Policy & Compliance

  • March 09, 2026

    Texas AG Gets Temporary Ban On Chest Binder Sales

    A Texas state judge has issued a temporary restraining order against a New York-based online retailer of undergarments and chest binders for young women and teens from selling its clothing in the Lone Star State.

  • March 09, 2026

    Vehicle Manufacturer Strikes Deal In Tobacco Surcharge Suit

    Commercial vehicle manufacturer International Motors LLC has agreed to end a proposed class action claiming it unlawfully charges employees who use tobacco products an additional $600 per year for health insurance without providing an alternative to the fee, according to a filing in Illinois federal court.

  • March 09, 2026

    NC Providers Sue UnitedHealth Over 'Devastating' Cyberattack

    UnitedHealth Group Inc. and several of its subsidiaries are facing a proposed class action in North Carolina state court over a 2024 data breach that took its claims processing platform offline and allegedly delayed billions of dollars in reimbursements to providers.

  • March 09, 2026

    JPMorgan Trims But Can't Escape ERISA Drug Costs Suit

    A New York federal judge pared claims Monday against JPMorgan Chase & Co. in a suit from workers who alleged they paid too much for prescription drugs, but opened discovery on allegations that the bank's contract with its pharmacy benefit manager caused transactions prohibited by federal benefits law.

  • March 06, 2026

    ExThera Exec Hid Patient Deaths To Keep $10M Deal, DOJ Says

    Medical device company ExThera concealed the deaths of two U.S. patients treated with its unapproved blood filtration device at a clinic in Antigua, according to federal prosecutors, with the company agreeing to forfeit nearly $5.7 million and one executive facing up to three years in prison.

  • March 06, 2026

    Health Groups Back Bid To Bar Noncitizen Benefit Restrictions

    A group of public health organizations and scholars Friday urged a Rhode Island federal court to make permanent its order blocking the Trump administration from enacting a policy change basing access to a host of federally funded services on immigration status.

  • March 06, 2026

    FDA Vaccine Chief Prasad To Exit Agency For 2nd Time

    Dr. Vinay Prasad, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's top vaccine regulator, will leave the agency in the coming weeks, FDA Commissioner Marty Makary said Friday.

  • March 06, 2026

    9th Circ. Mulls Whether Politics Tainted DOJ Trans Care Probe

    A Ninth Circuit panel on Friday grappled with where to draw the line between a legitimate law enforcement investigation and a politically motivated crusade, as the U.S. Department of Justice sought to revive a subpoena against a telehealth provider of gender-affirming medical care.

  • March 06, 2026

    Mass. Judge Told Vax Committee Must Be Fairly Balanced

    A key federal vaccine committee remains subject to statutory requirements that its membership be fairly balanced, a Massachusetts federal judge heard from both U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and medical organizations challenging his overhaul of the group.

  • March 06, 2026

    Dentist Says She Was Fired For Exposing Medicaid Fraud

    A dentist filed suit against several West Michigan dental practices and a dental management company, claiming she was fired after reporting that the clinics billed Medicaid for dental procedures that were never performed.

  • March 05, 2026

    Telehealth Co. Swaps In Gordon Rees In Novo's GLP-1 Fight

    A telehealth platform facing allegations from Novo Nordisk that it falsely advertised Ozempic alternatives has picked new counsel in the dispute, withdrawing attorneys from Foley & Lardner LLP and Miller Nash LLP and substituting in two lawyers from Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani LLP.

  • March 05, 2026

    Pharma Co. Investors Secure Class Cert. Over FDA Obstacles

    A Pennsylvania federal judge has granted certification to a group of Verrica Pharmaceuticals Inc. investors who claim the company defrauded them by hiding obstacles it faced in obtaining approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for its lead product, though she made a slight change to the class definition to avoid what she called a "heads I win, tails you lose strategy."

  • March 05, 2026

    9th Circ. Denies Bail Pending Nurse Wage-Fixing Appeal

    A Ninth Circuit panel summarily refused to allow a Las Vegas home nursing executive to avoid prison while appealing the U.S. Department of Justice's first-ever criminal wage-fixing conviction.

  • March 05, 2026

    9th Circ. Judge 'Frustrated' At DOJ Position On Anti-Trans EOs

    A Ninth Circuit judge said Thursday he's "very frustrated" with the Trump administration's argument that a district court judge acted prematurely by partly blocking executive orders to end funding for gender-affirming care, saying it's "pretty clear" the government was poised to do exactly that.

  • March 05, 2026

    BCBS Can't Nix NC Plan Member From Cancer Treatment Row

    A North Carolina federal judge ruled a Blue Cross Blue Shield unit must face proposed class action claims over its administration of a state employee health plan from a participant alleging it arbitrarily characterized a proton beam cancer radiation treatment as experimental to deny coverage.

  • March 05, 2026

    Perez Morris Taps Ex-Post & Schell Atty To Lead Philly Office

    Seven years after expanding into Philadelphia, Perez Morris has brought in a former Post & Schell PC principal and seasoned healthcare litigator to lead the office as its first partner-in-charge.

  • March 05, 2026

    ERISA Recap: 6 Developments To Remember From Feb.

    The Second Circuit refused to boot a former Luxottica worker's proposed class claims into solo arbitration, a Texas federal judge declined to snuff out a tobacco fee suit against 7-Eleven and a healthcare company inked a $43 million deal to wrap a case over how it handled 401(k) plan forfeitures. Here's a look back at six noteworthy moves in Employee Retirement Income Security Act cases from last month.

  • March 05, 2026

    Fla. Lab Pays $980K To Settle Kickback Allegations

    A laboratory in Florida agreed to pay $980,000 to resolve allegations that it provided kickbacks to marketers for referring Medicare beneficiaries to use its services, according to a Thursday statement from the U.S. Department of Justice.

  • March 04, 2026

    CVS Beats Antitrust Suit Over 340B Drug Program, For Good

    CVS Health Corp. permanently defeated a proposed antitrust class action alleging it forced hospitals in a discount drug program to use its third-party administrator for savings, when a Pennsylvania federal judge ruled Tuesday that hospitals aren't required to contract with CVS and can pick Walgreens or other participating pharmacies to contract with.

  • March 04, 2026

    DC Judge Strikes Down 340B Drug Discount Registration Rule

    The U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration cannot reinstate a pre-pandemic policy requiring covered hospitals' offsite facilities to register with the agency in order to access discounted drugs under the 340B program, a D.C. federal judge ruled.

  • March 04, 2026

    Fla. Hospital, EMT Beat Suit Over Unauthorized Trauma Photo

    A Miami-area hospital and one of its emergency medical technicians didn't intentionally inflict emotional distress or violate the privacy of the father of a gravely injured motorcycle crash patient when an EMT posted a photo of the motorcyclist's injured leg to Instagram, a Florida appeals panel ruled Wednesday. 

  • March 04, 2026

    6th Circ. Backs Tenn. Med School In FMLA Retaliation Suit

    A former medical resident cannot revive his lawsuit claiming a Tennessee medical school suspended him for taking leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act, the Sixth Circuit ruled this week, finding he failed to show the school's explanation for the discipline was a pretext for retaliation.

  • March 04, 2026

    NY Bill Would Expand Liability For Chatbot Operators

    A bill in the New York State Senate that would impose liability on the owners and operators of artificial intelligence-powered chatbots that give advice reserved for licensed professionals like lawyers and doctors could reshape how some legal tech entities engage with consumers in the Empire State.

  • March 04, 2026

    House Panel Tussles Over Minnesota Medicaid Fraud Claims

    The public political battle between Minnesota and the federal government over alleged Medicaid fraud in the state continued Wednesday on Capitol Hill, with Republicans and Democrats casting stones at each other after President Donald Trump's administration pulled nearly $260 million in healthcare funding from the state.

  • March 04, 2026

    7th. Circ. Upholds Healthcare Co.'s Win In FMLA Suit

    The Seventh Circuit affirmed a healthcare company's win in a former human resources specialist's Family and Medical Leave Act suit, holding that the health system lawfully terminated her for failing to return to work once her approved leave expired.

Expert Analysis

  • Unpacking Ore. Law's Limits On PE Healthcare Investment

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    A recent Oregon law imposes significant restrictions on nonphysicians owning or controlling medical practices, but newly enacted amendments provide some additional flexibility in certain ownership arrangements without scuttling the law's intent of addressing concerns about the rise of private equity investment in healthcare, say attorneys at Debevoise.

  • Criminal Healthcare Fraud Takeaways From 4th Circ. Reversal

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    After the Fourth Circuit reversed a doctor’s postconviction acquittal in U.S. v. Elfenbein last month, defense attorneys should consider three strategies when handling complex criminal healthcare matters, says Jonathan Porter at Husch Blackwell.

  • AG Watch: Texas Embraces The MAHA Movement

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    Attorneys at Kelley Drye examine Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's actions related to the federal Make America Healthy Again movement, and how these actions hinge on representations or omissions by the target companies as opposed to specific analyses of the potential health risks.

  • How States Are Regulating Health Insurers' AI Usage

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    The absence of a federal artificial intelligence framework positions states as key regulators of health insurers’ AI use, making it important for payors and service providers to understand the range of state AI legislation being passed in California and elsewhere, and consider implementing an AI-focused compliance infrastructure, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.

  • HHS Plan To Cut Immigrant Benefits Spurs Provider Questions

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    A recent notice from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services identifying new federal public benefit programs for which nonqualified aliens are not eligible may have a major impact on entities that participate in these programs — but many questions remain unanswered, say attorneys at Foley.

  • Noncompete Forecast Shows Tough Weather For Employers

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    Several new state noncompete laws signal rough conditions for employers, particularly in the healthcare sector, so employers must account for employees' geographic circumstances as they cannot rely solely on choice-of-law clauses, say lawyers at McDermott.

  • Previewing State Efforts To Regulate Mental Health Chatbots

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    New York, Nevada and Utah have all recently enacted laws regulating the use of artificial intelligence to deliver mental health services, offering early insights into how other states may regulate this area, say attorneys at Goodwin.

  • How DOJ's New Data Security Rules Leave HIPAA In The Dust

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    The U.S. Department of Justice's recently effective data security requirements carry profound implications for how healthcare providers collect, store, share and use data — and approach vendor oversight — that go far beyond the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, say attorneys at Nelson Mullins.

  • Texas Med Spas Must Prepare For 2 New State Laws

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    Two new laws in Texas — regulating elective intravenous therapy and reforming healthcare noncompetes — mark a pivotal shift in the regulatory framework for medical spas in the state, which must proactively adapt their operations and contractual practices, says Brad Cook at Munsch Hardt.

  • DOJ-HHS Collab Crystallizes Focus On Health Enforcement

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    The recently announced partnership between the U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to combat False Claims Act violations, following a multiyear trend of high-dollar DOJ recoveries, signals a long-term enforcement horizon with major implications for healthcare entities and whistleblowers, say attorneys at RJO.

  • How The Healthline Privacy Settlement Redefines Ad Tech Use

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    The Healthline settlement is the first time California has drawn a clear line in the sand around how website tracking must function in practice, so if your site uses tracking technologies, especially around sensitive content like health or finance, regulators are inspecting your website's back end, not just its banner, say attorneys at Baker Donelson.

  • How Sweeping Budget Bill Shakes Up Health Industry

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    With the recently passed One Big Beautiful Bill Act marking one of the most significant overhauls of federal health policy since the passage of the Affordable Care Act, providers, managed care organizations and life sciences companies must now shift focus from policy review to implementation planning, say advisers at Holland & Knight.

  • New DOJ Penalty Policy Could Spell Trouble For Cos.

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    In light of the U.S. Department of Justice’s recently published guidance making victim relief a core condition of coordinated resolution crediting, companies facing parallel investigations must carefully calibrate their negotiation strategies to minimize the risk of duplicative penalties, say attorneys at Debevoise.