Policy & Compliance
-
July 11, 2025
AbbVie Defeats Investor Class Suit Alleging Humira Kickbacks
AbbVie on Thursday defeated a certified securities class action that accused it of giving healthcare providers unlawful kickbacks in exchange for prescribing its flagship arthritis drug Humira when an Illinois federal judge ruled that AbbVie provided legitimate services that were "integrally tied" to the drug itself.
-
July 11, 2025
Hospital Says Wash. Withholding Docs In Billing Fraud Suit
A hospital system accused of overbilling Medicaid in connection to a neurosurgeon's fraud scheme contends the Washington state attorney general's office has wrongly refused to provide records from agencies involved in the misconduct investigation, according to new filings in federal court.
-
July 11, 2025
Success Tricking FDA Shouldn't Protect Merck, Justices Told
Physicians asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review a decision immunizing Merck & Co. from antitrust claims over submissions it made to federal regulators over its mumps vaccine, arguing the Third Circuit went far beyond its peers in holding that deceiving the government isn't illegal if the deception worked.
-
July 11, 2025
Fed. Circ. Questions Patent Ownership After J&J's $20M Loss
The Federal Circuit appeared somewhat skeptical Friday that an orthopedic surgeon held onto the rights of knee replacement patents that he disputably assigned elsewhere, which would endanger the $20 million infringement verdict he won against a Johnson & Johnson unit.
-
July 11, 2025
Fired Red Cross Vax Refuser Seeks $6M As Jury Trial Wraps
An attorney for a nurse fired from the American Red Cross after being denied religious accommodation from the COVID-19 vaccine mandate asked a Detroit federal jury Friday for more than $6 million in damages for what he said was the organization's disregard of the woman's beliefs.
-
July 11, 2025
$16M Deal Gets OK In Wage Suit Against Wash. Hospitals
A $16 million deal ending three consolidated suits accusing Providence Health & Services and two related entities of not giving nearly 23,900 meal and rest breaks can proceed, a Washington state judge ruled, finding the deal fair.
-
July 11, 2025
Suppressing Rival Views Can Break Antitrust Laws, DOJ Says
The anti-vaccine group once tied to Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. got a boost Friday in its D.C. federal court suit alleging that the Associated Press, The Washington Post, Reuters and the BBC colluded with social media platforms to censor rivals, drawing a Justice Department brief assailing news organization assertions that viewpoint competition can't be illegally suppressed.
-
July 11, 2025
Powers Pyles Adds Ex-Feldesman Team In DC
Powers Pyles Sutter and Verville PC has strengthened its healthcare practice in Washington, D.C., with the creation of a sub-practice focused on health centers and staffed by five attorneys and a compliance expert who moved from Feldesman Leifer LLP.
-
July 10, 2025
Penn Hospital Can't Escape Record $207M Med Mal Judgment
A Pennsylvania appeals court on Thursday affirmed a record $187 million verdict and subsequent $207 million judgment in a suit accusing the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania of causing a newborn's catastrophic birth injuries, saying the award did not "shock the conscience" given the evidence presented at trial.
-
July 10, 2025
HHS Narrows Health Benefits Available To Noncitizens
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on Thursday announced that immigrants living in the country without legal authorization and other noncitizens will no longer be eligible for benefits under Head Start and a host of other federal healthcare programs, based on the agency's reinterpretation of a 1996 social welfare law.
-
July 10, 2025
Brookdale's $1.9M Deal Ends Investor Suit On Understaffing
An investor in retirement home operator Brookdale Senior Living Inc. has gotten a final nod for a deal settling her understaffing claims against the company's executives and directors in exchange for corporate reforms and fees and expenses totaling $1.9 million for her legal team.
-
July 10, 2025
5 Employee Benefits Takeaways On The GOP Tax Bill
Congressional Republicans' sweeping tax and policy bill, which President Donald Trump sought and then signed, contains multiple provisions that caught the attention of employee benefits and executive compensation attorneys, including new changes to high-deductible health plans and an employer-side deduction limit affecting highly compensated employees. Here are five takeaways from employee benefits and executive compensation attorneys on what's in — and out of — the GOP megabill.
-
July 09, 2025
Iowa Urges Judge Not To Block Law Regulating PBMs
The state of Iowa urged a federal judge Tuesday not to halt enforcement of state restrictions on pharmacy benefit managers that took effect earlier this month, arguing that most of the challenged law doesn't apply to the health plans and employers seeking to enjoin it.
-
July 09, 2025
Mich. Justices Nix Ruling On ER Doctor-Hospital Agency
The Michigan Supreme Court on Wednesday reversed an appeals court's decision tossing a woman's vicarious liability claim against William Beaumont Hospital, finding she did not need to show she relied on a specific representation from the hospital to establish an ostensible agency relationship between the hospital and her treating doctor.
-
July 09, 2025
Red Cross Vax Refuser Decries Firing Over Religious Beliefs
A former nurse for the American Red Cross suffered physically and economically after she was fired from the organization for not receiving the COVID-19 vaccine, counsel for the nurse told a Detroit federal jury Wednesday, arguing that, in the United States, the Red Cross should not be the arbiter of sincerely held religious beliefs.
-
July 09, 2025
Sandoz, Buyers Defend $275M Deal Amid State Objections
Counsel for consumers, insurers and others urged a Pennsylvania federal court on Tuesday to approve Sandoz and its subsidiaries' $275 million deal settling claims it conspired with other companies to fix some generic drug prices, with Sandoz separately calling states' objections "a paternalistic desire to control private class action settlements."
-
July 09, 2025
FDA Gets Early Win In Blue States' Abortion Pill Suit
A Washington federal judge has granted an early win to the federal government in a lawsuit from 17 Democratic attorneys general challenging the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's restrictions on access to the abortion drug mifepristone, finding the agency has properly reviewed the drug when issuing regulations.
-
July 09, 2025
Mich. Judge Tosses Challenge To State Medicaid Abortion Ban
A Michigan judge has dismissed a challenge to the state's ban on Medicaid coverage for abortions, finding a nonprofit organization that offers financial assistance to women seeking abortions lacked standing.
-
July 08, 2025
Insurer Fights ACA Loss, Citing Justices' Trans Care Ruling
Premera Blue Cross urged a Washington federal court to rethink an early win it granted against the insurer over its coverage policy for gender dysphoria surgery, arguing the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in U.S. v. Skrmetti is dispositive of a sex discrimination claim in the case.
-
July 08, 2025
Omnicare, CVS Tab In FCA Case Increases To $949M
A New York federal judge on Monday raised a False Claims Act judgment against Omnicare and CVS to a combined $949 million following a jury's finding that they submitted millions of false prescription claims for long-term care patients.
-
July 08, 2025
Calif.'s PE Healthcare Oversight Bill: 3 Things To Know
A California bill expanding the power of a state healthcare affordability board is moving through the Legislature amid opposition from key industry organizations. Here, Law360 Healthcare Authority examines three key aspects of the legislation.
-
July 08, 2025
Utah Doc Heads To Trial Over Bogus Vax Card Claims
A Utah plastic surgeon accused in a fake COVID vaccine card conspiracy headed to trial in Salt Lake City this week. Dr. Michael Kirk Moore won't be able to argue his actions were necessary to protect patients who feared taking the vaccine after the court foreclosed a "necessity" defense.
-
July 08, 2025
Sweeping Medicaid Cuts Leave Health Attys With Questions
Healthcare attorneys coming back to their offices after the long weekend have had a busy few days fielding phone calls from clients looking for help digesting the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the sweeping legislation recently signed into law by President Donald Trump that would have far-reaching ramifications for the healthcare industry.
-
July 08, 2025
HHS Conscience Probes Face Post-Chevron Hurdles
As the Trump administration promotes the rights of healthcare providers to deny gender-affirming care on religious or moral grounds, legal experts say the effort may be frustrated by a U.S. Supreme Court decision that undercuts judicial deference to agencies' statutory interpretations.
-
July 08, 2025
Biosimilars Industry Group Backs Interchangeability Bill
The current law on how biosimilars are deemed interchangeable or not with their name-brand biologic equivalents has led to public confusion over how safe biosimilars are, a coalition of healthcare industry groups told lawmakers in a letter Monday.

Ore. Weighs Tough New Requirements For Long-Term Care
Two years ago, an Oregon woman died in the cold after leaving, unseen, from a memory care facility. Today, state lawmakers are moving to strengthen oversight of long-term care facilities that serve older adults, including those with dementia.

High Court Ruling Puts Limits On Medicaid Enforcement
The U.S. Supreme Court ruling that bars a Medicaid beneficiary from suing over her right to choose a medical provider could make more states comfortable following South Carolina’s lead and cutting off Medicaid funding for disfavored providers.

Docs Navigate 'Legal Thicket' Of Pregnancy Exclusion Laws
A first-of-its-kind lawsuit in Kansas challenges a state law that plaintiffs say undermines a woman's right to make critical end-of-life decisions while pregnant and leaves doctors legally vulnerable.
Expert Analysis
-
Spotlight On Medicare Marketing Practices Enforcement Trend
Recent U.S. Department of Justice actions, including its recent Medicare kickback allegations in Shea v. eHealth, demonstrate increasing enforcement scrutiny on Medicare Advantage marketing practices, say Ellen London at London & Naor, Li Yu at Bernstein Litowitz and Erica Hitchings at the Whistleblower Law Collaborative.
-
Federal Regs Order May Spell Harsher FDCA Enforcement
A recent executive order aimed at reducing criminal prosecutions of those who unknowingly violate complex federal regulations may actually lead to more aggressive felony indictments under the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, but companies and executives can mitigate risks by following several key principals, say attorneys at McGuireWoods.
-
What High Court's Tenn. Trans Care Ruling Means Nationally
The U.S. Supreme Court's decision in U.S. v. Skrmetti, upholding a Tennessee ban on gender-affirming medical care for minors, is fairly limited in scope and closely tailored to the specific language of Tennessee's law, but it may have implications for challenges to similar laws in other states, say attorneys at Hall Render.
-
High Court ACA Ruling May Harm Preventative Care
The U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Kennedy v. Braidwood last week, ruling that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services secretary has authority over an Affordable Care Act preventive care task force, risks harming the credibility of the task force and could open the door to politicians dictating clinical recommendations, says Michael Kolber at Manatt.
-
Rising Enforcement Stakes For Pharma Telehealth Platforms
Two pieces of legislation recently introduced in Congress could transform the structure and promotion of telehealth arrangements as legislators increasingly scrutinize direct-to-consumer advertising platforms, potentially paving the way for a new U.S. Food and Drug Administration policy with bipartisan support, say attorneys at Sheppard Mullin.
-
3 Judicial Approaches To Applying Loper Bright, 1 Year Later
In the year since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Chevron deference in its Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo decision, a few patterns have emerged in lower courts’ application of the precedent to determine whether agency actions are lawful, say attorneys at Husch Blackwell.
-
How Providers Can Brace For Drug Pricing Policy Changes
Though it's uncertain which provisions of the Trump administration's executive order aimed at addressing prescription drug costs will eventually be implemented, stakeholders can reduce potential negative outcomes by understanding pathways that could be used to effectuate the order's directives, say attorneys at McDermott.
-
Debunking 4 Misconceptions Around Texas' IV Therapy Law
Despite industry confusion, an IV therapy law enacted in Texas last week may actually be the most business-friendly regulatory development the medical spa industry has seen in recent years, says Keith Lefkowitz at Hendershot Cowart.
-
Legacy Of 3 Justices Should Guide Transgender Rights Ruling
Three Republican-appointed U.S. Supreme Court justices — Anthony Kennedy, Sandra Day O'Connor and David Souter — gave rise to a jurisprudence of personal liberty that courts today invoke to protect gender-affirming care, and with the court now poised to decide U.S. v. Skrmetti, it must follow the path that they set, says Greg Fosheim at McDermott.
-
Recent Reports Shed Light On Section 340B's Effectiveness
Recent analyses of the Section 340B program's effectiveness in helping patients afford drugs in Minnesota reinforce concerns about the program's lack of transparency and underscore the need for further evaluation of whether legislative reform should be enacted, say William A. Sarraille at the University of Maryland, and Andrée-Anne Fournier and Molly Frean at Analysis Group.
-
What Parity Rule Freeze Means For Plan Sponsors
In light of a District of Columbia federal court’s recent decision to stay litigation challenging a Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act final rule, as well as federal agencies' subsequent decision to hold off on enforcement, attorneys at Morgan Lewis discuss the statute’s evolution and what plan sponsors and participants can expect going forward.
-
CMS Guidance May Complicate Drug Pricing, Trigger Lawsuits
Recent draft guidance from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services proposes to expand the scope of what counts as the same qualifying single-source drug, which would significantly alter the timeline for modified drugs facing price controls and would likely draw legal challenges from innovator drug companies, say attorneys at Debevoise.
-
3 Takeaways From Recent Cyberattacks On Healthcare Cos.
For the healthcare industry, the upward trend in styles of cyberattacks, costs, and entities targeted highlights the critical importance of proactive planning to help withstand the operational, legal and reputational turmoil that can follow a data breach, say attorneys at Troutman Pepper.