Policy & Compliance

  • September 29, 2026

    DOJ Puts FCA Target On Health Data Security Lapses

    Government contractors that fail to protect personal health information are on the radar of U.S. Department of Justice officials looking to leverage the False Claims Act, attorneys told attendees at a health law conference in Washington, D.C.

  • September 29, 2026

    FCA Bar Debates Impact Of Updated Justice Manual

    The False Claims Act bar is divided on the practical impact of recent updates to a U.S. Department of Justice policy manual. Whatever happens, the healthcare industry is particularly exposed.

  • September 28, 2026

    Calif. Expands Reproductive Care, Abortion Access

    A series of new laws in California aim to expand access to medication abortion on community college campuses, bolster veterans' access to reproductive care including abortions, and make it easier for nursing parents to access lactation support, according to an announcement made Sunday.

  • September 28, 2026

    Illinois BCBS Can't Escape $6.6M Claim Repayment Fight

    Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois must face a specialty pharmacy's contract suit claiming the insurer illegally failed to pay out more than $6.6 million in prescription claim reimbursements for medicines the pharmacy provided to three insureds in 2021, an Illinois federal judge ruled Monday.

  • September 28, 2026

    Newsom Signs Slate Of Bills Bolstering LGBTQ+ Protections

    California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a slate of bills defending against what he called the Trump administration's "all-out assault on the LGBTQ community," strengthening privacy protections, providing support to discharged service members and enhancing access to medical care.

  • September 28, 2026

    Split 7th Circ. Backs Ill. County's Win In COVID Vax Bias Suit

    The Seventh Circuit in a split decision Monday affirmed a summary judgment win for Cook County, Illinois, in a former hospital pharmacist's suit alleging she was unlawfully fired after she refused a COVID-19 vaccine, with the majority holding the county proved a religious exemption would've posed undue hardship and one dissenting judge saying the case should go to a jury.

  • September 28, 2026

    Trump Asks Justices To Restore Fed. Prison Trans Care Ban

    The Trump administration urged the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday to halt a district court order barring the Bureau of Prisons from enforcing a ban on gender dysphoria care for transgender people incarcerated in BOP facilities, arguing the lower court stepped beyond its proper role. 

  • September 28, 2026

    Faith-Based Rehab Program Can't Exit Wage Suit, Court Rules

    A Texas federal court allowed a man who was ordered into a faith-based addiction recovery program to pursue wage claims against the program's operators, finding he plausibly alleged participants were treated as employees who performed substantial commercial labor without lawful pay.

  • September 25, 2026

    SEC Says Mich. Atty Tipped Family About Pharma Co. Merger

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday accused a Michigan tax lawyer of insider trading, alleging he told his brother and cousin about a planned but not-yet-announced merger between Y-mAbs Therapeutics Inc. and SERB Pharmaceuticals.

  • September 25, 2026

    SEC Says Md. Woman Illegally Traded On FDA Approval Info

    The SEC accused a Maryland resident of trading on nonpublic information she received from an insider ahead of the FDA's 2023 denial of a new drug application for a depression treatment submitted by Sage Therapeutics Inc. that caused the company's shares to lose over half of their value.

  • September 25, 2026

    Mayo Clinic Strikes $50K Deal To End EEOC Vax Bias Suit

    The Mayo Clinic will pay $50,000 to resolve a U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission suit claiming it threatened to fire a Pentecostal Christian security guard if he didn't get vaccinated against COVID-19 despite his religious objections.

  • September 25, 2026

    Split 6th Circ. Keeps Block On Tenn. 'Abortion Trafficking' Ban

    A split Sixth Circuit panel upheld a permanent injunction on what Tennessee calls an abortion trafficking ban, finding the law is facially overbroad and violates the First Amendment by restricting speech on access to abortions in states where that care is legal.

  • September 25, 2026

    Conn. AG Beats Dentist's Appeal In Press Release Fight

    The Connecticut attorney general and a former social services commissioner did not violate a dentist's constitutional due process or privacy rights when they issued a press release announcing the $300,000 settlement of a False Claims Act case based on Medicaid billing claims, a state appellate panel ruled Friday.

  • September 25, 2026

    COVID Testing Co.'s Ex-COO Pleads Guilty In $500M Fraud

    The former chief operating officer of a COVID-19 testing company pled guilty in Michigan federal court to a healthcare fraud conspiracy allegedly involving more than $500 million in fraudulent insurance claims for services that were not performed as billed.

  • September 25, 2026

    United, TeamHealth Settle $100M ER Billing Fraud Suit

    UnitedHealthcare and TeamHealth have agreed to resolve a $100 million alleged fraud dispute over emergency room staffing and billing, according to a filing in Tennessee federal court.

  • September 25, 2026

    Cleveland Clinic Workers Win Notice In Time-Rounding Suit

    An Ohio federal judge approved notice to a proposed collective of Cleveland Clinic workers alleging the health system's time-rounding practices resulted in overtime violations, finding the workers showed a strong likelihood that they were similarly situated.

  • September 24, 2026

    Medical School Application Fee Antitrust Claim Moves Ahead

    A D.C. federal court issued an order on Thursday trimming several claims from a class action accusing the Association of American Medical Colleges of inflating medical school application fees, but allowed one of the antitrust claims to move ahead.

  • September 24, 2026

    FDA Nom Says Vaccines Safe, Won't Call IUDs Birth Control

    President Donald Trump's nominee to lead the U.S. Food and Drug Administration faced a Senate committee Thursday morning, where she affirmed the safety of vaccines when pressed but refused to directly contradict the president's false claim that the measles vaccine could be "quite lethal," and declined to affirm that IUDs are birth control and not abortifacients.

  • September 24, 2026

    Autism Therapy Provider Fights $1M MassHealth Demand

    Massachusetts' Medicaid program conducted a flawed audit of autism therapy providers last year and then demanded recoupment of paid claims without a meaningful way to challenge the audit's findings, a national therapy provider said in a lawsuit. 

  • September 24, 2026

    Full 5th Circ. Tough On Aetna's Bid To Arbitrate Aramark Suit

    The Fifth Circuit seemed skeptical Thursday of Aetna's bid to force a health plan benefits dispute from food services giant Aramark into arbitration, with judges picking the insurer's arguments apart during an en banc rehearing.

  • September 24, 2026

    UnitedHealth Blocked From Early Appeal In NM Nurse OT Suit

    A New Mexico federal court has refused to let UnitedHealthcare seek an early appeal of a ruling allowing a nurse case manager's proposed class action to proceed despite an expired statute of limitations, finding the company mischaracterized the ruling and failed to show a genuine circuit split.

  • September 23, 2026

    Blue Shield Still Facing Therapy 'Ghost Network' Suit

    A California federal judge ruled Wednesday that Blue Shield of California must face the majority of claims brought in subscribers' proposed class action alleging the insurer maintained a "ghost network" of mental-health providers that didn't exist or accept new patients, saying the suit adequately claims contract terms were not met.

  • September 23, 2026

    Colo. Judge Declines To Sanction Hospital In Gender Care Suit

    Children's Hospital Colorado properly complied with an injunction prohibiting it from refusing to provide medically necessary gender-affirming care to transgender youth patients, a state judge ruled, rejecting a request by a class of patients to hold the hospital in contempt.

  • September 23, 2026

    Vein Tech Maker Escapes Suit Over DOJ Kickback Probe

    A New York federal judge has tossed, for now, a proposed investor class action alleging that vein disease device maker Inari Medical Inc.'s share price fell after it disclosed an investigation into its compliance with federal anti-kickback laws, finding the suit does not plausibly show Inari was paying healthcare providers unlawful kickbacks, among other things.

  • September 23, 2026

    Healthcare Co. Trims But Can't Escape Retirement Plan Suit

    Nonprofit healthcare system Virtua Health can't avoid a proposed class action alleging its 401(k) plan unlawfully offered a risky and underperforming investment option that provided excessive compensation to plan service providers, a New Jersey federal judge ruled.

Expert Analysis

  • Trump's Psychedelics EO Creates A Regulatory Collision

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    Sponsors pursuing U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval for psychedelic drug access must tackle how to generate regulatory-grade safety and efficacy data in controlled trials when President Donald Trump's recent executive order on psychedelics mandates uncontrolled access through Right to Try, say Kimberly Chew at Husch Blackwell and Odette Hauke at Odette Alina.

  • AI Regulatory Gaps May Fuel FCA Enforcement Action

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    The intersection of artificial intelligence and False Claims Act enforcement presents legal risk for government contractors across several industries, particularly in the absence of a federal regulatory framework explicitly governing its development and use, say attorneys at O’Melveny.

  • 5th Circ.'s Abortion Pill Order Is Shaky On Multiple Grounds

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    The Fifth Circuit's recent order in Louisiana v. U.S. Food and Drug Administration, reinstating an in-person dispensing requirement for the abortion medication mifepristone, seems to turn federalism upside-down, and is also questionable for several other reasons, says Gregory Curtner at Curtner Law.

  • 5 Takeaways From Justices' Subpoena Fight Ruling

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in First Choice v. Davenport fortifies a line of First Amendment associational privacy cases stretching back nearly 70 years, and ensures that organizations subject to government demands for donor information have a meaningful federal forum in which to defend their constitutional rights, say attorneys at DLA Piper.

  • Accelerated Psychedelic Therapy Pathways Require Caution

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    President Donald Trump's new executive order aiming to accelerate the approval of psychedelic drugs for the treatment of mental health disorders will likely bolster investigational psychedelic therapies, but parties within the psychedelic product supply chain will still need to prepare for potentially burdensome compliance requirements, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • Health Cos. Must Act Quickly To Secure Digital Front Doors

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    A fast-approaching deadline will require health providers to implement digital accessibility standards to their websites, necessitating important compliance steps that will help to ensure equal access to online health services, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.

  • How Oregon Ruling Affects Federal Gender Care Crackdown

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    In a favorable development for healthcare providers, an Oregon federal court recently vacated certain U.S. Department of Health and Human Services restrictions on gender-affirming care for minors, but the government's broader campaign against this care, including proposed rulemaking and agency investigations, leaves significant uncertainty, say attorneys at Arnold & Porter.

  • NY Opioid Antagonist Mandate Leaves Employers Guessing

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    A recently enacted New York law will require employers that are federally mandated to maintain first-aid supplies to now include an opioid antagonist, but being that it is subject to a complicated Occupational Safety and Health Administration analysis, employers face several unanswered compliance questions, say attorneys at Conn Maciel.

  • Calif. Case Raises Questions For Medical Practice Investors

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    The California attorney general's amicus brief in Art Center v. WCE and the California Medical Association's response highlight how the California appeals court's ruling could significantly affect the structure and enforceability of succession arrangements in medical practice ownership, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.

  • Previewing FDA Preapproval Access In Psychedelics EO

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    The second of two pathways for psychedelic drug access outlined in President Donald Trump's recent executive order constitutes an unprecedented expansion of the Right to Try Act, which could fundamentally alter the psychedelic access landscape while presenting significant regulatory, operational and legal challenges, say attorneys at Husch Blackwell.

  • Previewing FDA National Priority Vouchers In Psychedelics EO

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    President Donald Trump's recent executive order on psychedelic drug access represents a watershed moment in federal drug policy, but its significance lies in two distinct regulatory pathways, the first being the Commissioner's National Priority Vouchers, which offer a significant opportunity to compress U.S. Food and Drug Administration review, say Kimberly Chew at Husch Blackwell and Odette Hauke at Odette Alina.

  • AG Watch: Texas Charts A Course On Investigative Authority

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    The Texas Supreme Court's recent decision in Texas v. PFLAG affirmed, and arguably expanded, the Texas attorney general's civil investigative demand authority, providing a road map that other courts evaluating state attorney general CIDs may find instructive, amid a lack of precedent, say attorneys at Kelley Drye.

  • Initial Virginia AG Actions Signal Focus On Multistate Efforts

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    Now that Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones has reached the 100-day mark in office, his first set of actions reveals a clear preference for coalition with regional and national counterparts, which means the primary risk for businesses is no longer just the fact of enforcement, but the speed at which investigations can escalate, says Lauren Cooper at Hogan Lovells.