Policy & Compliance

  • September 29, 2025

    EEOC Says Air Medic Nixed Job Offer Over Prescription Drugs

    A helicopter ambulance company violated federal law by scuttling a job transfer for an air mechanic because he took prescribed opioids, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission told an Alabama federal court.

  • September 26, 2025

    Trump Announces 100% Tariff On Drug Imports Starting Oct. 1

    President Donald Trump announced a slew of new Section 232 tariffs to be imposed beginning Oct. 1, including a 100% tariff on drug imports and new rates for semi trucks, kitchen cabinets, bathroom vanities and upholstered furniture.

  • September 25, 2025

    GAO Says Agencies' Procurement Data Reports Are Lacking

    The U.S. Government Accountability Office said in a report on Thursday that most federal agencies that reported procurement data in 2023 failed to complete a procurement data quality report or fell short of meeting all reporting requirements.

  • September 25, 2025

    GE Avoids Retirees' Lawsuit Over Pension Annuity Deal

    General Electric dodged a proposed class action claiming it put retirees' benefits at risk by transferring over $1.7 billion of pension obligations to a private equity-controlled insurance company, with a New York federal judge ruling the retirees hadn't shown how they'd been harmed.

  • September 25, 2025

    MiMedx, FDA Ordered To Rework Args In Wound Care Case

    Biomedical company MiMedx Group Inc. and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration have been ordered to reframe their briefs in a suit in which the company seeks to overturn the agency's classification of a wound care treatment as a biological product.

  • September 25, 2025

    Families Cite Trump In Bid To Revive Tylenol Autism Claims

    Families suing the maker of Tylenol quickly cited President Donald Trump's words this week as they pushed the Second Circuit to overturn a lower-court ruling that barred their expert witnesses from testifying that prenatal exposure to the medicine can cause autism.

  • September 25, 2025

    Conn. Cities' Insulin Pricing Suits Against PBMs Join NJ MDL

    Two Connecticut cities' civil racketeering and state trade practices law claims against insulin manufacturers Eli Lilly and Co., Novo Nordisk Inc. and Sanofi-Aventis US LLC, and pharmacy benefit managers CVS Caremark, Express Scripts and Optum Rx, have been rolled into a New Jersey multidistrict litigation proceeding.

  • September 24, 2025

    DC Judge Won't Reinstate IGs Over 'Obvious' Trump Violation

    A Washington, D.C., federal judge on Wednesday declined to reinstate eight inspectors general whom President Donald Trump fired without warning or rationale, finding that while it is "obvious" the president violated federal law governing the removal of inspectors general, the plaintiffs have not shown irreparable harm.

  • September 24, 2025

    NY Appeals Court Backs Drug Co.'s $6.5M Contract Case Win

    A New York state appeals court won't disturb a finding that a South Korean logistics firm owes $6.5 million for breaching a deal allowing it to license and sell a RedHill Biopharma Ltd. COVID-19 treatment in the country.

  • September 24, 2025

    CVS Moves To End Worker's Tobacco Surcharge ERISA Suit

    CVS urged a California federal judge to toss an employee's proposed class action alleging it illegally imposes surcharges to health plan participants and their covered spouses who use tobacco, arguing it offers surcharge alternatives to workers and spouses when a medical condition makes it unreasonably difficult to cease tobacco use.

  • September 24, 2025

    Court Sides With Texas, Nixes Medicaid Tax Funding Rule

    The federal government improperly expanded a Medicaid funding restriction to private parties that was meant only to govern the use of state taxes to fund the health insurance program, a Texas federal court ruled Wednesday in vacating guidance from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

  • September 24, 2025

    Trans Youth Care Ban Discriminatory, Mo. High Court Hears

    The Missouri Supreme Court heard arguments Wednesday on a law that bans gender-affirming care for minors and restricts Medicaid coverage for transgender care at any age, but the justices gave little indication of how they might rule.

  • September 24, 2025

    4th Circ. Kicks Trans Care Exclusion Suits Back To Trial Court

    A pair of suits challenging health plan coverage exclusions on gender-affirming care for minors are headed to district court after the Fourth Circuit vacated decisions finding those policies discriminatory, in line with a U.S. Supreme Court directive to revisit the cases in light of new precedent.

  • September 24, 2025

    Hall Booth Smith Grows In NJ With Aging Services Expert

    Hall Booth Smith PC built out its aging services practice this week with the hire of a Paramus, New Jersey-based of counsel attorney specializing in litigation and risk management for clients in the acute care and post-acute care fields.

  • September 24, 2025

    States Say Ed Dept. Must Face Suit Over Mental Health Cuts

    A group of 16 states led by Washington has asked a federal judge not to let the U.S. Department of Education escape the states' claims that the agency violated federal law by discontinuing mental health grants given to public schools to help students cope with school shootings.

  • September 24, 2025

    Amtrak Beats Retired Worker's Suit Over Benefits Reversal

    A Rhode Island federal judge dismissed an ex-Amtrak employee's suit claiming the company illegally rolled back medical care reimbursement benefits that the rail service said it mistakenly granted him in retirement, finding he wasn't entitled to the extra credits under the plan's terms.

  • September 23, 2025

    Fed. Vaccine Panel Prompts Legal, Health Confusion

    It's been days since a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention committee updated recommendations for a common childhood vaccine and the COVID-19 booster. But healthcare and legal experts are still trying to understand the implications of the meeting and the votes that came out of it.

  • September 23, 2025

    Kansas Abortion Mandates On Trial: What You Need to Know

    The largest provider of reproductive healthcare in Kansas will face off with state officials this week at a long-awaited trial focused on a 24-hour abortion waiting period, among other state requirements.

  • September 23, 2025

    Tylenol MDL In Spotlight After Trump Blasts Use In Pregnancy

    The Trump administration's attack on the use of acetaminophen during pregnancy drew on the work of a Harvard expert whose analysis is central to a legal clash now before a federal appeals court. The president's broadside promises to energize plaintiffs.

  • September 23, 2025

    State Medicaid Cuts Mean 'Financial Squeeze' For Providers

    Law360 Healthcare Authority talks with Gayland Hethcoat of ArentFox Schiff LLP about the rationale behind major cuts coming to Medicaid state-directed payments and what they will mean for providers and patients.

  • September 23, 2025

    NC Sens. Vote To Cut Planned Parenthood's Medicaid Funds

    Republican state senators in North Carolina have greenlit a bill that would revoke Medicaid funding for Planned Parenthood, aligning the Tar Heel state with the president's "One Big Beautiful Bill," which prohibits Medicaid funding for nonprofit groups that provide abortion services.

  • September 23, 2025

    Long Time Limits In Trans Care Laws Expand Doctors' Liability

    State lawmakers are including lengthy statutes of limitations — some of them decades-long — in new bans on transgender care for minors. Advocates say long time frames for prosecutions or civil suits make sense when a child is involved. Others see a "chilling" effect for providers.

  • September 23, 2025

    EX-CTA Worker's $425K Vaccine Bias Award Capped At $300K

    An Illinois federal judge lowered a former Chicago Transit Authority employee's $425,000 jury award to $300,000 Tuesday for the ex-worker's claim that he was wrongly fired for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine, entering a judgment the judge said he'll later amend with awards that include back and front pay.

  • September 23, 2025

    Two Longtime HHS Attys Depart Posts For Crowell & Moring

    Two prominent U.S. Department of Health and Human Services attorneys have left their posts for Crowell & Moring LLP after more than two decades in the federal government.

  • September 23, 2025

    Burns White Launches Correctional Healthcare Practice Group

    Pittsburgh-based Mid-Law firm Burns White LLC has launched a practice group focused on helping clients navigate liability risk from providing healthcare in prisons and other correctional settings.

Expert Analysis

  • After Chevron: Slowing Down AI In Medical Research

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision overturning the Chevron doctrine may inhibit agencies' regulatory efforts, potentially slowing down the approval and implementation of artificial intelligence-driven methodologies in medical research, as well as regulators' responses to public health emergencies, say Ragini Acharya and Matthew Deutsch at Husch Blackwell.

  • FDA's Multifaceted Role On Display In MDMA Therapy Scrutiny

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    Ongoing deliberations at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration regarding MDMA-assisted therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder serves as a window into the intricate balance of scientific innovation and patient safety oversight, and offers crucial insights into regulatory nuances, say Kimberly Chew at Husch Blackwell and Kevin Lanzo at Pharmaka Clinical Consulting.

  • Analyzing FDA Draft Guidance On Clinical Trial Diversity

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    In light of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's draft guidance on clinical trial diversity action plans, there are several important considerations for sponsors and clinical researchers to keep in mind to prevent delay in a drug or device application, say attorneys at Crowell & Moring.

  • In The CFPB Playbook: Making Good On Bold Promises

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's decision upholding the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's funding structure in the second quarter cleared the way for the bureau to resume a number of high-priority initiatives, and it appears poised to charge ahead in working toward its aggressive preelection agenda, say Andrew Arculin and Paula Vigo Marqués at Blank Rome.

  • Critical Questions Remain After High Court's Abortion Rulings

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's decisions in two major abortion-related cases this term largely preserve the status quo for now, but leave federal preemption, the Comstock Act and in vitro fertilization in limbo, say attorneys at Jenner & Block.

  • Navigating FDA Supply Rule Leeway For Small Dispensers

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    As the November compliance deadline for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's new pharmaceutical distribution supply chain rules draws closer, small dispensers should understand the narrow flexibilities that are available, and the questions to consider before taking advantage of them, say attorneys at Faegre Drinker.

  • 1st Gender Care Ban Provides Context For High Court Case

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    The history of Arkansas' ban on gender-affirming medical care — the first such legislation in the U.S. — provides important insight into the far-reaching ramifications that the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in U.S. v. Skrmetti next term will have on transgender healthcare, says Tyler Saenz at Baker Donelson.

  • 6 Lessons From DOJ's 1st Controlled Drug Case In Telehealth

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    Following the U.S. Department of Justice’s first-ever criminal prosecution over telehealth-prescribed controlled substances in U.S. v. Ruthia He, healthcare providers should be mindful of the risks associated with restricting the physician-patient relationship when crafting new business models, says Jonathan Porter at Husch Blackwell.

  • After Chevron: Scale Tips Favor Away From HHS Agencies

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    The loss of Chevron deference may indirectly aid parties in challenging the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' interpretations of regulations and could immediately influence several pending cases challenging HHS on technical questions and agency authority, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.

  • After Chevron: FDA Regulations In The Crosshairs

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's overturning of the Chevron doctrine is likely to unleash an array of challenges against the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, focusing on areas of potential overreach such as the FDA's authority under the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, say attorneys at Debevoise.

  • USPTO Disclaimer Rule Would Complicate Patent Prosecution

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    The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's proposed changes to terminal disclaimer practice could lead to a patent owner being unable to enforce a valid patent simply because it is indirectly tied to a patent in which a single claim is found anticipated or obvious in view of the prior art, say attorneys at Sterne Kessler.

  • Navigating Scrutiny Of Friendly Professional Corps. In Calif.

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    In light of ongoing scrutiny and challenges to private equity participation in the California healthcare marketplace, particularly surrounding the use of the friendly professional corporation model, management services organizations should consider implementing four best practices, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.

  • Takeaways From New HHS Substance Use Disorder Info Rules

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    A new U.S. Department of Health and Human Services rule continues the agency's efforts to harmonize complex rules surrounding confidentiality provisions for substance use disorder patient records, though healthcare providers will need to remain mindful of different potentially applicable requirements and changes that their compliance structures may require, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.