Policy & Compliance
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March 24, 2026
Utah Hospitals To Track Violence As States Step Up Reporting
Under a new law, Utah hospitals will join a national effort to better understand the risks facing healthcare workers.
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March 24, 2026
Ohio Justices Likely Split On Trans Care Restrictions
The Ohio Supreme Court appeared split Tuesday as to whether a new state law banning gender-affirming care for minors trumps a decade-old healthcare freedom provision passed by voters that says state laws can't block a patient from obtaining healthcare.
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March 24, 2026
Fraud Task Force May Boost White Collar Defense Work
A new federal anti-fraud task force involving at least a dozen federal agencies could soon expose more state and local governments, contractors, companies and others to compliance risks, particularly in healthcare fraud and False Claims Act cases, experts say.
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March 24, 2026
Justices Won't Review Class Cert. In Diabetes Drug Risk Case
The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to review whether a federal court can certify a class of third-party payors who claim drugmakers hid the cancer risks of an anti-diabetes drug.
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March 24, 2026
Mass General Accused Of Shaving Time From Workers' Pay
Boston-based healthcare system Mass General Brigham shaved as much as 14 minutes a day from employees' pay by rounding their clock-in and clock-out times, according to a proposed class and collective action filed in federal court.
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March 23, 2026
J&J Amici Seek Clarity On Goldman Precedent For Class Cert.
Four groups of amici have urged the U.S. Supreme Court to take up Johnson & Johnson's challenge to a Third Circuit decision allowing a securities class action over its talc products to proceed, warning the ruling could reshape how shareholder suits are litigated nationwide.
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March 23, 2026
FTC Stays Focused On Healthcare, Launches Task Force
The Federal Trade Commission announced it is launching a new task force with staff from across the agency to coordinate healthcare policy approaches and initiate investigations meant to help protect patients, healthcare workers and American taxpayers.
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March 23, 2026
Progressive Escapes Workers' Tobacco, Vaccine Fee Suit
Allegations that Progressive Corp. wrongly charged higher health premiums from workers who used tobacco or refused the COVID-19 vaccination failed to state a claim for violating federal benefits law, an Ohio federal judge ruled as he tossed a proposed class action against the insurance giant.
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March 23, 2026
Feds Approve Minnesota's Plan To Combat Medicaid Fraud
Minnesota may soon receive the release of $243 million in deferred Medicaid funds after the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services approved the state's updated plan to combat Medicaid fraud, Minnesota state health officials told a federal court last week.
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March 23, 2026
Health Insurers Can't Force Conn. ERISA Row Into Arbitration
Elevance Inc. can't compel arbitration of a union health plan's allegations the insurer caused it to pay excessive administrative fees and medical costs, a Connecticut federal judge ruled, finding the insurer and its subsidiaries waived that right by seeking to dismiss the proposed class action.
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March 23, 2026
High Court Won't Hear Mich. Newborn Blood Testing Case
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear a petition from parents seeking to revive claims that the way newborn blood samples are collected and stored in a Michigan health screening program violates their rights to make medical decisions for their children.
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March 23, 2026
Justices Won't Review Lab Owner's Kickback Conviction
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to review the conviction of a former California biotech president sentenced to eight years in prison for lying about the efficacy of his company's COVID-19 and allergy testing and conducting a $70 million Medicare fraud scheme.
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March 23, 2026
High Court Won't Hear Calif. Border Hospital Medicaid Fight
The U.S. Supreme Court said Monday it would not consider a case challenging California's exclusions of hospitals in neighboring states from supplemental federal payments going to providers that serve Medi-Cal beneficiaries.
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March 20, 2026
Feds Rip Ex-NFL Player's New Trial Bid Over Medicare Scheme
The federal government opposed a new trial bid by Keith Gray, a former NFL player and Texas laboratory owner convicted in a $328 million scheme involving billing for unnecessary cardiovascular genetic testing for Medicare beneficiaries, arguing Thursday he lacks any valid basis to "disturb the jury's sound verdict."
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March 20, 2026
EPA's Ethylene Oxide Plan May Hinder Other Air Toxics Regs
A new proposal from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to weaken emission standards for a medical sterilizer could have broader implications for the agency's power to tighten air pollution limits when new science becomes available.
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March 20, 2026
Pa. Hospital Must Pay $109M For Brain Injury During Birth
Jefferson Health and its subsidiary Einstein Healthcare Network have been hit with a nearly $109 million verdict by a Philadelphia jury in a lawsuit accusing them of negligence leading to debilitating brain injuries sustained by a child delivered at one of their hospitals.
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March 20, 2026
Mich. BCBS Unit Gets Health Plans' Claims Fight Transferred
A federal judge granted Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan's request to transfer a proposed class action alleging the insurance company violated federal benefits law by mismanaging claims in self-funded employee healthcare plans it administered, given that a similar, earlier-filed action was proceeding in an adjacent district.
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March 20, 2026
Eye On ERISA: A Chat With King & Spalding's Darren Shuler
Increased scrutiny of health plans and the high costs of care are fueling a litigation uptick that's coming not just from plan participants but also from employers frustrated with their third-party administrators, said Darren Shuler, a partner at King & Spalding LLP. Here, Shuler speaks with Law360 about litigation trends involving the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.
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March 19, 2026
HHS Can't Block Trans Care Under Kennedy Edict, Court Says
A coalition of 21 states and the District of Columbia prevailed on Thursday in their challenge to a Trump administration move to cut access to gender-affirming care for minors when an Oregon federal judge agreed to void a policy statement from Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
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March 19, 2026
Pharma Group Can't Halt Colo. Law Over Drug Discount Rules
A Colorado federal judge denied a bid by the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America seeking to halt enforcement of a state law guarding providers' ability to contract with pharmacies to distribute discounted drugs under the federal 340B program.
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March 19, 2026
Legislative Update: Cannabis And Psychedelics Bill Roundup
Virginia lawmakers last week gave final approval to legislation that would tax and regulate the sale of adult-use cannabis, Georgia legislators passed a dramatic expansion of the state's medical cannabis program, and Iowa lawmakers approved a bill to designate kratom as a Schedule I substance. Here are the major moves in cannabis and psychedelics legislation from the past week.
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March 19, 2026
11th Circ. Partially Reopens Aetna Twin Birth Coverage Fight
The Eleventh Circuit on Thursday undid Aetna's escape from a worker's coverage dispute over an extended hospital stay for her newborn twins, agreeing with the lower court that allegations failed to state a claim for violating federal benefits law but holding that an amended complaint should have been allowed.
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March 19, 2026
Calif. Families Sue Rady Health Over Move To End Trans Care
Four families have asked a state judge to prevent California's largest pediatric health system from cutting off gender-affirming care for minors, alleging the move would violate state antidiscrimination laws and leave them scrambling to find new providers, some more than 100 miles away.
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March 19, 2026
CVS, Caremark Pocket Money Meant For Rebates, Suit Claims
CVS charges drug manufacturers "exorbitant" fees in exchange for pushing their products, then pockets the money instead of funneling it toward customer rebates as it promises, a federal lawsuit alleges, accusing the company of collecting billions of dollars at customers' expense and violating the anti-racketeering statute.
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March 18, 2026
Key Details As 3rd Circ. Ponders FCA's Fate, $1.6B J&J Fine
Third Circuit judges Wednesday explored divergent views of the False Claims Act's constitutionality and a record fraud verdict against Johnson & Johnson, expressing little eagerness to gut the FCA's whistleblower mechanism, and voicing uncertainty about evidence and jury instructions underpinning the drug promotion punishment.
Expert Analysis
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What's At Stake In Possible Circuit Split On Medicaid Rule
A recent Eleventh Circuit decision, reviving Florida's lawsuit against a federal rule that reduces Medicaid funding based on agreements between hospitals, sets up a potential circuit split with the Fifth Circuit, with important ramifications for states looking to private administrators to run provider tax programs, say Liz Goodman, Karuna Seshasai and Rebecca Pitt at FTI Consulting.
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Courts' Rare Quash Of DOJ Subpoenas Has Lessons For Cos.
In a rare move, three federal courts recently quashed or partially quashed expansive U.S. Department of Justice administrative subpoenas issued to providers of gender-affirming care, demonstrating that courts will scrutinize purpose, cabin statutory authority and acknowledge the profound privacy burdens of overbroad government demands for sensitive records, say attorneys at ArentFox Schiff.
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Remote Patient Monitoring Is At Regulatory Inflection Point
With remote patient monitoring at the center of new federal pilot programs and a recent report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Inspector General examining Medicare billing for those services, it is clear that balancing innovation and risk will be a central challenge ahead for digital health stakeholders, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.
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Utah's AI Prescription Renewal Pilot Could Inform Policy
Utah recently became the first state to approve an artificial intelligence system for autonomously renewing certain prescription medicines, providing a test case for how regulators may be able to draw boundaries between administrative automation and medical judgment, say Jashaswi Ghosh at Holon Law Partners and Bryant Godfrey at Foley Hoag.
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Ramped Up Psychedelic Production Carries Opportunity, Risk
Kimberly Chew at Husch Blackwell discusses the key legal implications of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration's recent dramatic increases in the production quotas for a range of psychedelic substances, offering guidance on compliance, risk management and strategic opportunities for practitioners navigating this rapidly evolving landscape.
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New Biotech Nat'l Security Controls May Have Blunted Impact
While the newly enacted federal prohibition against contracting with certain biotechnology providers associated with countries of concern may have consequences on U.S. companies' ability to develop drugs, the restrictions may prove to be less problematic for the industry than the significant publicity around their passage would suggest, say attorneys at Wilson Sonsini.
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Takeaways From The DOJ Fraud Section's 2025 Year In Review
Former acting Principal Deputy Chief Sean Tonolli of the U.S. Department of Justice's Fraud Section, now at Cahill Gordon, analyzes key findings from the section’s annual report — including the changes implemented to adapt to the new administration’s priorities — and lays out what to watch for this year.
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Traditional FCA Enforcement Surges Amid Shifting Priorities
The U.S. Department of Justice’s January report on False Claims Act enforcement in fiscal year 2025 reveals that while the administration signaled its intent to expand FCA enforcement into new areas such as tariffs, for now the greatest exposure remains in traditional areas like healthcare — in which the risk is growing, say attorneys at Debevoise.
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3 Key Ohio Financial Services Developments From 2025
Ohio's banking and financial services sector saw particularly notable developments in 2025, including a significant Ohio Supreme Court decision on creditor disclosure duties to guarantors in Huntington National Bank v. Schneider, and some major proposed changes to the state's Homebuyer Plus program, says Alex Durst at Durst Kerridge.
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Rescheduling Cannabis Marks New Tax Era For Operators
As the attorney general takes steps to move cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act, operators and advisers should prepare by considering the significant changes this will bring from tax, state, industry and market perspectives, says Michael Harlow at CohnReznick.
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Justices' Med Mal Ruling May Spur Huge Shift For Litigators
The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in the medical malpractice suit Berk v. Choy, holding that a Florida procedural requirement does not apply to medical malpractice claims filed in federal court, is likely to encourage eligible parties to file claims in federal court, speed the adjudicatory process and create both opportunities and challenges for litigators, says Thomas Kroeger at Colson Hicks.
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5 Drug Pricing Policy Developments To Watch In 2026
2026 may prove to be a critical year for drug pricing in the U.S., with potential major shifts including several legislative initiatives moving forward after being in the works for years, and more experimentation on the horizon concerning GLP-1s and Section 340B pricing, say attorneys at Manatt.
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Regulatory Uncertainty Ahead For Organ Transplant System
Pending court cases against a Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services final rule that introduced a competition-centric model for assessing organ procurement organizations' performance will significantly influence the path forward for such organizations and transplant hospitals, say attorneys at Crowell & Moring.