Announcing the O'Neill Institute's New Health Policy and the Law Initiative and New Director Katie Keith

WASHINGTON, Oct. 26 (TNSPer) -- Georgetown University's O'Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law issued the following news release:

The O'Neill Institute is pleased to announce the new Health Policy and the Law Initiative. With generous support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the new initiative will focus on the increasingly powerful role that litigation plays in domestic health policy and how court decisions impact access to coverage, affordability, transparency, and equity. Building on prior work, this initiative will serve as a one-stop resource for federal policymakers, the media, and other key stakeholders on critical health policy legal issues -- helping policymakers adopt legally sound policies, educating the public, and seeding the legal framework for future policies.

The O'Neill Institute welcomes Katie Keith as the new director of the Health Policy and the Law Initiative. Keith is an associate research professor at Georgetown University's Center on Health Insurance Reforms and teaches courses on the Affordable Care Act at Georgetown University Law Center.

"Katie's work is critical to improving the lives of so many Americans. By understanding how the courts can alter access, policymakers, advocates, and health professionals are better able to provide equitable care and coverage," said Lawrence Gostin, faculty director of the O'Neill Institute.

Keith is a prolific writer and provides "Following the ACA" rapid response analysis for Health Affairs, where she is a contributing editor. Her analysis on health policy legal issues has been featured in media outlets across the country, and her publications have appeared in the Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics, Health Affairs, and the Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law, among others.

Keith will serve as the inaugural director of the new Health Policy and the Law Initiative where she will lead a team of researchers and scholars in supporting policymakers, tracking legal trends, and communicating the courts' effect on health policy.

"We are delighted to welcome Katie and her team to O'Neill. She's already had a profound impact on the health policy landscape, and we look forward to supporting her ever expanding and impactful portfolio of work," said Katie Gottschalk, executive director of the O'Neill Institute.