Policy & Compliance

  • December 05, 2024

    Fla. Labs Say Cigna's Trial 'Confession' Erases $7.3M Verdict

    Three Florida drug testing laboratories have urged a Connecticut federal court to undo a $7.3 million jury verdict for Cigna Health and Life Insurance Co. over unjustified billings, arguing a new trial is warranted after the insurer allegedly made a "confession" during opening statements that it wasn't seeking damages for itself.

  • December 05, 2024

    DOL Says Court Erred In Tossing ESOP Claims Against Exec

    A medical equipment industry executive should continue facing claims that he ripped off workers by selling overpriced stock to his company's employee stock ownership plan, the U.S. Department of Labor told an Idaho federal judge Thursday, asking him to rethink letting the executive escape the allegations.

  • December 05, 2024

    Amazon Can't Dodge Fired Worker's Disability Bias Suit

    Amazon can't escape a proposed class action brought by a former worker with cerebral palsy alleging the company reneged on promises to support disabled employees, a California federal judge ruled, stating he showed the company may have mishandled his requests for an assignment adjustment.

  • December 04, 2024

    9th Circ. Keeps Block Of Idaho AG's Abortion Ban Stance

    The Ninth Circuit notched a win for Idaho doctors Wednesday, upholding a temporary block preventing Idaho's attorney general from enforcing his interpretation of the state's abortion ban that he said prohibits doctors from referring women across state lines to receive abortion care. 

  • December 04, 2024

    Jackson's 'Quite Worried' About Equal Protection Precedent

    The U.S. Supreme Court's Republican-appointed justices' apparent willingness Wednesday to rule that a Tennessee law banning gender-affirming healthcare for transgender minors didn't rely on sex-based classifications worried Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, who warned that such a decision would undermine decades of the court's equal protection clause precedent.

  • December 04, 2024

    Justices Seem To Back Ban On Transgender Youth Care

    The U.S. Supreme Court's conservative majority on Wednesday seemed poised to greenlight a Tennessee ban on minors receiving gender-affirming care, despite arguments from the court's liberal block that finding the law constitutional would fly in the face of the court's equal-protection precedents.

  • December 04, 2024

    3rd Circ. Preview: BetMGM Addiction Case Tops Dec. Lineup

    The Third Circuit is set to determine if BetMGM online casino should face a lawsuit claiming it violated New Jersey consumer protection and gambling laws for allegedly enticing a man with a gambling problem to play its games.

  • December 03, 2024

    Calif. Unveils Reproductive Rights Bills To Prep For Trump

    California lawmakers plan to introduce a pair of bills aimed at protecting access to abortion in the Golden State as Donald Trump returns to office, according to an announcement made Monday, the first day of a special legislative session called by Gov. Gavin Newsom.

  • December 03, 2024

    Atlanta Imaging Co., Ex-CEO To Pay $5M In FCA Settlement

    An Atlanta-based diagnostic imaging company and its former CEO have agreed to pay $5.25 million to end claims that the firm ran a referral kickback scheme in which it buttered up doctors with sports tickets and booze in exchange for sending patients its way, the U.S. Department of Justice has announced.

  • December 03, 2024

    Deaf Patient Drops Henry Ford Health System Bias Suit

    A deaf patient has resolved claims that Detroit's Henry Ford Health System discriminated against her when the hospital failed to provide her with American Sign Language interpreters, according to a Monday order.

  • December 03, 2024

    USPTO Abandons Polarizing Proposal Over Double Patenting

    The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has withdrawn an extremely controversial proposal tied to double patenting, citing "resource constraints" in a Federal Register notice set to be published Wednesday.

  • December 03, 2024

    What To Know About High Court's 1st Transgender Care Case

    When the U.S. Supreme Court justices gather for oral arguments on Wednesday, they will hear the court's first transgender healthcare case. Their decision could determine whether Tennessee's ban on affirming healthcare for transgender adolescents is unconstitutional and steer the fate of similar prohibitions across the country.

  • December 03, 2024

    VA Announces Study On MDMA-Assisted Therapy For Vets

    The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs announced Tuesday it will fund a study on psychedelic-assisted therapy for veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder and alcohol use disorder, alongside researchers from Brown University and Yale University.

  • December 03, 2024

    FCA Whistleblower Provisions Could Face Peril Under Trump

    Over 160 years after enactment of the False Claims Act and its qui tam provisions, the confluence of a conservative U.S. Supreme Court and a second Trump administration has attorneys contemplating a future without whistleblower-led litigation.

  • December 03, 2024

    Veterans Group Challenges Exclusion From DEA Pot Hearing

    A veterans group is challenging the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration's decision to deny it a spot among 25 participants in hearings exploring whether to reschedule cannabis under the Controlled Substances Act, saying veterans have been deprived of an advocate for a conclusion that would best suit their needs.

  • December 03, 2024

    GOP-Backed Medicaid Job Mandate Could Reshuffle Care

    Medicaid work requirements — a much-debated idea expected to get fresh support in the next Trump administration — could jolt the nation's healthcare system by shrinking the number of people with health coverage and boosting uncompensated care at hospitals.

  • December 02, 2024

    House COVID-19 Probe Points to China 'Lab Leak'

    The Republican-led House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic published the results of its two-year investigation into the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic Monday, concluding that COVID-19 "most likely" emerged from a laboratory in Wuhan, China, and heavily criticizing the Biden administration, Anthony Fauci and left-leaning organizations for their responses.

  • December 02, 2024

    Newsom Wants $25M For Expected Legal Fights With Trump

    California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Monday that he wants up to $25 million for litigation and legal fights he foresees with the administration of President-elect Donald Trump, kicking off the first day of a special session the state Legislature held at the governor's request after Trump's win.

  • December 02, 2024

    9th Circ. Partially Upholds Block Of Idaho Abortion Travel Ban

    A split Ninth Circuit panel on Monday upheld part of a lower court's temporary injunction to an Idaho law that criminalizes helping minors travel out of state to receive abortions without parental permission, finding the "recruiting" portion of the law is unconstitutional. 

  • November 27, 2024

    Split Ohio High Court Revives Death Suit Against Pa. Doctor

    An Ohio law that pauses the statute of limitations for lawsuits against parties who leave the state does not violate the dormant commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution because it neither facially discriminates against out-of-state entities nor has some economic protectionist purpose, the state Supreme Court ruled Wednesday.

  • November 27, 2024

    PBM Says Opioid Ruling Ignored High Court's Privilege Stance

    A special master's ruling that internal audit records from Express Scripts Inc. are not protected by attorney-client privilege should be overturned because it contradicts nearly 40 years of U.S. Supreme Court precedent, the pharmacy benefit manager told an Ohio federal court overseeing multidistrict opioid litigation.

  • November 27, 2024

    Nonprofit Warns 3rd Circ. Against 'Abuse' In Merck Vax Case

    The anti-monopoly think tank Open Markets Institute urged the full Third Circuit to rethink a panel's immunization of Merck & Co. Inc. from antitrust claims over its mumps vaccine, arguing in an amicus brief that the doctrine cementing the right to petition the government doesn't justify the use of courts and administration as a "competitive weapon."

  • November 27, 2024

    Up Next At The High Court: Transgender Care, Holocaust Art

    The U.S. Supreme Court will return to the bench Monday for its December arguments session, which will include blockbuster questions about the constitutionality of state laws banning gender-affirming care for transgender minors and whether Hungary can be held liable for property stolen during World War II.

  • November 27, 2024

    Hospital Sued For Firing Tech Who Reported Lax Drugmaking

    A pharmacy technician claims in Illinois state court that she was fired from Lurie Children's Hospital in Chicago for making complaints both internally and to state regulators that the medications for pediatric patients were being compounded in an unsanitary manner and that the facilities weren't being properly cleaned.

  • November 26, 2024

    Trump Taps Bhattacharya For National Institutes Of Health

    President-elect Donald Trump announced Tuesday that he has selected Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, a physician who opposed the use of lockdowns and mask mandates to contain the spread of COVID-19, to lead the National Institutes of Health.

Expert Analysis

  • Justices Mull Sex-Based Classification In Trans Law Case

    Author Photo

    After the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral argument in U.S. v. Skrmetti this week, it appears that the fate of the Tennessee law at the center of the case — a law banning gender-affirming healthcare for transgender adolescents — will hinge on whether the majority read the statute as imposing a sex-based classification, says Alexandra Crandall at Dickinson Wright.

  • Key Takeaways From FDA's Latest Social Media Warnings

    Author Photo

    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's latest untitled letter concerning a drug company's social media promotion provides lessons for how companies should navigate risk presentation, FDA labeling requirements and superiority claims, say attorneys at Sheppard Mullin.

  • Rank-And-File DOJ Attorneys Will Keep Calm And Carry On

    Author Photo

    Career prosecutors at the U.S. Department of Justice often pride themselves on their ability to remain apolitical in order to ensure consistency and keep the department’s mission afloat, and the incoming Trump administration is unlikely to upend this tradition, says Michael Landman at Bird Marella.

  • Unpacking Arguments From High Court's Rural Hospital Case

    Author Photo

    During oral arguments in Advocate v. Becerra, the U.S. Supreme Court justices focused questions on the meaning of being "entitled to" supplementary security income assistance, and there's reason for optimism that the likely split decision will break in favor of hospitals, say attorneys at King & Spalding.

  • Health Policy Predictions For Trump's Second Administration

    Author Photo

    As President-elect Donald Trump's nominations for health policy and enforcement heads work their way through the confirmation process, healthcare organizations can look at nominee backgrounds, campaign statements and actions from Trump's previous presidency to predict incoming priorities, say attorneys at McDermott.

  • What Trump's Next Term May Mean For Biz Immigration

    Author Photo

    Leonard D'Arrigo at Harris Beach discusses the employment-based immigration policies businesses can potentially expect during President-elect Donald Trump’s second term, based on policies enacted during his first administration, statements made during his campaign and proposals in Project 2025.

  • Weak Reasoning Underlies Fla. Judge's Bold Qui Tam Ruling

    Author Photo

    U.S. District Judge Kathryn Mizelle's groundbreaking decision in U.S. ex rel. Zafirov v. Florida Medical Associates LLC, holding that qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act are unconstitutional, relies on weak logic to reach a conclusion that differs from every other court that has ruled on the issue, says Ethan Greenberg at Anderson Kill.

  • Medicare Overpayment Rules Are A Mixed Bag For Providers

    Author Photo

    The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' updated rules for handling agency overpayments adopt a more reasonable definition of what it means to have "identified" an overpayment, which is a win for providers, but their new time frame for investigating related overpayments is unrealistic, says Susan Banks at Holland & Knight.

  • Expect More State-Level Scrutiny Of Noncompetes Ahead

    Author Photo

    Despite the nationwide injunction against the Federal Trade Commission’s noncompete ban, and the incoming Republican administration, employers should anticipate that state legislatures will continue to focus on laws that limit or ban noncompetes, including those that target certain salary thresholds or industries, says Benjamin Fryer at FordHarrison.

  • Cos. Should Inventory Issues To Prep For New Congress

    Author Photo

    As the legislative and oversight agendas of the 119th Congress come into sharper focus, corporate counsel should assess and plan for areas of potential oversight risk — from tax policy changes to supply chain integrity — even as much uncertainty remains, say attorneys at WilmerHale.

  • Incoming Admin May Shake Up Life Sciences Regulation

    Author Photo

    Though President-elect Donald Trump has not yet articulated policy priorities regarding the life sciences industry, the sector is positioned to see significant changes that could affect everything from drug exclusivity and generic drug approvals, to the availability of over-the-counter drugs, to laboratory-developed tests and digital health, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • Navigating DOJ's Patchwork Whistleblower Regime

    Author Photo

    In the past few months, the U.S. Department of Justice and several individual U.S. attorney’s offices have issued different pilot programs aimed at incentivizing individuals to blow the whistle on misconduct, but this piecemeal approach may create confusion and suboptimal outcomes, say attorneys at BakerHostetler.

  • What To Expect Next From Federal Health Tech Regulation

    Author Photo

    Healthcare organizations should pay close attention to federal health information technology regulators' recent guidance concerning barriers to accessing electronic health information, which signals that more enforcement in this area is likely forthcoming, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.