Policy & Compliance
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November 18, 2025
Mass. Health Co. Settles 401(k) Suit Over Pricey Fees, Funds
A Cambridge hospital system agreed to settle a proposed class action claiming it mismanaged its $280 million retirement plan and cost workers millions in savings by failing to reduce management fees and trim costly funds from the plan, according to a Massachusetts federal court filing.
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November 18, 2025
Eye Doc's Hospital Competition Lawsuit Gets NC Panel Trial
Five years after being denied “certificate of need” application for an eye surgery center, a North Carolina doctor was in court Tuesday challenging a state law that has been on the books in some form since the Carter administration.
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November 18, 2025
Feds Look To 'False Certification' FCA Strategy
Prosecutors shifted strategy in a kickback case against a biotech giant. FCA attorneys are closely watching the Regeneron case for clues on how the DOJ will establish causation in a growing number of states implicated by recent circuit court rulings.
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November 18, 2025
McGuireWoods Is Delaying Defamation Case, NC Justices Told
The former CEO of a managed care organization who alleges McGuireWoods and one of its ex-partners defamed him during a press conference more than seven years ago has told North Carolina's top court not to take up the case, panning their petition as yet another stalling tactic.
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November 18, 2025
Massage Therapist Prevails In Fla. Health Dept. License Saga
Florida health officials' yearslong effort to revoke a massage therapist's license resulted in a notable appeals court decision that found a licensing board wrongly disregarded an administrative law judge's findings.
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November 17, 2025
DC Circ. Mulls If Gov't Can Say No To 340B Rebate Program
The D.C. Circuit is set to decide "who's the decision-maker" in a fight brought by drugmakers over the federal government's efforts to reshape the way they do drug rebates after spending more than an hour and a half Monday morning hearing out all sides.
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November 17, 2025
2 Execs Found Guilty In $233M ACA Fraud Scheme
A Florida federal jury returned a guilty verdict on Monday against a marketing company CEO and insurance brokerage executive who were accused of submitting fraudulent enrollments to fully subsidized Affordable Care Act insurance plans to get millions in commission payments from insurers.
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November 17, 2025
B. Braun Unit Inks $38.5M Deal To End FCA Knee Implant Case
The U.S. Department of Justice on Monday announced a $38.5 million False Claims Act settlement with a subsidiary of German medical device giant B. Braun Melsungen AG resolving accusations it sold a knee replacement implant allegedly known to fail prematurely after surgery.
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November 17, 2025
2nd Circ. Questions Experts' Rejection In Tylenol Autism Suits
A Second Circuit panel on Monday appeared skeptical of a lower-court order that barred every expert witness set to testify for families who allege that patients taking Tylenol while pregnant can cause autism or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in their children.
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November 17, 2025
Hospital Inks $335K Deal To End EEOC Gender Bias Suit
A Kentucky federal judge signed off Monday on a $335,000 settlement to end a U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission suit claiming a hospital system fired its chief nursing officer after she complained that she lost a promotion due to her gender.
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November 17, 2025
Mass. Justices Say Panel Overstepped In Sepsis Death Suit
Massachusetts' highest court on Monday reinstated medical malpractice claims against a nurse practitioner over a patient's sepsis death, saying a tribunal had stepped beyond its role in vetting an offer of proof by the man's widow.
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November 17, 2025
9th Circ. Strikes Down Trans Patients' Win In ACA Bias Case
The Ninth Circuit upended a win Monday for patients who challenged Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois' administration of their employer-provided health plans containing gender-affirming care exclusions, ordering a lower court to reexamine the case in light of intervening authority from the U.S. Supreme Court.
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November 17, 2025
Corporate Pilot Fired For Flagging Safety Concerns, Suit Says
The former head of aviation for an oral surgery management services company in North Carolina says he was canned because of his age and hearing disability and for allegedly reporting flight scheduling practices that he said flouted federal safety laws.
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November 17, 2025
No High Court Review For FDA Fast-Track Denial
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday said it would not consider whether federal drug regulators went astray in denying fast-track review for a digestive disorder medication being developed by Vanda Pharmaceuticals.
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November 14, 2025
Texas Judge Rejects Bid To Block Kenvue's $398M Dividend
Texas can't stop the makers of Tylenol from marketing the drug as safe for children and pregnant women or halt a nearly $400 million payment to shareholders, a state court ruled on Friday, rejecting arguments by Attorney General Ken Paxton's motion.
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November 14, 2025
Fla. Pharmacy To Pay $17M To Settle COVID False Claims Case
A Tampa, Florida, pharmacy has agreed to pay over $17 million to settle allegations that it knowingly filed false Medicare claims for over-the-counter COVID-19 tests that hadn't gone out to recipients.
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November 14, 2025
Drug Buyers Defend Class Cert. In 3rd Circ. Generics Case
Direct purchasers and end-payers in the sprawling multidistrict litigation over alleged price-fixing of generic drugs are fighting requests from Actavis and Mylan to undo class certification in the cases, arguing to the Third Circuit that the litigation is a classic example of a class action matter.
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November 14, 2025
10th Circ. Sides With Rehab Facility In Bias, Retaliation Suit
The Tenth Circuit refused Friday to reopen an occupational therapist's lawsuit claiming she was unceremoniously let go by a Kansas rehabilitation clinic for reporting a colleague's inappropriate behavior toward women, saying she couldn't revive her suit using arguments the trial court never considered.
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November 14, 2025
Horizon BCBS To Pay $100M To End NJ AG's Overcharge Suit
Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey has agreed to pay the state $100 million to resolve allegations that it fraudulently secured a multibillion-dollar contract to administer public employee health plans and then systematically overcharged taxpayers for years, Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin announced Friday.
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November 13, 2025
NC Biz Court Bulletin: Rulings Spotlight Coverage Clashes
The North Carolina Business Court plowed into the fourth quarter with two big decisions in insurance disputes that involved $50 million in COVID-19-related losses at a chain of outlet malls, and an industrial accident at a Nucor Corp. iron plant in Louisiana.
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November 13, 2025
Donor Info Subpoena Chills Speech, Anti-Abortion Org Says
An organization that operates anti-abortion pregnancy centers told the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday that New Jersey is undermining its own subpoena power in a bid to avoid constitutional review of its request for information about the group's donors.
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November 13, 2025
Weight-Loss Drug MDL In Pa. Grows With 3 New Jersey Cases
Three New Jersey cases were grouped into multidistrict litigation accusing Eli Lilly & Co. and Novo Nordisk of downplaying alleged side effects of weight loss drugs like Ozempic and Trulicity, according to a transfer order filed in Pennsylvania federal court.
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November 13, 2025
Claims Firms Accused Of Misleading Plaintiffs In Pharma MDL
A Pennsylvania federal judge has been asked to slow down aggressive marketing campaigns from claims recovery firms that are accused of using false and misleading advertising to attract plaintiffs in a multidistrict litigation action against pharmaceutical companies.
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November 12, 2025
Valsartan Cancer Expert Blocked, Ending First Injury Trial
What was set to be the first bellwether case in the sprawling multidistrict litigation over contaminated blood pressure medication Valsartan was decided Monday when a New Jersey federal judge excluded as "pure speculation" the plaintiff's medical expert who testified that the drug caused a patient's liver cancer.
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November 12, 2025
Judge Questions Cigna Site Users' Standing In Data Suit
A Pennsylvania federal judge suggested Wednesday that she may toss a proposed class action alleging Cigna failed to safeguard private health data by tracking plan members' website usage in violation of state wiretapping and federal privacy laws, ordering the plaintiffs to demonstrate that they have standing to sue.
Expert Analysis
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What's At Stake In High Court Transgender Care Suit
The outcome of U.S. v. Skrmetti will have critical implications for the rights of transgender youth and their access to gender-affirming care, and will likely affect other areas of law and policy involving transgender individuals, including education, employment, healthcare and civil rights, say attorneys at ArentFox Schiff.
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6 Laws Transforming Calif.'s Health Regulatory Framework
Attorneys at Hooper Lundy discuss a number of new California laws that raise pressing issues for independent physicians and small practice groups, ranging from the use of artificial intelligence to wage standards for healthcare employees.
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Anticipating Calif. Oversight Of PE Participation In Healthcare
A new bill recently introduced in the California Senate revives last year's attempt to increase oversight of healthcare transactions involving private equity groups and hedge funds, meaning that attorneys may soon need to assess the compliance status of existing management relationships and consider modifying contract terms, says Andrew Demetriou at Husch Blackwell.
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Considering The Future Of AI Regulation On Health Sector
As Texas looks to become the next state to pass a comprehensive law regulating artificial intelligence, the healthcare industry should consider how AI regulation will continue to evolve in the U.S. and how industry members can keep up with compliance considerations, say attorneys at Kirkland & Ellis.
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What To Expect From 'Make America Healthy Again' Actions
The Make America Healthy Again Commission recently established by President Donald Trump and chaired by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will potentially bring energy and attention to important public health topics, and stakeholders should be aware of pathways for sharing their input and proactively informing proceedings, says Nicholas Manetto at Faegre Drinker.
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How Citizen Petitions Have Affected Drug Competition
In light of recent citizen petitions and proposed legislation regulating such petitions, Omar Robles at Managing Health analyzes the statistics of the extent to which citizen petitions have been filed, and to what extent they have delayed competition in prescription pharmaceuticals.
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Drug Kickback Ruling Will Make FCA Liability Harder To Prove
The First Circuit's ruling in U.S. v. Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, requiring the government to prove but-for causation to establish False Claims Act liability based on violations of the Anti-Kickback Statute, raises the bar for FCA enforcement and deepens a circuit split that the U.S. Supreme Court may need to resolve, say attorneys at Baker Donelson.
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Assessing PE Risk After Mass. False Claims Act Amendments
A law recently passed in Massachusetts amends the commonwealth's False Claims Act by dramatically expanding potential liability for private equity firms and investors, underscoring the importance of robust diligence and risk assessments for private equity firms conducting transactions in the commonwealth, say attorneys at Gibson Dunn.
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What Trump Actions Mean For Federal Research Funding
New guidance from the National Institutes of Health represents a massive policy shift regarding federal funding for researchers at institutions of higher education, contributing to a perfect storm of significant resource shortfalls in upcoming years, say attorneys at Arnold & Porter.
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A Look At Healthcare Transaction Oversight In Oregon
Understanding Oregon's enforcement authority and its impact on proposed transactions last year provides a road map to the state's plans to strengthen its processes this year, though enforcement could be challenged by ongoing litigation, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.
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Rethinking 'No Comment' For Clients Facing Public Crises
“No comment” is no longer a cost-free or even a viable public communications strategy for companies in crisis, and counsel must tailor their guidance based on a variety of competing factors to help clients emerge successfully, says Robert Bowers at Moore & Van Allen.
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High Court Must Acknowledge US History Of Anti-Trans Laws
Despite Justice Amy Coney Barrett's claim to the contrary during oral arguments in U.S. v. Skrmetti, U.S. governments at every level have systematically discriminated against transgender people, and the U.S. Supreme Court must consider this historical context in upcoming cases about transgender issues, says Paisley Currah at the City University of New York.
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The Fate Of Biden-Era Clinical Study Guidance Under Trump
Draft guidance about the study of sex and gender differences in medical product development issued by the outgoing Biden administration currently faces significant uncertainty and litigation potential due to the Trump administration's executive orders and other actions, say attorneys at Arnold & Porter.