Policy & Compliance
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January 28, 2025
CFPB's Medical Debt Rule In Peril Under Trump
A last-minute effort by the Biden administration to ease the burden of medical debt could face a perfect storm of regulatory and legal challenges under President Donald Trump, potentially quashing momentum to achieve relief for those saddled with unpaid healthcare bills.
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January 27, 2025
VA To Nix $6.1M In Contracts Under Trump's DEI Order
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs announced Monday that it has placed dozens of employees on paid leave and will cancel $6.1 million worth of contracts as part of efforts to root out diversity, equity and inclusion activities.
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January 25, 2025
Trump Revives Federal Anti-Abortion Policies
President Donald Trump issued two executive orders Friday targeting abortion inside and outside the United States, reinstating a ban on federal funding for certain international family planning groups and revoking a pair of Biden-era directives supporting abortion access.
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January 24, 2025
Anti-Abortion Group Seeks High Court Review Of NJ Probe
An anti-abortion pregnancy center operator wants the U.S. Supreme Court to revive its federal court challenge to a subpoena from the New Jersey attorney general that seeks information about its donors, urging the court in a petition for certiorari to resolve a legal "Catch-22."
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January 24, 2025
J&J Escapes Part Of Worker's Drug Benefits Suit, For Now
A suit alleging Johnson & Johnson overcharged employees through a prescription drug benefits program was partially tossed Friday, with a New Jersey federal judge ruling the suing worker failed to show the court could provide any remedies on her claims that plan members overpaid for medicine.
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January 24, 2025
Feds Drop HIPAA Charges Against Houston Surgeon
The federal government has dropped criminal charges against a Texas surgeon accused of improperly accessing patient information and sharing information about the hospital's gender-affirming care practices with the press.
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January 24, 2025
Employer Groups Back Tossing Pension Annuity Suit In NY
Three employer trade groups are backing Bristol-Myers Squibb and investment manager State Street as they fight claims brought by retirees of the pharmaceutical giant that the companies violated federal benefits law by converting workers' pension benefits into annuity insurance contracts.
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January 24, 2025
5th Circ. Upholds Tossing Medicare Rate Policy Challenge
A Fifth Circuit panel said it agrees with a Texas federal judge that a lawsuit brought by four anesthesia practices claiming a Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services policy will cost them $4 million in reduced reimbursements is statutorily barred.
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January 24, 2025
Greenberg Traurig Health Ace Joins Polsinelli In LA
Polsinelli PC is expanding its California team, bringing in a Greenberg Traurig LLP healthcare corporate attorney as a principal in its Los Angeles office.
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January 24, 2025
Dentons Adds 2 Healthcare Attys From Katten In NY
Dentons announced that it has added two attorneys with extensive experience in Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement, regulatory compliance and False Claims Act defense as New York-based partners in its healthcare practice.
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January 23, 2025
Marlboro Smoker Was Target Of Deception, Jury Hears
Philip Morris targeted a Massachusetts preteen as a "replacement" customer for others who were dying of lung disease, a Springfield jury heard Thursday, though the company's lawyer said the woman had free will and knew enough to stop smoking.
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January 23, 2025
4th Circ. Reads Kickback Law Broadly In Loss For Big Pharma
The Fourth Circuit on Thursday affirmed a Virginia federal judge's ruling against a pharmaceuticals industry-backed charity looking to weaken the Anti-Kickback Statute, holding that a proposed program for helping patients cover the cost of drugs could indeed constitute a quid pro quo.
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January 23, 2025
Georgia Pain Doctor To Pay Feds $3.5M In FCA Settlement
A Georgia doctor and his pain management clinic have agreed to pay $3.5 million to end a yearslong civil probe into False Claims Act allegations of billing fraud and violations of opioid prescription protocols, the U.S. Department of Justice said Thursday.
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January 23, 2025
Conn. Lawmakers Target Healthcare After Hospital's Ch. 11
In the lead-up to and aftermath of California hospital operator Prospect Medical Holdings Inc.'s $1 billion bankruptcy, Connecticut lawmakers are considering new regulatory powers, promising and penning oversight bills for hospitals owned by private equity firms and real estate trusts while seeking to stabilize the state's healthcare markets.
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January 23, 2025
UnitedHealthcare Settles Proton Beam Coverage Suit
UnitedHealthcare has agreed to resolve a proposed class action claiming it unlawfully denied coverage of a proton beam cancer treatment after wrongly labeling it as experimental, the insurance company and plan participants told a Massachusetts federal court.
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January 23, 2025
15 States Reach $7.4B Settlement With Sackler Family
A bipartisan coalition of states on Thursday announced a $7.4 billion settlement in principle with the Sackler family and their company Purdue Pharma Inc., representing the largest settlement to date with the family accused of contributing significantly to the opioid epidemic.
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January 22, 2025
RFK Filings Show Biopharma Stakes, Millions In Firm Income
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. plans to sell off his stakes in two biopharmaceutical companies and step back from lucrative roles at a handful of law firms if he is confirmed to lead the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, according to new financial disclosures.
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January 22, 2025
Med Mal Experts Need Only 1 Specialty, NJ Justices Rule
When a doctor accused of malpractice has more than one specialty, the plaintiff needs only to produce an affidavit of merit from a physician who is certified in one of the specialties, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled Wednesday, overturning a state appellate court ruling.
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January 22, 2025
Wash. City Beats Fired Workers' Suit Targeting Vax Mandate
A Washington federal judge tossed a suit brought by city workers claiming they were illegally fired for opposing a COVID-19 vaccine mandate, ruling that the city they worked for didn't violate any of their rights by requiring them to get immunized or lose their jobs.
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January 22, 2025
Feds Trim Spine-Implant Kickback Case Ahead Of Trial
A Massachusetts federal judge has granted a motion by prosecutors to drop bribery charges against a maker of spinal implant devices and whittle down the case against two of its former executives.
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January 22, 2025
Logistics Cos. Say Workers' Tobacco Fee Suit Filed Too Late
A pair of logistics companies are asking a Connecticut federal court to throw out a proposed class action alleging they violated federal law by not fully reimbursing employees who paid an additional tobacco-use fee on their healthcare, saying all the claims in the suit are barred by statutes of limitation.
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January 21, 2025
The Legal And Practical Questions Around Trump's WHO Exit
President Donald Trump’s first-day order setting in motion the United States’ withdrawal from the World Health Organization could leave the nation less prepared for global health threats and trigger legal clashes over the president’s authority to act unilaterally.
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January 21, 2025
4th Circ. Won't Undo Doctor's Conviction For Reusing Devices
A former North Carolina ear, nose and throat doctor staring down 25 years in prison for healthcare fraud lost an appeal Tuesday seeking to overturn her conviction, with the Fourth Circuit finding that the lower court did not commit any reversible error that would favor a shot at redemption.
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January 21, 2025
What To Know About Trump's Medicare Drug Price Order
In his first day in office, President Donald Trump rescinded a Biden directive for health officials to create new drug-pricing models for Medicare and Medicaid recipients. Here's what you need to know about the status of the pricing plans and what comes next.
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January 21, 2025
Minn. Agency Beats Worker's COVID Testing Policy Suit
A Minnesota state agency defeated a Catholic employee's lawsuit claiming it unlawfully refused to grant him a religious exemption from its COVID-19 vaccination and testing policies, with a federal judge ruling Tuesday that the worker had failed to show the agency knew about his religious objections.
Expert Analysis
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2 HHS Warnings Highlight Anti-Kickback Risks For Physicians
Two recent advisory opinions issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Inspector General involve different scenarios and rationales, but together they illustrate the OIG's focus on and disapproval of contractual joint ventures and other revenue-maximizing physician arrangements, say Robert Threlkeld and Elliott Coward at Morris Manning.
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Attorneys Have An Ethical Duty To Protect The Judiciary
The tenor of public disagreement and debate has become increasingly hostile against judges, and though the legislative branch is trying to ameliorate this safety gap, lawyers have a moral imperative and professional requirement to stand with judges in defusing attacks against them and their rulings, says Deborah Winokur at Cozen O'Connor.
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Cross-Market Implications In FTC's Anesthesia Complaint
The Federal Trade Commission's recent complaint against a private equity firm's acquisition of anesthesiology practices highlights the controversial issue of cross-market harm in health care provider mergers, and could provide important insights into how a court may view such theories of harm, say Christopher Lau and Dina Older Aguilar at Cornerstone Research.
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AI Can Help Lawyers Overcome The Programming Barrier
Legal professionals without programming expertise can use generative artificial intelligence to harness the power of automation and other technology solutions to streamline their work, without the steep learning curve traditionally associated with coding, says George Zalepa at Greenberg Traurig.
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Preparing Law Students For A New, AI-Assisted Legal World
As artificial intelligence rapidly transforms the legal landscape, law schools must integrate technology and curricula that address AI’s innate challenges — from ethics to data security — to help students stay ahead of the curve, say Daniel Garrie at Law & Forensics, Ryan Abbott at JAMS and Karen Silverman at Cantellus Group.
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ESG Around The World: South Korea
Numerous ESG trends have materialized in South Korea in the past three years, with impacts ranging from greenwashing prevention and carbon neutrality measures to workplace harassment and board diversity initiatives, say Chang Wook Min and Hyun Chan Jung at Jipyong.
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General Counsel Need Data Literacy To Keep Up With AI
With the rise of accessible and powerful generative artificial intelligence solutions, it is imperative for general counsel to understand the use and application of data for myriad important activities, from evaluating the e-discovery process to monitoring compliance analytics and more, says Colin Levy at Malbek.
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A Look At Healthcare Timelines Set By Biden's AI Order
President Joe Biden's artificial intelligence executive order establishes standards for using AI in the healthcare industry, including a number of staggered deadlines that should help coordinate a more unified federal approach to AI governance, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.
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A Look At Successful Bid Protests In FY 2023
Attorneys at Sheppard Mullin look beyond the statistics in the U.S. Government Accountability Office’s recent annual report on bid protests, sharing their insights about nine categories of sustained protests, gained from reading every fiscal year 2023 decision in which the protester had a positive result.
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Navigating Discovery Of Generative AI Information
As generative artificial intelligence tools become increasingly ubiquitous, companies must make sure to preserve generative AI data when there is reasonable expectation of litigation, and to include transcripts in litigation hold notices, as they may be relevant to discovery requests, say Nick Peterson and Corey Hauser at Wiley.
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FDA's Lab-Developed Test Rule May Bring Historic Challenges
If finalized, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's proposed rule for regulating laboratory-developed tests will provoke some of the most interesting legal challenges that the agency has faced in decades, with outcomes that will likely reverberate across the agency's product centers, says Stacy Amin at MoFo.
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Finding Focus: Strategies For Attorneys With ADHD
Given the prevalence of ADHD among attorneys, it is imperative that the legal community gain a better understanding of how ADHD affects well-being, and that resources and strategies exist for attorneys with this disability to manage their symptoms and achieve success, say Casey Dixon at Dixon Life Coaching and Krista Larson at Stinson.
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AI Use May Trigger False Claims Act's Public Disclosure Bar
The likely use of publicly available artificial intelligence tools to detect government fraud by combing through large data sets will raise complex questions about a False Claims Act provision that prohibits the filing of claims based on previously disclosed information, say Nick Peterson and Spencer Brooks at Wiley Rein.