How do I use the Research Center?
The Research Center allows you to create your own search and select the types of documents your search retrieves, e.g., only statutes or only regulations. To use the Research Center, follow these steps:
Click the Research Center tab if it is not already displayed.
By default, your search retrieves all laws and regulations. If desired, select a type of document to search. Click the arrow next to Laws and Regulations or Cases and Decisions to select a document type, e.g., Regulations.
Select a search method by clicking Simple, Advanced, Template, or Find by Partial Citation. The search method available depends on the type of document you select.
Type your search in the text box. (If you use the template, you may enter terms in more than one text box and you may restrict your search by date or jurisdiction.)
Click Search.
A simple search allows you to use plain English to retrieve relevant documents. To run a simple search, click Simple if it is not already selected; type a description, such as mandatory reporting of adverse events, in the text box; and click Search. You do not need to use complete sentences, quotation marks, or punctuation. A simple search retrieves relevant documents based on how often your terms are used and where they appear in the document.
An advanced search consists of key terms and connectors specifying the relationship between those terms. For example, you can specify that terms appear in the same sentence or paragraph. To run an advanced search, click Advanced if it is not already selected; type a query, such as patient /s record /p confidential! private privacy, in the text box; and click Search. An advanced search retrieves all documents that match your search criteria. For more information about advanced search connectors, click Advanced Operators at the Advanced search page.
If you select Statutes or Regulations, you can use a template to search using specific information, such as the statute's or regulation's citation, and restrict your search by jurisdiction. Click Template and enter your search criteria using the text boxes provided.
How do I search with a partial citation?
When you choose Laws and Regulations, Statutes, or Regulations, you can search using part of a document’s citation. Click Find by Partial Citation and type the citation information, e.g., a section number such as 5/360a in the text box. All applicable statutes or regulations with that term in their citations will be listed in the search result. To restrict your search to a specific jurisdiction, click Change and select the jurisdiction before running the search.
What content is included in my search result?
When you use the Research Center, you can select the types of documents you want to search. If you do not select a document type to search, Westlaw Compliance AdvisorTM searches all federal and state statutes and regulations. To narrow your search to a single type of document, click the arrow next to Laws and Regulations or Cases and Decisions and select the document type from the drop-down list.
You can retrieve the following types of documents using the Research Center:
Laws and Regulations contains statutes; regulations and other administrative materials such as decisions, memoranda, and bulletins; and statutory and regulatory surveys, as described below.
Statutes contains the following types of documents:
federal health care statutes (documents from the United States Code Annotated® (USCA®) that relate to the provision of wellness services and regulation of health care institutions)
annotated statutes from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands
federal and state statutes related to medical malpractice claims
Regulations contains the following types of documents:
federal health care regulations: documents from the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) that relate to the provision of wellness services and regulation of health care institutions
administrative codes from all 50 states and the District of Columbia
Surveys contains health law surveys (documents that compare state statutes and regulations pertaining to health law and include references to the applicable statutes and regulations).
Cases and Decisions contains federal and state health law and medical malpractice cases, documents from the FDA Enforcement Report, and decisions from the Department of Health and Human Services, the Provider Reimbursement Review Board (PRRB), and the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA), as described below.
Federal Cases contains cases from the U.S. Supreme Court, courts of appeals, district courts, bankruptcy courts, Court of Federal Claims, Tax Court, military courts, and related federal and territorial courts that relate to the provision of wellness services and regulation of health care institutions.
State Cases contains cases from the state courts of all 50 states and the District of Columbia that relate to the provision of wellness services and regulation of health care institutions.
Medical Malpractice Cases contains cases from federal and state courts that relate to medical malpractice claims.
FDA Decisions contains documents from the FDA Enforcement Report, a weekly publication of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that reports on regulatory activities of the FDA, including prosecutions, seizures, injunctions, and voluntarily conducted safety alerts and recalls. Products covered include food, cosmetics, drugs, medical devices, and veterinary products.
HHS Decisions contains decisions released by the Department of Health and Human Services, including decisions by the Civil Remedies Division, the Appellate Division, and the Quality Control Review Panel.
PRRB Decisions contains decisions released by the PRRB and the HCFA.
HCFA Decisions contains rulings released by the HCFA relating to Medicare, Medicaid, utilization and quality control peer review, and related matters.
Dockets contains docket information on active and inactive civil and criminal cases filed in state courts and the U.S. Supreme Court, courts of appeals, district courts, and bankruptcy courts.
How do I view documents in my result?
After your search has run, the Results page displays the documents retrieved by your search. A portion of each document containing your search terms is displayed below the document title. To view the complete text of a document, click its title, citation, or number. To hide the search terms or jump to a specific document, select the appropriate option from the Result Options drop-down list at the top of the page and click Go.
If your search retrieves more than one type of document, e.g., both federal and state bills, only the first three documents of each type are displayed. The left frame of the Results page will display a list categorizing the document types retrieved by your search. To view all the documents in a category, click the document type under Result Summary in the left frame, or click View All in the category heading in the right frame. To hide the search terms in the list or jump to a specific document, click Results Options in the left frame and choose the appropriate option from the menu that is displayed.
The current search is displayed in a text box at the top of the Results page. To revise your search, click Edit Search, or type your changes in the text box and click Search.