Consortium Partners with AHLA on COVID-19 Video Series

As the health care community faces unprecedented challenges in delivering care, the American Health Law Association (AHLA) has produced a Public Service Announcement (PSA) video series to heighten awareness of the ever-shifting legal landscape in light of the coronavirus.

The video series features some of the top scholars of the UCSF/UC Law SF Consortium on Law, Science and Health Policy, including Executive Director Sarah Hooper and Associate Dean, Faculty Director and Professor of Law Jaime King.

Produced in partnership with dBase Media and billed as “flash analysis” of health law disrupted, the series aims to open discussions about issues brought to the fore by the pandemic.

Hooper discusses the need for changes to the healthcare and social care delivery systems when care is delivered through telemedicine, or otherwise virtually, especially to seniors, who might lack computer or internet access and may be less technologically fluent.

She also discusses the need for continued integration of social services, including legal services, with the delivery of healthcare, and the importance of tightening the net between health and social services systems.

King discusses the challenges facing the U.S. health care system by tying health insurance to employment, especially in times of record unemployment, and how Americans may delay or forgo care because they fear the expense, exacerbating conditions and ultimately increasing costs on the system as a whole.

“We’ve been studying these structural issues for years, but now many Americans are seeing in real time, sometimes quite painfully, the need for some of the changes many of us have been advocating for,” Hooper said. “While this is an extremely trying time, it’s also an opportunity to finally address the challenges and inequities in our health and social systems.”

The American Health Law Association is the nation’s largest, nonpartisan, 501(c)(3) educational organization devoted to legal issues in the health care field. You can view the video series below.

For additional information on legal issues raised by the pandemic, see UC Law SF’ own podcast series, Law and the Pandemic, featuring Hooper and others from UC Law SF.