Pace Law School Conference to Address
Managed Care, Patients' Rights
and Access to Health Care, April 6

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. - Capitol Hill remains deadlocked on proposed legislation to create a patient's bill of rights. Two bills approved by the House and the Senate differ greatly in their provisions for patients' ability to sue HMOs for damages when they are improperly denied health care. Pace Law School will host its fourth annual Health Law and Policy Conference to address these and other legal issues surrounding health care access. The program, "Patients' Rights, Managed Care and Expanding Access to Acute, Chronic and Long-Term Health Care," will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Thursday, April 6, on the School's White Plains, N.Y., campus at 78 North Broadway.

"While managed care is here to stay, Congress' failure to ensure access, accountability and quality in health care means that large numbers of people across the political and economic spectrum are highly dissatisfied with the present health care system," said Professor Linda Fentiman, Director of the Health Law and Policy Program at Pace Law School. "The Pace program will explore initiatives in litigation and legislation designed to break the current stalemate and ensure access to appropriate medical treatment for all, in both the acute and long-term care settings."

Speakers will include Thomas Perez, Esq., Director of the Office of Civil Rights, United States Department of Health and Human Services, who will talk about "Ensuring Health Care Access for Racial and Ethnic Minorities"; Stephanie Kanwit, Esq., of Epstein Becker & Green in Washington, D.C., who was recently featured on CBS' "60 Minutes" discussing legal challenges to managed care, will address "New Theories of Physician and HMO Liability"; and Margaret Farrell, Esq., of Cohen, Milstein, Hausfeld & Toll, will discuss lawsuits against HMOs from the injured plaintiff's point of view.

Other speakers from government, the private sector and academia will discuss state efforts to increase access and accountability in health care decisions and the complex interaction of federal and state reform initiatives. Topics include "Federal and State Reforms to Improve Health Care Quality and Access," "The Impact of Innovations in Health Care Delivery on Access to Chronic and Long-Term Care" and "How the New Prospective Payment System will Affect Services for the Elderly and the Chronically Ill."

To register for the conference or for more information, call Aisha Reyes at (914) 422-4062 or Kathy Lambert at (914) 422-4223. Continuing Legal Education Credit is available. Cost of attendance is $139 for one session, $199 for both morning and afternoon sessions. The conference is sponsored by Pace Law School's Health Law and Policy Program and its Center for Continuing Legal Education.

Founded in 1976, Pace Law School has nearly 5,000 graduates throughout the country. It offers full-time and part-time day and evening J.D. programs on its White Plains, New York, campus. The Law School, which has one of the nation's top-rated environmental law programs, offers the master of laws and the doctor of juridical science degrees in that field. The School also offers the LL.M. in Comparative Legal Studies. Beginning in the fall of 2000, Pace Law School will begin offering online courses in health law to attorneys around the nation. The Law School is part of Pace University, a comprehensive, independent and diversified University with campuses in New York City and Westchester County.