LL.M. student Rebekah Reed earned her J.D. from the University of Houston Law Center in 2012.
Oct. 9, 2019 - University of Houston Law Center Health Law LL.M. student Rebekah Davis Reed’s work was recently featured in the Journal of Health Care Finance’s spring 2019 special feature with her article, “Costs and Benefits: Price Transparency in Health Care.”
“It’s exciting to see my research in print,” Reed said. “This is a critical topic in health care reform, and I am glad that I could contribute something to the debate over what kind of price transparency is meaningful for managing health care costs borne by insurers, patients, and state and federal governments.”
The work began as a directed study with Health Law LL.M Professor Michael Ewer, who prompted Reed with thoughtful questions at the beginning of her research and writing, shaping how she approached the project.
“I was looking at proposed regulatory changes and came across a section that surprised me in a proposed rule,” Reed said. “The proposed language seemed to be slipping in some pretty revolutionary price transparency requirements into a rule on information technology interoperability.”
Her article examines the history of healthcare costs drivers, evaluates the ramifications of price transparency for healthcare recipients and policymakers, and proposes regulatory measures to reduce costs and create better health outcomes.
Reed has previously published on genetic information and occupational surveillance, liability in commercial spaceflight, and other areas. She has a jointly-authored article forthcoming in the Houston Journal of Health Law and Policy on precision medicine and space flight. She has several other projects in work, including a book chapter and two papers she is writing that she hopes to be able to publish.
“I love research and writing,” Reed said. “The Law Center provides an incredibly supportive atmosphere for the kind of research and writing that I value and enjoy. Professor Ewer and Professor Jessica Roberts are great mentors and encouragers of original scholarship.”
In 2012, Reed received her J.D. from the Law Center, where she was a member of the moot court team and on the board of the Houston Law Review. She currently works as Chief of the Space and Occupational Medicine Branch at the NASA Johnson Space Center.
“My team is responsible for providing medical and behavioral health expertise to the human spaceflight programs and clinical care to the astronaut corps and the JSC population,” she said.
Now a student at the Law Center again, Reed is enjoying the range of classes and the opportunity to work with experts in health law and produce publishable work that the Health Law LL.M program offers.
