Digital Health & Technology
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January 30, 2024
Stryker Can't Slip California Workers' Wage Suit
Medical device company Stryker cannot escape former workers' wage claims, a California federal judge ruled Tuesday, saying it was unclear whether the company was the workers' employer because it still retained some authority over workers employed by the company's subsidiaries.
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January 29, 2024
Reps Want More From VA On AI Transparency, Enforcement
Members of the House of Representatives on Monday grilled officials from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs on how they plan to protect veterans' privacy and ensure transparency in the development and deployment of artificial intelligence models.
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January 29, 2024
Meta Must Keep Battling Trimmed Health Tracking Privacy Suit
A California federal judge on Monday refused to throw out a trimmed version of a lawsuit claiming that Meta Platforms Inc. illegally collected patients' health information using a Facebook data tracking tool, ruling that their latest complaint has addressed some of his prior concerns.
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January 29, 2024
Texas AG Seeks Transgender Patients' Data, Ga. Clinic Says
Georgia-based telehealth clinic QueerMed said Monday that Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is asking for medical records for patients seeking gender-affirming care, saying the request appears intentional to deter out-of-state clinics from providing such care.
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January 29, 2024
FDA Seeks Input On Reporting Race, Ethnicity In Drug Trials
The Food and Drug Administration asked the healthcare industry Monday for comment on updated guidance that outlines the agency's expectations for collecting race and ethnicity data in drug and medical device research.
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January 29, 2024
Imperative Care Names O'Melveny Deals Partner As CLO
Silicon Valley's Imperative Care announced Monday that an O'Melveny deals partner will take over as chief legal officer, joining a revamped leadership team at the medical tech company.
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January 26, 2024
23andMe Users Say Hackers Targeted Jewish, Chinese Data
Hackers who pushed their way past 23andMe's security systems in a data breach last year were after the personal information of Jewish and Chinese customers, but the biotechnology company hid that detail when notifying 7 million affected customers, according to a proposed class action filed Friday in California federal court.
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January 26, 2024
Bills Aim To Halt Cash To Chinese Cos. Over Genetic Data
Lawmakers on Capitol Hill have introduced legislation to block Chinese biotech companies from receiving federal funding if they have ties to the Chinese Communist Party, saying the goal is to prevent such companies and the party from stealing America's genetic data.
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January 26, 2024
Ex-Goodwin Procter Life Sciences Atty Joins DLA Piper In NY
DLA Piper announced it has hired an experienced life sciences transactional attorney from Goodwin Procter LLP as a New York-based partner in its corporate practice.
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January 25, 2024
Morgan & Morgan Beats Firms To Lead Zoll Data Breach Row
A Massachusetts federal judge on Thursday tapped Morgan & Morgan PA to lead a proposed class action by customers of Zoll Medical Corp. alleging the company failed to protect their private information in two data breaches, rejecting a competing bid by Hausfeld LLP and DiCello Levitt.
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January 24, 2024
Med Device Employee Gets 1 Year For Forging FDA Clearance
A former worker for a medical device maker was sentenced Wednesday to a year in prison after pleading guilty to his role in selling medical equipment that did not have governmental approval.
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January 24, 2024
Software Co. Says Data Breach Victims Aren't Customers
NextGen Healthcare is asking a Georgia federal court to dismiss a proposed consolidated class action because the plaintiffs don't have a relationship with the software company that would make it liable for damages, even as it acknowledged their health information was compromised by a cyberattack.
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January 23, 2024
Australia, US, UK Sanction Russian Over Medibank Hack
Officials from Australia, the U.S. and the United Kingdom revealed Tuesday that they had sanctioned a Russian national believed to have played an integral role in a 2022 cyberattack that hit Australian health insurer Medibank Private Ltd., marking the first time the three nations have made such a coordinated strike.
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January 23, 2024
FDA Pilot Program Accepts First AI Health Technology
An automated depression and anxiety severity measurement tool is the first artificial intelligence-based and digital health technology-based project as well as the first neuroscience project accepted into the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Innovative Science and Technology Approaches for New Drugs Pilot Program, or ISTAND, the agency announced Tuesday.
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January 22, 2024
NY Senate Backs Bill Bolstering Healthcare Data Privacy
New York state's Senate on Monday signed off on legislation that would require companies collecting and selling healthcare information to have user consent before selling that data to third parties, passing a bill that's part of a legislative package lawmakers say is aimed at "reproductive equity."
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January 22, 2024
Anna Jaques Hospital Sued In Mass. Over Hacked Patient Data
Anna Jaques Hospital was hit with a proposed class action on Monday in Massachusetts state court alleging the hospital failed to maintain adequate cybersecurity measures, leading to a December breach potentially involving thousands of patient records.
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January 22, 2024
4th Circ. Preview: Timberland's TM Bid Kicks Off 2024
The Fourth Circuit will kick off 2024 by probing Timberland's bid to trademark its footwear and pondering an embattled insurance mogul's attempt to escape a $524 million judgment.
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January 22, 2024
Boston Biopharma Co. Picks Industry Veteran As Next GC
Biopharma company BPGbio Inc. announced Monday the appointment of a compliance specialist and former Cooley LLP associate as its new general counsel.
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January 19, 2024
Law360 Names Firms Of The Year
Eight law firms have earned spots as Law360's Firms of the Year, with 55 Practice Group of the Year awards among them, steering some of the largest deals of 2023 and securing high-profile litigation wins, including at the U.S. Supreme Court.
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January 19, 2024
Law360 Names Practice Groups Of The Year
Law360 would like to congratulate the winners of its Practice Groups of the Year awards for 2023, which honor the attorney teams behind litigation wins and major deals that resonated throughout the legal industry this past year.
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January 19, 2024
Lawmakers Urge HHS To Make Telehealth Policy Permanent
A bipartisan group of senators and representatives on Friday pressed the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to make permanent the temporary pandemic-era expansions in Medicare telehealth coverage before the end of the year.
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January 19, 2024
Colo. Group Seeks Damage Caps Drop, Reporting Expansion
An issue committee, supported in part by the Colorado Trial Lawyers Association, has launched an effort to place two statewide initiatives before Colorado voters in November, designed to help patients and those filing suits over catastrophic injuries and wrongful deaths.
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January 19, 2024
Becton Investors Get Initial OK Of $85M Deal Over Recall
A magistrate judge granted preliminary approval to an $85 million settlement a class of Becton Dickinson investors reached with the medical tech company over securities fraud claims that it hid regulatory problems regarding sales of its Alaris infusion pump, which Becton recalled in 2020.
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January 19, 2024
WHO Report Examines Pros And Cons Of AI In Healthcare
The World Health Organization has released new guidance on opportunities and ethical risks presented by introducing generative artificial intelligence models such as ChatGPT into the healthcare sector.
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January 19, 2024
Fla. Medical Device Co. Sued Over Data Breach That Hit 54,000
A Tampa-based medical device company has been sued over a data breach that allegedly compromised the personal information of 54,000 people, with a proposed federal class action alleging that the company was negligent in protecting its customers' private data.
Expert Analysis
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What Biden Presidency May Mean For Data Privacy Litigation
The administration of President-elect Joe Biden will likely bring major changes to data privacy law and attendant litigation, including federal legislation that could preempt state laws, renegotiation of conditions for EU data transfers to the U.S., and increased Federal Trade Commission enforcement activity, say attorneys at Squire Patton.
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5 Tips For In-House Counsel Anticipating Cyber Class Actions
In light of a 270% increase in data breaches this year, and the attendant class actions, in-house counsel can prepare to efficiently manage litigation by focusing on certain initial steps, ranging from multidistrict litigation strategy to insurance best practices, say David McDowell and Nancy Thomas at MoFo.
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Where Data Privacy And CFPB Are Headed Under Biden
Data privacy is likely to be a key area of legislative and enforcement focus for President-elect Joe Biden, and consumer financial protection is expected to be an immediate priority due to the economic impact of the pandemic, with the most drastic shift likely to occur at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, say attorneys at Gibson Dunn.
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Ethics Considerations For Law Firms Implementing AI
Richard Finkelman and Yihua Astle at Berkeley Research Group discuss the ethical and bias concerns law firms must address when implementing artificial intelligence-powered applications for recruiting, conflict identification and client counseling.
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The Legal Implications Of Mobile Health Advancements
With the pandemic rapidly accelerating the timeline for the shift to remote and mobile health care, providers will need to keep a close eye on new privacy and cybersecurity risks, and on new potential to collect real-time information from patients, say attorneys at Squire Patton.
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The Post-Election State AG Enforcement Landscape
Election results so far have kept the number of Republican and Democratic state attorneys general even, and no matter the outcome of the presidential race, AGs will work across the aisle on important issues like health care, competition and the environment, says former Illinois attorney general Lisa Madigan at Kirkland.
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What A Trump Or Biden Win Will Mean For State AGs
The outcome of the presidential election will have significant consequences on cooperation between federal agencies and state attorneys general, but either way robust multistate investigations — especially in the consumer protection space — will continue, says Sean Riley at Cozen O'Connor.
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Outside Whistleblowers Are Critical To Exposing Fraud
Outsiders like industry experts, competitors, public interest organizations and concerned citizens often have deep knowledge, industry data and financial incentives that put them in a better position than insiders to spot fraud, say attorneys at Youman & Caputo, Fox Rothschild, Goldstein & Russell and Herrera Purdy.
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Comparing Recent State Data Breach Law Updates
Public and private entities should revisit their incident response plans to ensure compliance with and understand the differences among heightened data breach notification requirements that five states and Washington, D.C., added or amended this year, says Jane Petoskey at Polsinelli.
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Best Practices For Health Care Mergers In The COVID-19 Era
Health providers considering consolidation as a result of the pandemic's impact should attempt to mitigate antitrust enforcers' concerns by substantiating a merger with evidence of cost and quality efficiencies and making efforts to seek competition-friendly alternatives, say attorneys at Shook Hardy.
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Assessing Health Data Privacy Damages During A Pandemic
Class action litigation related to data privacy in the health care industry is expected to trend upward during the COVID-19 era due to increased reliance on telehealth and contact tracing initiatives, heightening the importance of understanding the different economic approaches and challenges to valuing damages, say analysts at Cornerstone Research.
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HHS Lab Test Rule's Likely Impact During And After COVID-19
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' recent announcement rescinding the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's premarket review requirement for laboratory-developed tests upends regulatory expectations for the clinical laboratory industry and raises questions regarding implementation during the pandemic and beyond, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.
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Compliance Lessons From $1M HHS Fine For Data Breach
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recently fined Lifespan Health over $1 million for Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act breaches, showing that health care companies should take protective compliance measures, such as encrypting devices and utilizing business associate agreements, say attorneys at Spencer Fane.