Policy & Compliance

  • April 03, 2024

    Hospital Workers' Vax Free Speech Suit Falls Flat At 6th Circ.

    The Sixth Circuit backed the dismissal of two workers' claims that a children's hospital violated their constitutional rights when it rejected their religious objections to a COVID-19 vaccine mandate, saying Wednesday they failed to show the hospital was a government actor.

  • April 03, 2024

    Mayo Clinic Stuck Workers With Hefty Medical Bills, Suit Says

    A medical claims administrator steered Mayo Clinic health plan participants toward out-of-network healthcare providers and then forced them to foot the bulk of the bill, a proposed class action filed in Minnesota federal court said.

  • April 03, 2024

    Ex-NBA Guard's Health Fraud Perjury Merits Prison, Feds Say

    Manhattan federal prosecutors said a former Detroit Pistons point guard who was convicted on one of two counts over an alleged scheme to defraud the NBA's healthcare plan should be sentenced to 27 to 33 months in prison, claiming he lied during his testimony.

  • April 02, 2024

    Alaska Judge Tosses Opioid Nuisance Case Against Pharmacies

    Retail pharmacies including Walgreens Co. and Walmart Inc. have escaped a suit brought by Alaska in state court over their role in the opioid epidemic after a judge found the state's public nuisance claims were a "bridge too far."

  • April 02, 2024

    3rd Circ. Preview: Black Lung, Back Pay On Tap In April

    The Third Circuit this month will consider Keystone Coal Mining Co.'s contention that a lower court erred in deeming a miner's black lung a "total disability," while a shuttered rehabilitation facility has asked the court to undo the National Labor Relations Board's determination that it owes unionized employees back pay and bonuses for work done during the COVID-19 pandemic.

  • April 02, 2024

    Healthcare In Court: Idaho AG Not 'Cute' On Abortion Ban

    Idaho's solicitor general had a hard day at the Ninth Circuit, where a panel tried and failed to get a lock on the state attorney general's stance on Idaho's abortion ban. Home Depot pressed the U.S. Supreme Court to review a $2.67 billion settlement in antitrust litigation against the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association. And in Texas, a woman charged with murder for inducing her own abortion sued the prosecutors behind the case.

  • April 02, 2024

    3 Sentenced To Prison In Fla. Fake Nursing Diploma Case

    A Florida judge sentenced three people to federal prison time Tuesday after they were convicted for their roles in a multimillion-dollar fake nursing diploma scheme following a jury trial in December

  • April 02, 2024

    NC GOP Pols Stress Health In Bid To Keep Abortion Law Intact

    Two North Carolina abortion law provisions that Attorney General Josh Stein deems unconstitutional are necessary to protect women's health, Republican leaders have argued in a bid to keep hospitalization and fetus-location requirements in the statute.

  • April 02, 2024

    Conn. Dentists Used Illegal Patient Recruiting, Suit Says

    Federal and state authorities filed a kickback and false claims lawsuit in Connecticut federal court on Tuesday against two dental practices in the state and their co-owners for allegedly paying a patient recruiter to generate business through Medicaid.

  • April 02, 2024

    IVF Ruling Leaves Lawyers Puzzling Over 'Fetal Personhood'

    A recent decision from Alabama's top court that frozen embryos are legally children raises a host of thorny questions that touch some surprising areas of the law, from the criminal code and public benefits to surrogacy contracts and even tax deductions. A rash of new "personhood" legislation promises to be a challenge for lawyers working in areas well beyond healthcare.

  • April 02, 2024

    NM Medical Cannabis Insurance Row To Stay In Federal Court

    The federal court is the proper place for a proposed class action seeking to make Blue Cross and Blue Shield and other insurers cover medical cannabis, a New Mexico federal judge has ruled, rejecting objections by patients who said the state's high court will eventually need to get involved.

  • April 02, 2024

    For Medicare Drug Cost Suits, Final Price Could Be Key

    Drugmakers and industry groups arguing that the Medicare drug price negotiation program amounts to an unconstitutional taking of their property have an uphill battle. Experts say their claims can be either fortified or undercut by the final price of the selected prescription drugs.

  • April 02, 2024

    HHS Underlines Consent Priority For Pelvic, Prostate Exams

    New federal guidance that teaching hospitals and medical schools must have written consent before conducting pelvic, prostate, and other sensitive medical exams is a signal the agency has drawn a line on patient privacy and control, experts say.

  • April 02, 2024

    Medical Advocacy Orgs Ascend Amid Healthcare Court Battles

    The rapid ascent of an abortion case filed by the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine illustrates the growing power of physician and provider advocacy groups to shape the nation's healthcare policy and legal debates.

  • April 02, 2024

    DOJ Sets Sights On 3rd Parties In Managed Care FCA Claims

    The Justice Department has sent a message in recent months, both in litigation and public speeches, that it plans to target third-party contractors and vendors whose actions contribute to the government being overbilled for medical care, even if they didn't submit those claims directly.

  • April 02, 2024

    Prosecutors Call Indicted Exec's Misconduct Claims 'Flawed'

    Prosecutors have asked a California federal judge to reject a bid for sanctions by a former healthcare CEO indicted on novel insider trading charges, arguing that his claims related to a separate case are based on "flawed grounds."

  • April 02, 2024

    SF City Atty Says Gov't Has Duty To Probe Hospital Rankings

    As law schools, medical schools and health systems continue to raise concerns over the veracity of annual rankings published by U.S. News and World Report, San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu is holding fast to his belief that his office has an important role to play in pushing for transparency from the publication. Here, he discusses the U.S. News suit against him and how his investigation fits into his office's consumer protection work.

  • April 01, 2024

    Ga., FTC Seek $17M+ Fine And Ban On Doc's Stem Cell Ads

    After securing an early win last week against a Georgia doctor and a series of companies that marketed stem cell therapy as a cure-all miracle treatment, federal regulators and the state of Georgia asked a federal judge Monday for $17.7 million in fines and an injunction barring the defendants from any future endeavors in the medical marketing industry.

  • April 01, 2024

    Swedish Match Sued Over Allegedly Youth Targeted Zyn Ads

    Philip Morris International and its subsidiary Swedish Match North America LLC have been hit with a putative class action from an unnamed California man alleging he became addicted to the company's Zyn smokeless oral nicotine pouches when he was a minor because of the product's marketing campaign.

  • April 01, 2024

    Ex-Pharma Co. Exec Denies Signing Noncompete Deal

    The former director of government sales for a pharmaceutical company asked the North Carolina Business Court on Friday to knock out a breach of contract claim in a lawsuit that alleges he took trade secrets to a competitor, arguing the company has no valid noncompete agreement to back it up.

  • April 01, 2024

    Cigna Can't Escape Patients' ERISA Fight Over Claim Rates

    A Connecticut federal judge agreed to trim a federal benefits lawsuit against Cigna alleging the company underpaid claims from providers who indirectly contracted with the insurer, finding allegations from participants in employer-sponsored health plans could proceed to discovery but that several medical associations lacked standing to sue.

  • April 01, 2024

    Fla. Justices Uphold Abortion Ban, Approve Pro-Choice Ballot Measure

    The Florida Supreme Court on Monday upheld a 15-week abortion ban in the state while also approving an initiative to preserve abortion access for placement on the ballot in November, leaving it to voters to decide the state's post-Dobbs future.

  • April 01, 2024

    Amazon's Disability Inclusion Efforts A Sham, Suit Says

    Amazon's stated commitments to disability inclusion are a sham, a California worker with cerebral palsy claimed in a proposed class action, saying the company gave him a warehouse gig despite his many warnings that he couldn't meet the job's physical demands.

  • March 29, 2024

    Calif. Justices Rule Living Wills Not A Path To Arbitration

    The California Supreme Court has unanimously ruled that an advance healthcare directive, or living will, does not permit a designated power of attorney to opt into arbitration on a patient's behalf, a decision that, while blessed by consumer groups, left some in the medical community "pretty disappointed."

  • March 29, 2024

    Hogan Lovells Vet's High Court Debut A Study In Contrasts

    Several weeks ago, when a Hogan Lovells lawyer finally delivered U.S. Supreme Court arguments after 20 years at the firm, she parsed arcane arbitration issues and her words weren't widely heard outside the courtroom. But weeks later and back at the high court podium, her words were heard nationwide when she pointedly spotlighted a judge's use of "anonymous blog posts" in a bombshell abortion ruling.

Expert Analysis

  • 2 HHS Warnings Highlight Anti-Kickback Risks For Physicians

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    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.

  • Attorneys Have An Ethical Duty To Protect The Judiciary

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    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.

  • Cross-Market Implications In FTC's Anesthesia Complaint

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    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.

  • AI Can Help Lawyers Overcome The Programming Barrier

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    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.

  • Preparing Law Students For A New, AI-Assisted Legal World

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    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.

  • ESG Around The World: South Korea

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    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.

  • General Counsel Need Data Literacy To Keep Up With AI

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    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.

  • A Look At Healthcare Timelines Set By Biden's AI Order

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    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.

  • A Look At Successful Bid Protests In FY 2023

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    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.

  • Navigating Discovery Of Generative AI Information

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    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.

  • FDA's Lab-Developed Test Rule May Bring Historic Challenges

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    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.

  • Finding Focus: Strategies For Attorneys With ADHD

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    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.

  • AI Use May Trigger False Claims Act's Public Disclosure Bar

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    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.