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Symposium

Under Pressure: The Future of the American Hospital

Symposium date: Friday, September 25, 2026
Expressions of interest due: Monday, May 18, 2026

Description

The Drexel Kline Law Review and Drexel Kline Health Law Program are pleased to announce a fall symposium that will explore the present challenges facing hospitals and the potential future of hospital care in the United States. The symposium will take place on Friday, September 25, 2026, at Drexel University’s Thomas R. Kline School of Law, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

The symposium aligns with the twentieth anniversary of the founding of the Drexel Kline School of Law and will celebrate Drexel Kline’s contributions to the field of health law. We will begin the convening with a reception on the evening of Thursday, September 24, 2026, celebrating the law school’s many health law alumni/ae, as well as symposium participants and special guests.

Download the CFP [.pdf]

We invite paper or presentation proposals on any topic related to the future of hospitals in the United States. Such topics might include but are not limited to:

  • changes in the landscape of hospital care in recent decades, including consolidations, closures, and the growth of ambulatory surgical centers and urgent care facilities;
  • financial and regulatory challenges to sustaining full-service hospital care, including reimbursement policies and managing legal risk;
  • the role of private equity in transforming hospital care;
  • the potential for telemedicine to fill gaps left by rural hospital closures;
  • the growth of religiously-affiliated hospital chains and impact on access to care;
  • the impact of emerging diagnostic and treatment technologies on access, cost, quality, and choice;
  • how artificial intelligence will shape hospital care and health care more generally;
  • the role of hospitals in addressing racial health disparities and advancing health justice;
  • hospital-based interventions to address bias and discrimination in health care;
  • the implications of maintaining charitable organization status for hospitals;
  • the landscape of regulatory compliance;
  • the implications for graduate medical education of changes in the hospital landscape;
  • the significance of health care workforce shortages, particularly in nursing;
  • differences between community hospitals and academic medical centers for imagining the future of hospital care;
  • hospital management of obstetrics care, including unit closures, the creation of hospital-based birth centers, and use of telemedicine in maternity care deserts;
  • or other specialty-specific developments that will impact whether and how patients rely on hospitals for care.

Those interested in participating in the conference are asked to submit 300 word abstracts of paper or presentation proposals to Executive Editor of Symposium, Jeremy Shpigel, at symposium.drexellawreview@gmail.com by Monday, May 18, 2026. Submissions should include name and affiliation and indicate whether the author is interested in publishing a paper with the Drexel Law Review, as publication opportunities will be available to selected presenters. Applicants will be notified about accepted symposium proposals by June 10, 2026. Selected participants will be expected to circulate draft papers no later than August 31, 2026. Final papers will be due October 30, 2026. We welcome interdisciplinary approaches and co-authored projects.

If you have program-related questions, please contact Professor Liz Kukura (kukura@drexel.edu) or Professor Barry Furrow, Director of the Drexel Health Law Program (brf26@drexel.edu).

For those presenting during the symposium, the sponsor will cover lodging and selected meal costs. If a presenter is unable to obtain reimbursement from their home institution for travel, such expenses may be covered should funds become available. The organizers will work to ensure that cost is not a barrier to participation for contributors.

We look forward to welcoming you to Drexel in the fall for this special symposium.

Jeremy Shpigel, Executive Editor of the Drexel Law Review Symposium (2026)
Professor Barry Furrow, Director, Drexel Kline Health Law Program
Professor Liz Kukura, Drexel Kline Health Law Program Faculty & Director, Vital Signs Programming Series

Register

Sponsors

  • The Drexel Kline Law Review
  • Drexel Kline Center for Law, Policy & Social Action (CLPSA)
  • Drexel Kline Health Law Program & Vital Signs