Digital Health & Technology
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March 26, 2024
Meet The Calif. Atty Taking On Health Insurers' Use Of AI
With the health insurance industry under scrutiny over its use of algorithms and artificial intelligence in the patient coverage review process, California appellate attorney Glenn Danas saw an opening for litigation with what he calls a "high outrage factor."
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March 26, 2024
Healthcare Hack May Be Wake-Up Call For Industry And Gov't
The recent cyberattack that sabotaged vital billing and prescribing services operated by a UnitedHealth unit that processes roughly half the medical claims in the U.S. has highlighted the urgent need for providers in this critical sector to not only understand supply chain security risks, but also to work more closely with the federal government to combat these threats.
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March 25, 2024
Ga. Judge Slams Attys Over 'Incredible' House Arrest Request
A Georgia federal judge on Monday postponed the sentencing of a cybersecurity contractor convicted of hacking into a hospital's computer systems after tearing into his attorneys over their request for nearly five years of home confinement instead of prison, for which the judge found "no basis."
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March 22, 2024
$900M Trade Secrets Case Against Kaiser Foundation Flops
A California state judge has ruled that, after more than five years of litigation against the Kaiser Foundation, a pastor's small medical technology startup cannot "explain what was unique or secret about its conception for transmitting patient data" that was purportedly worth beyond $900 million.
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March 22, 2024
Final OK Sought For Economic Loss Deal In CPAP Recall MDL
Users of Philips' recalled CPAP breathing machines have asked a Pennsylvania federal judge to give her final OK to their $467.5 million settlement with the company to cover economic loss claims, arguing only a few objections to the deal remain.
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March 22, 2024
LifeCell Cleared Of Liability In NJ Strattice Hernia Mesh Trial
New Jersey state jurors on Friday cleared LifeCell of liability in a Kentucky woman's suit alleging the design of its Strattice surgical mesh is defective and caused a hernia to reoccur and ultimately resulted in "life-altering" surgery, giving the medical device company the first win in a venue with at least 93 pending cases with tort claims over the mesh.
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March 21, 2024
Colo. Distributor Seeks $2.3M Sanction For Stryker Spoilation
A Colorado medical device distributor urged a federal judge to make Stryker and its lawyers pay $2.3 million in attorney fees as sanctions for "pervasive misconduct" throughout discovery and trial, arguing discovery violations will otherwise become the "cost of doing business" for the medical technology giant.
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March 21, 2024
UpHealth Claims $110M Win In Glocal Control Fight
Global digital health company UpHealth Inc. says an arbitral panel has awarded it more than $110 million following a dispute that arose out of its subsidiary's acquisition of Glocal Healthcare Systems in 2020 — even as Glocal decried the award as "one-sided and perverse."
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March 21, 2024
Woman Lost Independence Due To Strattice Mesh, Jurors Told
A Kentucky woman told New Jersey state jurors on Thursday that LifeCell skipped important safety steps while designing its Strattice surgical mesh, and that those skipped steps caused a hernia to reoccur and ultimately resulted in the loss of her independence.
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March 21, 2024
Fed. Circ. Upholds Edwards' PTAB Win On Heart Valve Patent
The Federal Circuit has affirmed a Patent Trial and Appeal Board finding that various parts of medical technology maker Cardiovalve's patent on an artificial heart valve implant were invalid as obvious.
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March 18, 2024
Texas Hospital Loses Bid To Dismiss Patients' Hack Suit
A Texas federal judge handed a win to the plaintiffs suing a hospital system in the aftermath of a hack that saw hundreds of patients' data pilfered, dismissing some of the claims in the proposed class action but allowing the suit to move forward after a hearing Monday.
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March 14, 2024
Health Co. Says Future Harm Risk Falls Short In Breach Suit
New Jersey healthcare provider Capital Health System urged a Garden State federal judge on Wednesday to toss a proposed class action seeking damages as a result of a 2023 data breach, arguing that the plaintiffs failed to allege their personal identifying information was actually misused.
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March 13, 2024
HHS To Investigate Whether Cyberattack Exposed Patient Data
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services opened an investigation Wednesday into the cyberattack on Change Healthcare to determine whether the hack exposed patients' confidential data or violated other privacy protections.
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March 13, 2024
Hospital Manager Cements $3.5M Gabon Arbitration Award
The Gabonese Republic must pay a $3.5 million arbitration award obtained by an Austrian healthcare management company, a D.C. federal judge ruled after the central African nation failed to appear in court.
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March 11, 2024
Biden Calls For More Cybersecurity Funding Across Agencies
The Biden administration on Monday pushed Congress to make significant monetary investments in efforts to bolster the federal government's cybersecurity posture, including by earmarking $13 billion to support initiatives across civilian agencies and devoting additional funding to help the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services combat a growing scourge of cyberattacks on healthcare providers.
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March 08, 2024
DOJ Eyes FCPA For New Whistleblower Rewards Program
U.S. Department of Justice officials on Friday signaled a renewed emphasis on fighting foreign corruption, saying its planned whistleblower rewards program should prove useful in Foreign Corrupt Practices Act cases against private companies, and warned companies against running afoul of new rules barring the sale of personal data to foreign adversaries of the U.S.
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March 08, 2024
Colo. DNA Scientist Fudged Data For 650 Cases, Police Say
A former DNA scientist for the Colorado Bureau of Investigation manipulated data for years, the bureau announced Friday, stating that an investigation has identified more than 650 cases affected since 2008.
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March 08, 2024
Ambrose Mills Adds IP Expert From Sterne Kessler In Virginia
Ambrose Mills & Lazarow PLLC, a corporate and IP boutique, has hired an intellectual property attorney from Sterne Kessler Goldstein & Fox LLP who focuses on patent matters and brings over a decade of experience, Ambrose Mills announced Thursday.
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March 08, 2024
Cybersecurity Co. Promotes Attys To GC, Chief People Officer
Florida-based cybersecurity company ReliaQuest announced it has promoted two of its in-house attorneys to general counsel and chief people officer.
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March 07, 2024
Wash. Justices Won't Hear Unions' Wage Clawback Case
Washington's highest court has rejected three unions' request for justices to decide how private employers may respond when they erroneously overpay employees, clearing the way for a jury to hear the case contesting a healthcare system's wage clawback after its payroll system was hit by a cyberattack.
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March 07, 2024
Sens. Tell Stores To Get Illegal E-Cigs Off Their Shelves
Five U.S. senators on Thursday told the heads of major convenience store and gas station chains to stop sales of unauthorized flavored e-cigarette products, saying that their illegal sales pose a major threat to public health, especially children's.
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March 07, 2024
Fed. Circ. Says IP License May Be Part Of Procurement Deal
The Federal Circuit on Wednesday revived a software developer's claims that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration misappropriated its data, saying the developer had sufficiently alleged it was party to a government contract that allowed lawsuits under the Contract Disputes Act.
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March 07, 2024
Moses & Singer Healthcare Atty Joins Day Pitney In Hartford
Day Pitney LLP has added an experienced attorney to its Hartford office as counsel from Moses & Singer LLP in New York.
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March 06, 2024
CBP Details Apple Watch Redesign OK In Masimo Patent Row
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has released its January decision finding that redesigned Apple Watches do not infringe Masimo Corp.'s blood oxygen monitor patents, explaining that while the new versions can access the patented feature, doing so requires "significant alteration."
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March 06, 2024
PTAB Has To Rehear Challenge In Biotech Row
A panel set up by U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director Kathi Vidal has told the Patent Trial and Appeal Board it needs to redo its review of a fight between two biotech companies.
Expert Analysis
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How To Navigate California's New Intrastate CBD Route
Businesses and consumers should prepare for rigorous compliance checks on manufacture, distribution and retail sale of consumer products made with CBD and other hemp-derived cannabinoids. following California's new law opening the potentially enormous market for these items, says Christian Foote at Clark Hill.
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Manufacturers Face Evolving COVID-19 Legal Challenges
Product manufacturers must adopt new strategies to defend against pandemic-related legal challenges, including discovery delays in health care litigation, novel consumer protection claims, aggressive government enforcement actions and supply chain disputes, says Stephanie Laws at Maslon.
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FTC's Hasty Health Data Rule Change Could Cause Confusion
The Federal Trade Commission's recent policy statement expanding the scope of its Health Breach Notification Rule appears to bypass appropriate administrative processes and may delay effective privacy and security policies that can advance interoperability and health innovation, says Jodi Daniel at Crowell & Moring.
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'McMorris Factors' Create Obstacles For Data Breach Plaintiffs
The factors for evaluating standing in the context of data breach allegations set forth by the Second Circuit in McMorris v. Carlos Lopez & Associates earlier this year may be difficult, if not impossible, for plaintiffs to satisfy, but the standard varies from circuit to circuit, say David Topol and Pamela Signorello at Wiley.
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Telehealth Providers Must Beware Of Fraud As Industry Grows
A recent fraud charge against a telehealth executive highlights the rise we're seeing in telefraud scams during the industry's pandemic growth, and there are some steps that all health providers should take to stay clear of potentially illegal arrangements, says LaTawnda Moore at Dinsmore.
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The Regulatory Growing Pains For Digital Health Companies
The meteoric rise of digital health services during the pandemic has been matched with increasing regulatory scrutiny in the U.S. and abroad, resulting in a patchwork of laws and approaches that could leave a damper on the industry's growth, say attorneys at Kobre & Kim.
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Policyholder Best Practices As Cyberattacks Escalate
As ransomware attacks increasingly target corporate victims, policyholders should enhance cybersecurity and privacy efforts to avoid regulatory hot water and mitigate the effects of rising insurance premiums and coverage restrictions, say Lee Epstein and Krishna Jani at Flaster Greenberg.
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Navigating Asia-Pacific Health M&A In The Wake Of COVID
Bernard Lui and Vanessa Ng at Morgan Lewis discuss new legal considerations for participants in health care mergers and acquisitions with entities in Singapore and elsewhere throughout the Asia-Pacific region as the pandemic continues.
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Life Sci Cos. Should Prep For Enforcement After COVID Pause
With the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and other federal agencies beginning to turn their sights back to pre-COVID-19 agendas, now is the time for life sciences companies to proactively address certain key areas that are likely to draw enforcement action, including physician speaker programs and data integrity, say attorneys at Buchanan Ingersoll.
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4 Considerations In Light Of Cyber Incident Notification Bill
Following the recent introduction of a bipartisan bill that would require government contractors and critical infrastructure operators to report cyber intrusions to the federal government within 24 hours, companies should take several steps to assess their preparedness for identifying vulnerabilities and mitigating the risk of cyberattacks, say attorneys at Squire Patton.
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What COVID-19, Social Issues Mean For Pharma Case Juries
Recent surveys of actual and potential jurors suggest that the turbulence of this time will likely affect the attitudes of juries in pharmaceutical and life science cases in at least five different ways, say Buffy Mims and Rachel Horton at DLA Piper, and Rick Fuentes at R&D Strategic Solutions.
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Health Cos. Must Prepare For Growing Ransomware Threat
Health companies are a prime target for ransomware attacks due to their sensitive data and relative vulnerability, so they will need compliance and resilience to guard against the increasingly varied ways that hackers can attempt to extract funds, say Alaap Shah and Stuart Gerson at Epstein Becker.
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Medical Device Cases Show Increased Sunshine Act Scrutiny
Recent U.S. Department of Justice and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services settlements with two medical device manufacturers signal ramped-up enforcement of the Sunshine Act, highlighting a departure from a historically gentler approach, say Jaime Jones and Brenna Jenny at Sidley.