Health Care Compliance Specialization Curriculum

If you choose the Health Care Compliance specialization, you will earn a Health Care Compliance certificate from American University Washington College of Law in addition to your MLS degree.

If you are qualified, you may also receive an additional certificate accredited by the Compliance Certification Board (CCB), which enables you to sit for the following exams within one year of completing the MLS program:¹

Choose 9 remaining credits from the following:

Expertly Navigate Health Care Law and Regulations

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This course provides students with a working knowledge of the vocabulary and fundamental concepts of the institutional and substantive aspects of U.S. legal practice so that they may understand the problems and challenges of interacting with the legal system. This course also provides students with a foundation in select areas of law, including: constitutional law, federal courts and jurisdiction, civil procedure, and professional responsibility.

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This course will provide students with a foundation in regulation and compliance. Students will learn about several highly regulated US industries and the goals of regulation, the role of the regulators, and the rulemaking process. Students will examine compliance principles and apply them through industry case studies. The intersection of regulation and compliance and the role of corporate governance will also be discussed. Compliance failures will be examined in the context of the regulatory and compliance framework.

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Drafting for Compliance Professionals combines compliance drafting topics for students across legal disciplines. Students will learn to draft policies, procedures, codes of conduct, and guidelines related to various industries. Students will also learn to read agreements and write memos to legal teams describing the risks associated with a contract. The course combines discussions of relevant laws and legal scenarios, along with drafting assignments, to encompass essential skills for success.

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This course introduces students to the theory and practice of negotiation. Through readings, exercises, role plays, and discussions, students will learn about the principles and theories of negotiation and how to use them in practice. In addition to readings and asynchronous materials, students will participate in weekly synchronous negotiation exercises, which allow them to experiment with different negotiation styles and techniques.

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The immersion program offers students the chance to expand on the relationships they develop in the online classroom, working closely with classmates and professors in a simulation setting. Students also hear from business and legal practitioners, collaborate with peers through group assignments, and explore the professional culture of Washington, D.C. Students are responsible for all immersion travel and accommodation expenses and arrangements.

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The following courses are required.

This course provides students with a foundation in health care law and compliance. Topics include the common law principles and federal and state regulations aimed at securing patient autonomy, quality of care, and access to care, as well as the requirements of accrediting bodies, licensing agencies, and third-party payers.
Prerequisite: Introduction to Regulation & Compliance LGLS 601

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This course will explore the legal, policy and compliance principles surrounding the use and disclosure of personal data and the core principles for information privacy and security. Key topics include: litigation and enforcement, vendor relationships and de-identification, the legal and compliance concepts surrounding big data, developments in privacy and data security compliance, including the evolving principles governing security breach notification and the privacy and data security challenges arising from mobile applications.

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This course will provide students with a foundation in health care fraud and abuse statutes, regulations, and agency and industry guidance. Students will explore the principal federal health care fraud and abuse laws: the federal anti-kickback statute (“AKS”); the physician self-referral law, commonly known as the “Stark” Law; the Civil Monetary Penalties Law (“CMPL”); and the civil False Claims Act (FCA). Students will examine compliance principles within the fraud and abuse framework and apply these principles to common compliance vulnerabilities and challenges, including fair market value considerations. This course will delve into fraud and abuse compliance failures that serve as a predicate for FCA and other agency enforcement actions.

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Choose 6 remaining credits from below.

The Business Associations course is designed to introduce students to the various types of business entities, from a sole proprietorship to a large publicly held corporation, as well as other entities such as partnerships and limited liability companies. Each entity has its own requirements and restrictions, especially large publicly held corporations. The course also covers the advantages and disadvantages of conducting business in the various entities.

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This course introduces students to the fundamental principles of human resources and benefits management compliance and the intersection of these principles with applicable laws and regulations. This course surveys the basic laws, regulations, and policies that constitute human resources and benefits management. Students will also learn the key elements of effective human resources compliance programs, including drafting and implementing compliance policies and procedures, educating through training, auditing and monitoring, and detecting and remediating compliance failures. Through drafting and other hands-on exercises, students will learn practical skills that are foundational to the development, implementation, and maintenance of effective compliance programs. Emphasis will be placed on learning practical legal and compliance skills and techniques relevant to the human resources and benefits management departments of an organization.

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The course explores the theoretical, technological, practical, and managerial foundations of management information systems. It includes information technologies, systems development, the impact of information systems on business organizations, information technology as a competitive tool, and the management of information systems within domestic and multinational corporations.

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This course surveys critical subjects of internet law and regulation, beginning with theoretical and jurisdictional questions and proceeding to major substantive issues, including the regulation of intermediaries, privacy, speech, and computer access, among others. The approach considers the questions of (a) who regulates, (b) what content is regulated, and (c) what mechanisms are used to accomplish regulatory objectives. The class aims to provide a practical survey of key areas of internet law, identifying the animating principles and major moving parts of relevant legislation and precedent.

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The ubiquitous use of computers, the internet, and internet-related technology has dramatically changed the litigation landscape. Information sources are growing rapidly. The identification, collection, preservation, and production of Electronically Stored Information (ESI) in response to discovery (“eDiscovery”) are some of the most challenging problems in litigation today. This course provides a basic understanding of the legal and practical parameters of eDiscovery and electronic case management. This course examines the legal and technological issues surrounding the use of electronically stored information during the litigation process. Students review and evaluate efforts made by professional groups and the courts to create reasonable parameters allowing parties to comply with their discovery obligations and ethical responsibilities in the adversary system.

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This course examines the scope and nature of crime in the United States from a comparative and interdisciplinary perspective, focusing on the uses and limits of the criminal justice system. The course analyzes concepts of criminal process and the main elements of the criminal justice system, including police, courts, and corrections. It covers the main institutional features, challenges, and critiques of the processes through which suspects are apprehended, tried, and punished. The course encourages critical thinking about past and current trends and policy questions affecting the criminal system.

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This course will provide students with an overview of the procurement laws, regulations, and principles governing the formation of U.S. federal contracts. Students will gain a working knowledge of government contract law and policy applicable to sealed bids, negotiated procurements, simplified acquisitions, overseas contracts, and the forums for challenging federal procurements. Students will learn fundamental compliance principles and how they intersect with applicable laws and regulations. Through drafting and other hands-on exercises, students will learn practical legal and compliance skills that are foundational to the development, implementation, and maintenance of effective compliance programs.

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This course introduces students to the fundamental principles of banking and financial services compliance and the intersection of these principles with applicable laws and regulations. This course surveys the basic laws, regulations, and policies that constitute U.S. banking and financing regulation. Students will also learn the key elements of effective banking and financial services compliance programs, including drafting and implementing compliance policies and procedures, educating through training, auditing and monitoring, and detecting and remediating compliance failures. Through drafting and other hands-on exercises, students will learn practical skills that are foundational to the development, implementation, and maintenance of effective compliance programs. Emphasis will be placed on learning practical legal and compliance skills and techniques relevant to the banking and financial services industries.

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This course will analyze causes and consequences of corruption, international anticorruption conventions criminalizing transnational bribery and enhancing public sector transparency, integrity and accountability, and the extent of and challenges to enforcement. It will also discuss private sector compliance programs, development assistance integrity measures and sanctions programs, and multilateral and multi-stakeholder transparency initiatives. Through drafting and other hands-on exercises, students will learn practical legal and compliance skills that are foundational to the development, implementation, and maintenance of effective anti-corruption compliance programs across a variety of industries. Emphasis will be placed on learning practical legal and compliance skills and techniques.

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This course introduces students to the accounting model of a firm; the financial accounting cycle; and methods firms use for the operating, investing, and financing activities. It examines uses of accounting information; the roles of the accounting profession; and social, political, and economic influences on accounting policies and professional practices.

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Effective managers add value to organizations by aligning human capital with the organizational mission in any environment challenged by shifting organizational structures, workforce diversity, and high velocity information. Management approaches shape workforce outcomes through effective performance management that influences attitudes and behavior across organizational levels.

The course provides an overview of the systems, processes, and practices used to influence, execute, and implement strategic aims for organizations, groups (including interpersonal), and individuals (including intra-psychic). The course examines management as both a science and a practical art, with emphasis on cases and applications.

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People often define “marketing” as advertising — a highly visible activity by which organizations try to persuade consumers to buy products and services. However, marketing is much more than advertising, and even the most skillful marketing cannot make consumers buy things that they don’t want. Marketing involves two basic sets of activities. The first set starts with identifying consumer needs and ends with positioning a product or service to satisfy those needs and differentiate it from competition. (And, in between, rigorous analysis of the customer, the competition, the environment, and the company’s own capabilities is required.) The second set of activities revolves around what is known as the “marketing mix” — letting the consumer know about the product in an attention-getting, convincing, and motivating way and getting it to the consumer through the best combination of distribution channels, pricing it effectively, and offering incentives to try, purchase, and purchase more. At any point along the way, failure to get one of these activities right may result in the failure of the product. Positioning is the key to product success, but even a perfect product with brilliant positioning won’t last long if its benefits aren’t clearly communicated to the right people, if its price is too high or too low, if it is sold through the wrong retailers, displayed poorly, and so on.

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Business decision problems can be characterized as situations in which managers must select the best alternative from several competing alternatives. Managers frequently rely on results from statistical analyses to help make the best decision. The decision-aiding tools that can be applied by managers to gain insight into decision problems range from simple graphic displays of data to sophisticated statistical tests. Students use real-world data sets and PC-based software to describe sets of measurements, construct probability distributions, estimate numerical descriptive measures, and build multiple regression models.

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Students are introduced to descriptive, predictive, and prescriptive analytics and to models, tools, and methods commonly used in each area to develop multidisciplinary business insights from data. They develop skills that enable them to present solutions to problems and provide answers to business questions in various business disciplines through hands-on exercises and a term project. The course emphasizes model development and the use of commercial software to manage, report, and analyze data.

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In this course students are introduced to predictive modeling methods, approaches, and tools. Students gain skills in predictive analytics to develop and use advanced predictive analytics methods, develop expertise in the use of popular tools and software for predictive analytics, learn how to develop predictive analytic questions, identify and select the most appropriate predictive analytics methods and tools, apply these methods to answer the respective questions, and present data-driven solutions.

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Top global companies regularly fail to make insightful decisions about significant patterns and changes in their business environments and markets, even though the data related to these decisions is available. Business Intelligence (BI) connects data from multiple sources to produce meaningful information and identify patterns and trends to inform such decisions. BI encompasses the methodologies, metrics, processes, and information systems used to monitor and manage an enterprise’s business performance and support strategic decision making. BI systems encompass a blend of technologies such as data warehousing, data mining, business analytics, predictive statistics, online analytical processing, and visual data representations (e.g., dashboards, data cubes), which — when put together — provide decision makers with the most powerful business insights derived from multiple internal and external data sources. This course exposes students to the management practices, methodologies, and technologies that major corporations are applying in order to supply executives with the knowledge needed to succeed.

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This course introduces important database concepts, including data modeling, database design, data extraction, and data analysis skills needed to transform raw data into useful business information and knowledge for decision making and problem solving. Topics include relational design, data warehousing, data mining, data visualization, data search, knowledge management, business intelligence, data querying, basic analytics, and reporting.

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This course covers areas related to: the risks associated with information management in the digital economy, the most effective personal and business practices to manage these risks, and the associated information forensics to understand where and how information can be traced. Individual, corporate, and national/global aspects of information security risks are covered, as well as issues related to risk understanding, assessment and management, corporate governance, and incident response.

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This course provides students with a foundational understanding of the core components of cybersecurity governance, a concept that generally refers to the organizational structures, procedures, and policies that address the range of risks and opportunities — including legal, technical, financial, and operational — relevant to cybersecurity. Responsible cybersecurity governance is critically important to public and private organizations worldwide because of the dramatic impact it can have on an entity’s ability to both mitigate risks and capitalize on opportunities. The course covers different approaches to cybersecurity governance — including an in-depth application of the Cybersecurity Framework developed by the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) as well as examples from multiple business sectors — to understand key aspects of cybersecurity governance in both public and private organizations.

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This course prepares the business manager to effectively function within a legal and ethical environment and to recognize the social responsibility of the business enterprise. The students will be exposed to U.S. legal systems and legal processes, with emphasis on the areas of business law that are fundamental to the operations of a business entity. The course will focus on several areas of substantive commercial law relevant to the business manager, with the goal of developing recognition of legal and ethical issues and their managerial implications. The course is designed to foster the manager’s ability to minimize the frequency and expense of legal conflict and litigation as well as to discern the distinction between what is legal, what is ethical, and what is in the best interests of the firm and its stakeholders.

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Earn Your MLS with a Health Care Compliance Specialization

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Ensure your organization is in compliance with health care law.

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¹ Administered by the Health Law and Policy Program, the Health Care Compliance Certificate (HCCC) designates students in the J.D., L.L.M., and MLS programs who have completed a specialization of courses in health care law and compliance. The Health Care Compliance Certificate is accredited by the Compliance Certification Board (CCB). MLS students who complete the health care compliance track will earn the certificate and be eligible to sit for the CHC, CHPC, CHRC, CCEP and/or the CCEP-I exams within 12 months of completing the program.arrow_upwardReturn to footnote reference