Policy & Compliance
-
January 16, 2026
Oversight Head Seeks Help From CMS On NY Medicaid Inquiry
House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky., asked the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services on Friday to aid the committee's investigation into whether New York has wrongfully withheld funds for hospitals disproportionately serving Medicaid recipients and uninsured people.
-
January 16, 2026
La. State Court Greenlights Challenge To Gender Care Ban
A Louisiana state judge sided with a group of transgender teenagers who argue the state's ban on gender-affirming care for minors is unconstitutional, denying the state's bid to dismiss the case, according to an announcement Friday from the minors' attorneys.
-
January 15, 2026
Ex-CEO Of COVID Vax Maker Accused Of Insider Trading
New York Attorney General Letitia James on Thursday sued the former CEO of healthcare contractor Emergent BioSolutions Inc., alleging insider trading amid troubles manufacturing a COVID-19 vaccine, while signing a $900,000 settlement with the company over its approval of an executive trading plan.
-
January 15, 2026
5th Circ. Revives Allstate's Fraud Suit Over Car Crash Billing
The Fifth Circuit on Wednesday revived Allstate's racketeering suit alleging doctors and personal injury lawyers unleashed a barrage of unnecessary treatments for car accident patients and caused Allstate to pay $4.7 million in claims, finding the insurer sufficiently pled details about the conspiracy and specifics surrounding each allegedly fake medical billing.
-
January 15, 2026
Trump Admin Defies Funding K-12 Mental Health Grants
The Trump administration is fighting an effort by a coalition of U.S. states to preserve at least six months of funding for K-12 mental health grants meant to help students process gun violence, arguing that an earlier court ruling doesn't require the feds to fund the grants.
-
January 15, 2026
Colo. Eye Clinics Settle Medicaid Double-Billing Claims
The Colorado attorney general's office announced Thursday that it reached a settlement totaling $520,000 with two eye care clinics that the state claimed were double-billing a Medicaid vision program for more than five years.
-
January 15, 2026
NC Attys Can Withdraw From 'Unworkable' Nurses' Pay Row
Two attorneys who said they had "irreconcilable differences" with nurse practitioners who did not meet their contractual financial obligations can withdraw their representation in a minimum wage lawsuit against their employer, a North Carolina federal magistrate judge ruled.
-
January 15, 2026
CVS Ducks Antitrust But Not Biz Interference Claim At 5th Circ.
A Fifth Circuit panel has largely sided with CVS Pharmacy and its Caremark affiliate by preserving a district court's dismissal of federal antitrust claims over a Mississippi pharmacy's rejection from participating in the pharmacy benefit manager's network, although the judges did revive state law claims.
-
January 14, 2026
Pharmacy Wields Antitrust Law In Challenge To GLP-1 Giants
Eli Lilly & Co. and Novo Nordisk are using their dominant positions in the market for weight loss and diabetes medications to squash potential competitors, including through unlawful exclusivity agreements with telehealth providers, a compounding pharmacy alleged Wednesday in what it calls a landmark antitrust lawsuit.
-
January 14, 2026
6th Circ. Skips Rethink, But Still Spars Over Indirect Buyer Bar
A decision by the full Sixth Circuit not to rehear a lawsuit over an alleged allergy testing and treatment provider boycott has turned into an internal dustup about the limits of who can seek damages under federal antitrust law, with one judge calling for U.S. Supreme Court intervention.
-
January 14, 2026
NJ Judge Orders Mediation In Merck-Cencora Indemnity Fight
Cencora Inc. can't derail a Merck third-party complaint arguing a prior settlement between the parties requires the drug wholesaler to indemnify Merck in antitrust litigation by Humana, a New Jersey federal court ruled Wednesday, ordering the parties to go to mediation over the dispute.
-
January 14, 2026
Vizient Beats Spurned Medical Tape Supplier At 5th Circ.
A Fifth Circuit panel refused to revive an antitrust suit accusing medical supplies group purchasing giant Vizient of locking in hospital customers, agreeing with a district court that a spurned would-be supplier failed at the threshold question of showing a market in which Vizient could be dominant.
-
January 14, 2026
GOP Senators Say Patients Must See Docs For Abortion Meds
Republicans on a Senate health panel Wednesday called for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to reinstate a requirement that pregnant women seeking an abortion via medication must have the drug administered in a doctor's office, not through telehealth or remotely.
-
January 13, 2026
Ark. Official Urges 7th Circ. Not To Revive Pharma Rule Fight
An Illinois federal judge correctly upheld an Arkansas insurance regulation designed to protect local pharmacies, the state's insurance commissioner told the Seventh Circuit on Monday, asking the court to toss a Teamsters healthcare plan's bid to renew its challenge to the regulation.
-
January 13, 2026
EEOC Disability Bias Win Stands, But Damages Shrink
A Florida federal judge declined a senior living facility's bid for a new trial in a U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission disability bias suit claiming it wouldn't hire a veteran who has PTSD, but cut a $400,000 jury verdict to $50,000 in line with a damages cap.
-
January 13, 2026
La. Moves To Extradite Calif. Doc Over Abortion Pill Trafficking
Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry on Tuesday said he would authorize an extradition request for a California doctor accused of illegally mailing abortion pills to a Louisiana resident, further escalating a legal battle over the reach of state bans in the post-Roe era.
-
January 13, 2026
Oak Street Exec's Ex-Partner Must Forfeit $617K In Assets
Federal authorities can delve into the assets of a man who made illegal insider trades of CVS stock based on information from his domestic partner so that they can recover $617,000 he agreed to forfeit as part of a plea deal, a Pennsylvania federal judge said Tuesday.
-
January 13, 2026
Healthcare Litigation Week In Review
Law360 Healthcare Authority looks at the past week's top healthcare news.
-
January 13, 2026
Workers Seek $126M In Seattle Hospital System Wage Row
Seattle-area hospital system Swedish Health Services should shell out about $126 million to settle wage violations, after a state court found that the system failed to provide a second meal break on longer shifts and that its rounding practices led to unpaid wages, the workers said.
-
January 13, 2026
Blue States Say HHS Conditions Funding On Anti-Trans Bias
A dozen Democratic state attorneys general sued the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on Tuesday, claiming the agency's threat to withhold billions of dollars in funding from states that don't hew to an executive order declaring that gender is immutable conflicts with antidiscrimination law.
-
January 13, 2026
Gov't Didn't Allege Formula Was Contaminated, Abbott Says
Abbott Laboratories has urged a Michigan federal judge to throw out a suit brought by the federal government over the 2022 infant formula shortage, saying the government is trying to recoup a "belated windfall" and no tainted formula left its plant's doors.
-
January 13, 2026
Federal Drug Pricing Policies Irk Biotech Insiders
As the federal government targets drug and other healthcare costs, biotech insiders say they're getting exasperated.
-
January 13, 2026
Justices Seem Poised To Greenlight Transgender Athlete Bans
The conservative wing of the U.S. Supreme Court voiced skepticism of allowing transgender athletes to compete in women's and girls' sports Tuesday, while also signaling a willingness to keep its ruling narrowly tailored.
-
January 13, 2026
Blip Or Trend? FDA Guidance Fell Off Steeply In 2025
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued far less industry guidance last year after President Donald Trump returned to office. The change has pharmaceutical attorneys bracing for more unpredictability.
-
January 12, 2026
The Curious, Very Long Delay In A Pioneering Drug Prices Suit
When Merck & Co. launched a fiery challenge to Medicare's landmark drug price negotiations, it blazed a trail for many similar suits. But 31 months later, the challenge is stalled where it started as Merck begs for a ruling, other suits speed along the path it created and huge costs now seem unavoidable.
Expert Analysis
-
How Importers Can Minimize FCA Risks Of Tariff Mitigation
False Claims Act risks are inherent in many tariff mitigation strategies, making it important for importers to implement best practices to identify and report potential violations of import regulations before they escalate, says Samuel Finkelstein at LMD Trade Law.
-
10 Practical Takeaways From FDA's Biopharma AI Guidance
Recent guidance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration provides much-needed insight on the usage of artificial intelligence in producing information to support regulatory decision-making regarding drug safety, with implications ranging from life cycle maintenance to AI tool acquisition, say attorneys at Covington.
-
Lawmakers Shouldn't Overlook Rare Disease Therapies' Value
As the ORPHAN Cures Act is pending in Congress, policymakers assessing the value of certain drugs for price regulation should consider data beyond what is collected in clinical trials, say Alice Chen at the University of Southern California, and Molly Frean and Yao Lu at Analysis Group.
-
What Trump's Order Means For The Legal Status Of IVF
An executive order signed by President Donald Trump last month signals the administration's potential intention to increase protections for in vitro fertilization services, though more concrete actions would be needed to resolve the current uncertainty around IVF access or bring about a binding legal change, says Jeanne Vance at Weintraub Tobin.
-
Mitigating Tariff Risks For Healthcare In US And Canada
Healthcare stakeholders should take steps to evaluate the impact of cross-border tariffs, as the historically strong ties between Canada and the U.S. demonstrate the potential for real disruption and harm to the healthcare industry in both countries, say attorneys at Norton Rose.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.