Keir, L., Wise, B. A., Krebs, C., & Kelley-Arney, C. (2008). Medical assisting administrative and clinical competencies. 6^th ed. Albany, NY: Thomson Delmar Learning.

Keir, L., Wise, B. A., Krebs, C., & Kelley-Arney, C. (2008). Workbook to accompany medical assisting, administrative and clinical competencies. 6^th ed. Albany, NY: Thomson Delmar Learning.

Websites

Glencoe/McGraw Hill http://catalogs.mhhe.com/mhhe/home.do

ECM Paradigm http://www.emcp.com/product_catalog/index.php?GroupID=87

Elsevier http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/simple_search.cws_home?pubtype=Any&boost=true&needs_keyword=true&adv=false&keywords=&action=product_search

FA Davis http://www.fadavis.com/health_profession/index.cfm

Thomson Delmar Learning http://www.delmarlearning.com/healthcare/Index.aspx?cat1ID=HCR

Prentice Hall http://vig.prenhall.com/

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