In February 2015 Stuart Portman, a Master of Public Health (MPH) in health policy student and a research assistant in the Department of Health Policy and Management, received the 2015 Hirsh Award in the American College of Legal Medicine’s (ACLM) student writing competition in law, medicine and bioethics. Portman received first place in the competition, winning a $1000 prize, for his paper titled, “In-Home Health Coverage by Illinois’ Medicaid Program.” In March 2015, Portman presented his paper during a general session at the ACLM 2015 Annual Meeting in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The ACLM is a professional society focused on addressing issues that arise at the intersection of law and medicine. Meeting and networking with members of the society and conference attendees was a highlight of the experience for Portman. “These are people who are prominent in their fields,” he explains. “They’re local leaders in their communities in the US, Canada and around the world, and I had the chance to hear how they are coming up with analyses of major health issues.”
Portman’s paper explores the issue of in-home health care coverage for Social Security Disability Insurance beneficiaries in the state of Illinois’ Medicaid program. Approximately two years ago the state changed the policy, inserting an additional qualification for a Medicaid beneficiary to be eligible for in-home health services. In his paper Portman focuses on the ethics surrounding this qualification, specifically its impact on the autonomy of beneficiaries with a physical disability, who may already have diminished autonomy due to a disability.
Portman wrote the winning paper as part of his Law, Medicine and Ethics course taught by Melissa Goldstein, JD, associate professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management at Milken Institute School of Public Health. In the course, students focus on writing one large journal-ready bioethics paper that they can then submit for consideration to a publication if they so choose. Goldstein encouraged the class to submit their papers to the ACLM competition, and she provided Portman with detailed feedback to help him develop his ideas. “Her guidance enabled me to win a national writing competition, and I’m certain that I would not have succeeded without her advice, suggestions, and positive criticisms to help me grow as a writer and student,” he says. “It is incredible that a single course—Law, Medicine and Ethics—has had such a profound impact on my ability to analyze complex health issues, and I am thankful for opportunity to work with Professor Goldstein.”