Health Law Internships

Health Care Compliance Internship 2 Credits Pass/Fail
In this placement, students work with the offices in health care institutions, such as the Indiana University School of Medicine, responsible for ensuring the institution's compliance with the multiple federal and state statutes regulating health care institutions.  Specifically, these legal authorities include fraud and abuse statutes affecting the public and private insurance programs, federal and state laws pertaining to the use and disclosure of protected health information, and federal law and regulations pertaining to the protection of human subjects and other activities in biomedical and clinical research.  Health care institutions must develop, implement and monitor compliance programs consistent with these provisions or else face fines and other civil and criminal penalties.  Under supervision of legal counsel, students will develop compliance documents and risk management protocols and have a first hand opportunity to observe the implementation of a compliance program in a major medical school.

Contact: Applications available in the Law Clinic Office

Hospital Legal Counsel Internship 2 Credits Pass/Fail
Students work in the offices of hospital counsel at Clarian Health, Wishard Memorial Hospital or St. Vincent 's Hospital and Health System on issues concerning the day to day legal operations of health care institutions, including the development of hospital policies required by federal and state laws and ethical issues in the care of patients.

Contact:  Professor Wolf in the Law Clinic Office or at 274-1911

Local Health Department Public Health Enforcement Internship 2 Credits Pass/Fail This placement is with the Division of Public Health Code Enforcement at the Marion County Health and Hospitals Corporation.  Students work with agency legal counsel on issues of public health law, including enforcement of the public health code in environmental court, drafting public health regulations, among other issues. 

Contact: Professor Wolf in the Law Clinic Office or at 274-1911

STATE HEALTH AGENCY INTERNSHIPS

Selected State Health Agency Internships in the Program on Law and State Government Internship Course (3 cr.)

The Program on Law and State Government Internship course allows students the opportunity to learn about the practice of law within the state government setting with a combination of traditional classroom learning and an internship placement at one of several law offices and agencies within Indiana 's state government. The class meetings explore topics such as ethical considerations for the public lawyer, rulemaking and the administrative process, federalism and state sovereignty, state supported speech, and state budgeting issues. (Two of the course credits will be graded S/F, based upon satisfaction of internship requirements, with the remaining credit carrying a course grade based upon performance in the classroom component of the course.)

Placements for the State Health Agency Internship include:

• State Department of Health
• Family and Social Services Administration
• Department of Insurance

Students' internship experiences include observing how various state agencies and entities carry out statutory mandates, create regulations, defend agency actions in administrative hearings, and participate in the legislative process. Students experience how the ethical, policy, and legal issues of the governmental process entwine to affect state government and the practice of law within that government. In addition to the substantive law learned as a result of the class meetings and their internship experiences, students also develop their ability to learn from their own experiences and to manage their own professional education.

The Program on Law and State Government Internship course is open only to selected students who have successfully completed the application and interview process. Students wishing to enroll in the course need to submit an application to the Program on Law and State Government on or before the application deadline at the beginning of the semester prior to the semester they plan to enroll. Specific internship placements will be made by the faculty advisor in consultation with supervising attorneys at the placement sites. For more information, contact Professor Cynthia Baker, director of the Program on Law and State Government and faculty advisor to the program's interns.