Policy & Compliance

  • June 24, 2026

    Wholesalers Say Novo Can't Duck GLP-1 Antitrust Suits

    Drug buyers want a New York federal judge to preserve proposed class claims accusing Novo Nordisk of paying Teva to delay generic competition with its Victoza GLP-1 drug, arguing that whatever the underlying deal was, no generic version materialized when it could have.  

  • June 24, 2026

    Doc's Defamation Claim Against Cigna Barred By ERISA

    In a precedential opinion dealing with an issue of first impression, the Third Circuit on Wednesday held that the Employee Retirement Income Security Act preempts a doctor's defamation claim against Cigna because the statements stemmed from the administration of his patients' health plans.

  • June 24, 2026

    11th Circ. Urged To Toss Convictions In $1.4B Hospital Fraud

    Two brothers convicted in a $1.4 billion scheme to bill insurers inflated rates for drug tests told the Eleventh Circuit on Wednesday that there was insufficient evidence to support their convictions and that they should have been allowed an evidentiary hearing after potential juror misconduct emerged following the trial.

  • June 24, 2026

    3rd Circ. Extends Lenient Retaliation Test To ADA, FMLA Suits

    The Third Circuit declared Wednesday that the long-standing, worker-friendly standard used to evaluate Title VII retaliation claims also applies to analogue allegations under the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Family and Medical Leave Act, kickstarting a former Marine's suit over a leaner-than-expected bonus and pay raise.

  • June 24, 2026

    UnitedHealthcare Turns Blame On MassHealth In Fraud Case

    UnitedHealthcare said it plans to defend itself against accusations that it overcharged Massachusetts for senior care, claiming the state's Medicaid program was not properly administered as it moved the case to federal court. 

  • June 23, 2026

    Kaiser Owes LA County Hospital $82M In Out-Of-Network Suit

    Kaiser Permanente's health coverage arm must pay more than $82 million to Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center to cover unreimbursed emergency medical services, a California state judge ordered Tuesday, after a state appeals court backed a jury's verdict concerning payment for roughly 4,000 disputed medical service claims.

  • June 23, 2026

    Texas Woman Says ERs Violated EMTALA Amid Miscarriage

    A Texas woman urged the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to investigate two providers over their alleged violations of the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, or EMTALA, when she sought treatment for a miscarriage, arguing her case "is not an isolated incident."

  • June 23, 2026

    What To Know About State-Level PBM Reform

    Healthcare attorneys are keeping a close eye on new laws focused on the vertical integration of pharmacy benefit managers.

  • June 23, 2026

    FTC Tells 4th Circ. Court Got It Wrong In J&J Stelara Case

    The Federal Trade Commission has told the Fourth Circuit that a Virginia federal court messed up when it ruled in an antitrust suit against Johnson & Johnson that the company bringing the suit needed to show specific intent in order to prop up a monopolization claim over the immunosuppressive drug Stelara.

  • June 23, 2026

    What To Know About The Missouri Abortion Law Ruling

    Nearly two years after Missouri residents enshrined reproductive rights into the state constitution, a judge ruled that more than three dozen state laws conflicted with the 2024 ballot amendment. Law360 Healthcare Authority looks at the case and what it means for abortion law in the Show-Me State.

  • June 23, 2026

    BCLP Health Atty Talks False Claims Act, Move From DOJ

    A former leader of False Claims Act enforcement at the U.S. Department of Justice has joined Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP. Susan Carney Lynch spoke to Law360 Healthcare Authority about the move and trends in FCA enforcement.

  • June 23, 2026

    UnitedHealth Trims But Can't Escape 401(k) Forfeiture Suit

    UnitedHealth Group won dismissal of some claims in a proposed class action alleging the company mismanaged its employee 401(k) and profit sharing plan by misallocating forfeitures, but couldn't escape allegations that the way the company spent the funds breached fiduciary duties and caused transactions prohibited by federal benefits law.

  • June 23, 2026

    Judge Flags Flaws In Rule Capping Health Student Loans

    A D.C. federal judge appeared to agree with health worker organizations challenging new federal student loan caps that there were problems with how the U.S. Department of Education defined "professional degrees" in a recent rulemaking, but suggested that "taking over the job" of the department would be inappropriate.

  • June 23, 2026

    BioNTech Accused Of Firing Nurse Over Drug Trial Concerns

    A former senior clinical trial manager at BioNTech US Inc. told a North Carolina federal court Monday that she was wrongfully fired after complaining to higher-ups about an "epidemic of safety issues and protocol deviations" in clinical trials.

  • June 23, 2026

    Feds Tout AI's Role In $6.5B Healthcare Fraud Crackdown

    Federal authorities said Tuesday that artificial intelligence and sophisticated data analysis helped them detect and prosecute healthcare fraud as part of a national crackdown that resulted in charges against 455 defendants.

  • June 23, 2026

    ACA Ruling May Forecast Future Trouble For CMS Changes

    Recent pushback by a Baltimore federal judge on Affordable Care Act changes made through agency rulemaking could presage more legal defeats for the Trump administration.

  • June 22, 2026

    FTC Requires Fix For Aurobindo's $250M Lannett Deal

    The Federal Trade Commission is allowing Aurobindo Pharma Ltd. to move ahead with its planned $250 million acquisition of Lannett Co. Inc., after the pharmaceutical company agreed to unload four generic drug products to prevent potential overlaps.

  • June 22, 2026

    Sodexo Can't Wipe Out Worker's Nicotine Fee Suit

    A California federal judge refused to toss a Sodexo worker's proposed class action alleging the global food services company wrongly charged nicotine-using employees $1,200 more a year for health insurance, opening discovery on allegations that a wellness program implementing the surcharge didn't meet all federal requirements.

  • June 18, 2026

    RFK Jr. Urges 1st Circ. To Reinstate His Vaccine Advisers

    U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told the First Circuit a Boston federal judge's decision to freeze his vaccine committee appointments lacks a legal foundation and has left the government paralyzed when it comes to vaccine policy.

  • June 18, 2026

    Gibson Dunn Hires Ropes & Gray Health Regulatory Atty In DC

    Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP has hired a former Ropes & Gray LLP partner who works on a myriad of health regulatory and drug pricing matters, advising pharmaceutical manufacturers, investors and other entities on those issues, the firm announced Thursday.

  • June 18, 2026

    5 Big ERISA Litigation Developments From 2026's First Half

    The U.S. Supreme Court's acceptance of a petition challenging Intel's 401(k) investment lineup and a Fourth Circuit ruling unraveling a class of Genworth Financial retirement plan participants headlined the court developments that caught benefits attorneys' attention in the first six months of 2026. Here, Law360 looks at those and other noteworthy ERISA decisions.

  • June 18, 2026

    Health System Strikes Deal To End Tobacco Fee Suit

    Nonprofit health system Advocate Aurora Health reached a deal to close a proposed class action claiming it hit workers with an unlawful fee through their health plan if they used tobacco, according to a filing in Illinois federal court.

  • June 18, 2026

    High Court Bars Federal Review Of State Court Appeals

    The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Thursday that a legal doctrine designed to curtail duplicative litigation prevents parties who lose in state court from appealing in federal district court even if the state case is still pending.

  • June 17, 2026

    Mental Health Co. To Face Wage Class Damages Trial

    A North Carolina federal judge ruled Wednesday that the mental healthcare company JMJ Enterprises LLC must face a second-phase damages trial after a jury found in February in favor of a collective of employees claiming that the company willfully broke federal and state wage laws by underpaying workers at group homes.

  • June 17, 2026

    DC Judge Halts Prison Bureau's 'Near Total' Trans Care Ban

    A Washington, D.C., federal judge blocked the Bureau of Prisons from enforcing a "near total ban" on gender-affirming care for trans incarcerated people, ruling Wednesday the policy was "reverse engineered" to fit the Trump administration's directive barring funding of such care in prisons, violating the Administrative Procedure Act. 

Expert Analysis

  • 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.

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

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    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.