Policy & Compliance

  • 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.

  • January 12, 2026

    Feds To Drop Appeal In 340B Rebate Pilot Challenge

    The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on Monday suggested it will end its appeal of a First Circuit order temporarily blocking it from instituting a rebate program that would change how the agency distributes payments in the federal 340B drug discount program that provides medications at reduced costs to low-income Americans. 

  • January 12, 2026

    ERISA Recovery Suit Against UnitedHealth Proceeds With Trims

    A UnitedHealth plan participant who was injured in a car crash may pursue claims under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act's civil enforcement provision, an Ohio federal court ruled Friday, while also allowing his wife, who was involved in a separate accident, to proceed with certain state-law claims.

  • January 12, 2026

    Yale Asks Judge To Rethink $32M Baby Formula Death Verdict

    Yale University and the affiliated Yale New Haven Hospital have asked a Connecticut state court judge to reconsider a verdict of nearly $32 million over the death of a premature baby, contending that she failed to grasp battery and informed consent law when issuing her decision after a bench trial.

  • January 12, 2026

    DC Circ. Told $100K H-1B Fee Threatens Congress' Tax Power

    The U.S. Chamber of Commerce urged the D.C. Circuit to bar the Trump administration from charging employers its new $100,000 H-1B visa fee, arguing it presents a "grave threat" to Congress' exclusive power to levy taxes.

  • January 12, 2026

    HHS' Pediatric Health Cuts Blocked As Likely 'Retaliatory'

    A D.C. federal judge has temporarily blocked the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services from cutting nearly $12 million in pediatric health funding to the American Academy of Pediatrics, finding HHS could be retaliating for a lawsuit challenging the agency's changes to members on a federal vaccine committee. 

  • January 12, 2026

    Justices Want SG Input On Arthritis Drug Competition Fight

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday asked the Trump administration to weigh in on whether state unfair competition claims should be used to block a competitor from selling compounded versions of drugs in certain states.

Expert Analysis

  • How States Are Regulating Health Insurers' AI Usage

    Author Photo

    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

    Author Photo

    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

    Author Photo

    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

    Author Photo

    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

    Author Photo

    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

    Author Photo

    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

    Author Photo

    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

    Author Photo

    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

    Author Photo

    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.

    Author Photo

    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.

  • A Look At Key 5th Circ. White Collar Rulings So Far This Year

    Author Photo

    In the first half of 2025, the Fifth Circuit has decided numerous cases of particular import to white collar practitioners, which collectively underscore the critical importance of meticulous recordbuilding, procedural compliance and strategic litigation choices at every stage of a case, says Joe Magliolo at Jackson Walker.

  • What US Medicine Onshoring Means For Indian Life Sciences

    Author Photo

    Despite the Trump administration's latest moves to onshore essential medicine manufacturing, India will likely remain an indispensable component of the U.S. drug supply chain, but Indian manufacturers should prepare for stricter compliance checks, says Jashaswi Ghosh at Holon Law Partners.

  • FCA Working Group Reboot Signals EHR Compliance Risk

    Author Photo

    The revival of the False Claims Act working group is an aggressive expansion of enforcement efforts by the Justice Department and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services targeted toward technology-enabled fraud involving electronic health records and other data, say attorneys at ArentFox Schiff.