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AHLA Issues Checklist on Pandemic Legal Preparedness for Healthcare Providers

By Brooke Courtney, July 18, 2008

The American Health Lawyers Association (AHLA) recently released the document, Community Pan-Flu Preparedness: A Checklist of Key Legal Issues for Healthcare Providers, as a tool that 1) identifies key legal issues that may arise in the context of a pandemic and 2) assists providers and the broader healthcare and public health communities in taking the necessary steps to prepare for such an event.¹ The document was the product of a May 2, 2008, public interest dialogue session on community pandemic influenza preparedness convened by AHLA, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the Office of the Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The session was attended by 52 invited participants from government, legal, provider, payor, academic, and other sectors.

The document addresses a range of questions and issues that may be faced by providers and the broader healthcare and public health communities, and it is organized around the traditional Incident Command System (ICS) structure and covers the following key topics:

• Incident Command: Questions associated with activation of emergency operations centers (EOCs).
• Operations: Consent to treatment, isolation and quarantine, altered standards of care and avoiding malpractice liability, treating patients with chronic medical conditions, availability of prescription drugs, communications issues, and relationships with emergency management and public health systems.
• Planning: Privacy and security of protected health information, other state regulatory issues, federal and state rules requiring pedigree tracking for prescription drugs, and ethical considerations.
• Logistics: Protecting employees, maintaining operations, temporary licensing and credentialing of healthcare workers, supplementing non-caregiver personnel, and ensuring adequate supplies and relationships with vendors.
• Finance/Administration: Provider and health plan issues.

According to AHLA, “[w]ithout a clear understanding in advance of the relevant legal issues, the healthcare sector’s preparedness and response efforts [for an influenza pandemic] will be subject to unnecessary confusion at a time when clarity is needed most.”¹

References

1. American Health Lawyers Association (AHLA). Community pan-flu preparedness: a checklist of key legal issues for healthcare providers. 2008. http://www.healthlawyers.org/Content/NavigationMenu/Public_Interest_and_Affairs/
   Public_Information_Series/Pan-Flu08.pdf. Accessed July 18, 2008.