Policy & Compliance

  • June 06, 2025

    Texas AG Says Trans Care Investigation Is Lawful

    The Texas Attorney General's Office told the state's Supreme Court that a lower court went too far by blocking an investigation into an LGBTQ+ advocacy organization that allegedly had knowledge about outside parties performing gender-affirming care on minors, saying the court undermined the AG's investigative authority.

  • June 06, 2025

    Fla. Medical Billing Co. Accused Of Filing False Genetic Tests

    The U.S. government has filed a False Claims Act suit against a Florida medical billing and compliance services company for allegedly filing claims to Medicare for more than $15 million in medically unnecessary genetic laboratory tests.

  • June 05, 2025

    Red States Double Down On Bid To Stymie Trans Health Rule

    More than a dozen Republican attorneys general challenging a Biden-era rule that protected gender-affirming care under the Affordable Care Act said the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services can't keep the rule on the books just because the new administration is unlikely to enforce it.

  • June 05, 2025

    Sens. Float Automatic Biosimilar Interchangeable Label

    A bipartisan group of U.S. senators has reintroduced legislation that would reduce what the lawmakers called barriers to accessing lower-cost versions of biologic drugs, making an adjustment to how biosimilars are deemed interchangeable with their name-brand equivalents.

  • June 05, 2025

    $1.36B Home Healthcare Deal Dropped Amid FTC Scrutiny

    Healthcare solutions company Owens & Minor said Thursday that it's abandoning its $1.36 billion plan to buy home-based care business Rotech Healthcare Holdings after the Federal Trade Commission's scrutiny proved too much to bear.

  • June 05, 2025

    4 AGs Urge FDA To Lift Abortion Pill Restrictions

    Attorneys general from California, Massachusetts, New York and New Jersey on Thursday urged the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to lift restrictions on the abortion drug mifepristone, saying they aren't necessary under statutory requirements for an FDA drug safety program.

  • June 05, 2025

    Mich. AG Asks Judge To Block Abortion Coercion Screening

    Michigan's attorney general has asked a judge to strike down a state-law requirement that abortion patients be evaluated for coercion, after the judge upheld the screening while permanently blocking other abortion regulations last month.

  • June 05, 2025

    Ex-Bush Admin Atty To Lead HHS Civil Rights Office

    The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has appointed an attorney to lead its civil rights office who brings more than 30 years of experience across the public sector and private practice, including as counsel for HHS during the George W. Bush administration.

  • June 04, 2025

    Calif. Won't Get Insulin Pricing Case Sent Back To State Court

    The New Jersey federal judge overseeing multidistrict litigation accusing Express Scripts, CVS Caremark and other pharmacy benefit managers of conspiring to fix the prices of insulin on Wednesday refused to ship a case brought by the state of California back to state court.

  • June 04, 2025

    States Take Aim At Healthcare REITs

    State lawmakers seeking to curb healthcare investment models they see as harmful to patients have sharpened their focus on real estate investment trusts, putting forth bills to restrict their ownership of healthcare real estate or increase oversight of such transactions.

  • June 04, 2025

    DC Judge Weighs Harm In Teen Program Funding Fight

    A D.C. federal judge on Wednesday seemed unconvinced by Planned Parenthood's assertion that new federal grant requirements for a public health initiative aimed at preventing teen pregnancy are harmful enough to warrant a preliminary injunction.

  • June 04, 2025

    Apple Can Shield Info In NJ TikTok Addiction Suit

    A New Jersey state court will allow Apple Inc. to inject itself into the state attorney general's high-profile lawsuit accusing TikTok of designing features that harm and cause addiction in children, allowing the manufacturer of the iPhone to argue, away from public view, that certain content in the lawsuit should be redacted.

  • June 04, 2025

    Ohio Nonprofit, Nursing Homes To Pay $3.6M To End FCA Suit

    An Ohio-based nursing home operator has agreed to pay $3.61 million to settle False Claims Act allegations brought against it by the government over purportedly substandard and in some cases nonexistent care, according to a new announcement from the U.S. Department of Justice.

  • June 03, 2025

    Trump Admin. Nixes Guidance Protecting ER Abortion Care

    The Trump administration said Tuesday that it is rescinding post-Dobbs guidance from 2022 that emphasized medical providers' abortion care obligations under federal law and that assured federal law protected providers' clinical judgment, regardless of conflicting state laws or mandates.

  • June 03, 2025

    MAHA Report's Fake Citations A Red Flag For Experts

    Fake and misinterpreted citations in a recent federal report focused on chronic disease in the U.S. are raising alarm bells that federal health officials may be trading in scientific rigor for cherry-picked evidence.

  • June 03, 2025

    6th Circ. Denies PBMs' Privilege Claim In Opioid MDL

    A Sixth Circuit panel on Tuesday denied a petition from Cigna's Express Scripts and UnitedHealth's Optum seeking to reverse discovery orders allowing certain personnel files and internal communications into the multidistrict opioid litigation, finding that the two pharmacy benefit managers failed to show extraordinary abuses justifying relief.

  • June 03, 2025

    Plan Providers Must Face DOJ Overpayment Suit, Judge Says

    A Maine federal judge refused to let five military healthcare plan providers escape a False Claims Act suit alleging that they knowingly pocketed millions of dollars that were overpaid, holding that U.S. Department of Justice claims against them pass muster for now.

  • June 03, 2025

    DC Judge Blocks Trump's Ban On Transgender Prisoner Care

    A D.C. federal judge on Tuesday blocked the enforcement of a Trump administration executive order barring funding of gender-affirming care in federal prisons and granted class certification to a group of transgender inmates challenging the directive.

  • June 03, 2025

    HHS, DOGE Accused Of Using Flawed Data In Mass Layoffs

    Former federal workers laid off by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services brought a putative class action Tuesday in D.C. federal court alleging their terminations were unlawful because they were based on "hopelessly error-ridden" personnel records, in violation of the Privacy Act.

  • June 03, 2025

    Health Policy Expert On The Changing Vaccine Landscape

    KFF's Jen Kates talks about the changing vaccine landscape, the trickle-down effects of the Trump administration's policies and what she's watching for from federal health officials in the future.

  • June 03, 2025

    2nd Circ. Says Social Worker Can't Challenge NY Abortion Law

    The Second Circuit on Tuesday rejected a social worker's constitutional challenge to a New York law decriminalizing abortion, finding that she lacked standing to sue because she couldn't identify any specific fetus facing harm.

  • June 03, 2025

    Health System, Staffing Co. Accused Of Shaving Work Time

    New York state's largest healthcare provider and a staffing firm unlawfully round down the amount of time employees spend working and deduct 30 minutes from their hours regardless of whether they took a break, according to a lawsuit filed in federal court.

  • June 03, 2025

    The Law360 400: A Look At The Top 100 Firms

    A rebound in client work sent the nation’s largest law firms into growth mode last year, driving a wave of hiring, mergers and strategic moves that reshaped the top tier of the Law360 400. Here's a preview of the 100 firms with the largest U.S. attorney headcounts.

  • June 02, 2025

    9th Circ. Sends Express Scripts Opioid Case To State Court

    The Ninth Circuit sent California's public nuisance lawsuit against Express Scripts and OptumRx over opioid dispensing back to state court Monday and denied the pharmacy benefit managers' bid to stay the remand pending appeal, saying the U.S. Supreme Court's 2009 Nken decision controls, not its later Coinbase ruling.

  • June 02, 2025

    Ore. Psilocybin Access Suit Can Continue, Judge Says

    An Oregon federal judge has ruled that the state's health regulator must face a suit brought under a federal antidiscrimination law that seeks to broaden access for homebound patients to the state's regulated psilocybin program.

Expert Analysis

  • The OIG Report: Preparing For Oversight In 2025

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    Across sectors, Office of Inspector General work plans and challenge reports for 2025 provide a trove of information on the issues and industries that will likely be the focus of government oversight in the year to come, says Diana Shaw at Wiley.

  • 5 Drug And Device Developments That Shaped 2024

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    The last year saw significant legal developments affecting drug and device manufacturers, with landmark decisions and regulatory changes that require vigilance and agility from the industry, say attorneys at Faegre Drinker.

  • How New Fraud Enforcement Tool Affects Gov't Contractors

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    Government contractors will likely face greater scrutiny under the recently enacted Administrative False Claims Act, which broadens federal agencies' authority to pursue low-dollar fraud claims, but contractors may also find the act makes settlement of such claims easier to negotiate, say attorneys at Wiley.

  • Consultants Should Be Aware Of DOJ's Potential New Reach

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    The U.S. Department of Justice's recent first-of-its-kind settlement with McKinsey & Co. indicates not only the DOJ's more aggressive stance toward businesses' potential criminal wrongdoings, but also the benefits of self-disclosure and cooperation when wrongdoing becomes apparent, says Dom Caamano at Kibler Fowler.

  • Health Tech Regulatory Trends To Watch In 2025

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    With an upcoming change in administration and the release of some long-awaited rules, the healthcare industry should prepare for shifting trends, including a growing focus on health data and interest in technology-enabled delivery of healthcare, say attorneys at Orrick.

  • 10 Noteworthy CFPB Developments From 2024

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    In a banner year for consumer finance regulation, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau made significant strides in its efforts to rein in Big Tech and nonbank financial firms, including via rules regarding open banking, credit card late fees, and buy now, pay later products, say attorneys at Wiley.

  • The Future Of GLP-1 Policy After Drug Shortage Ends

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    If and when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration determines that GLP-1 RA drugs are no longer in short supply, regulators will face questions of how to balance access to GLP-1 RAs with statutory and policy considerations applicable to compounded drugs, say attorneys at Skadden.

  • Top 10 Whistleblowing And Retaliation Events Of 2024

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    From a Florida federal court’s ruling that the False Claims Act’s qui tam provision is unconstitutional to a record-breaking number of whistleblower tips filed with the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, employers saw significant developments in the federal and state whistleblower landscapes this year, say attorneys at Proskauer.

  • How White Collar Defense Attys Can Use Summary Witnesses

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    Few criminal defense attorneys have successfully utilized summary witnesses in the past, but several recent success stories show that it can be a worthwhile trial tactic to help juries understand the complex decision-making at issue, says Jonathan Porter at Husch Blackwell.

  • Nutraceutical Patent Insights As Market Heats Up

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    Companies entering the expanding nutraceutical market and seeking patents to protect their innovations should evaluate successful nutraceutical claim language and common patent challenges in this field, say attorneys at Sterne Kessler.

  • How White Collar Attys Can Use Mythic Archetypes At Trial

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    A careful reading of a classic screenwriting guide shows that fairy tales and white collar trials actually have a lot in common, and defense attorneys would do well to tell a hero’s journey at trial, relying on universal character archetypes to connect with the jury, says Jack Sharman at Lightfoot Franklin.

  • What 2024 Election Means For Drugs, Medicare And Medicaid

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    With Republicans running the White House, U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate, the incoming administration is likely to provide pathways — through new initiatives and others returning from Trump's previous presidency — for a range of potential changes to drug pricing, Medicare and Medicaid, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • Justices Mull Sex-Based Classification In Trans Law Case

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    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.