Policy & Compliance

  • June 10, 2025

    IT Co. Urges 1st Circ. To Affirm It's Blameless For Data Breach

    An information security technology company urged the First Circuit on Tuesday to affirm that it isn't liable for a 2018 data breach that exposed confidential information of more than 277,000 of the medical device maker's patients, arguing that the insurer assignee of the device maker had no valid points.

  • June 10, 2025

    Amazon Can't Duck Suit Over Non-FDA Approved Supplements

    Amazon must face a proposed class action alleging it sells non-FDA approved supplements touting health-related claims without mandatory disclaimers, after a Washington federal judge rejected the company's argument the plaintiffs lack standing to pursue claims over supplements they never bought, finding the plaintiffs allege a uniform, systematic marketing practice.

  • June 10, 2025

    Ala. Judge Orders Trans Health Org. To Publish Training Vids

    In a case challenging Alabama's ban on gender-affirming care for youths, a federal judge this week ordered a trans health organization to publish video recordings of the group's conferences and a medical training course, after the group had sought to protect the content's confidentiality. 

  • June 10, 2025

    9th Circ. Skeptical Oregon Hospital Merger Law Is Too Vague

    A Ninth Circuit panel on Monday appeared skeptical of a hospital association's challenge to an Oregon law that grants a state agency broad power to block proposed healthcare consolidations to ensure equitable access to healthcare, with two of the three judges questioning whether federal law could limit the state's authority.

  • June 10, 2025

    Attys Field Provider Fears, Queries On CMS Trans Care Probe

    A new federal push to obtain a broad swath of clinical and financial data from hospitals providing gender-affirming care is triggering a wave of concerns that the Trump administration's enforcement approach will have a chilling effect on care delivery.

  • June 10, 2025

    Pandemic Law Doesn't Protect Mich. Hospital In Bedsore Case

    A Michigan appellate court has revived a lawsuit filed by the estate of an 88-year-old woman who died after developing a bedsore during the COVID-19 pandemic, finding that a state law shielding hospitals from pandemic liability didn't apply because the woman wasn't treated for the virus.

  • June 10, 2025

    Drug Cos. Face Persistent Scrutiny Over Physician Kickbacks

    Drugmakers continue to become ensnared in — and settle — investigations into illegal payments to healthcare providers for participating in sham speaker programs. These payments raise ethical questions about patient harm and whether they are seen as a cost of doing business.

  • June 10, 2025

    A Federal Preemption Target On State Medical Debt Laws

    The Trump administration changes course on medical debt reporting, putting a new target on a slate of state laws that protect patients from some of the impacts of unpaid medical bills.

  • June 09, 2025

    RFK Jr. Fires CDC's Entire 17-Member Vaccine Advisory Panel

    The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced Monday that Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. removed every member of the committee that provides advice and guidance on the use of vaccines to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, pledging to replace them with his preferred picks.

  • June 09, 2025

    Trump Orders Targeting DEI, LGBTQ+ Funding Partly Blocked

    A California federal judge Monday blocked portions of President Donald Trump's executive orders targeting diversity and inclusion policies and programs serving the LGBTQ+ community, saying a group of nonprofits is likely to succeed in showing that stripping their federal funding violates their constitutional rights.

  • June 09, 2025

    Gov't Seeks $706M Penalty In FCA Case Against Omnicare, CVS

    The government asked a New York federal judge to impose a collective $706 million in civil penalties on Omnicare Inc. and its parent, CVS Health Corp., after a jury found that they submitted millions of false billing claims for healthcare programs.

  • June 09, 2025

    2nd Circ. Nixes Doc's Power Of Atty Deal In Patient ERISA Suit

    The Second Circuit ruled Monday that a doctor couldn't use a power-of-attorney arrangement to sue on behalf of a patient who said their union's health plan illegally stuck them with a $150,000 medical bill, but directed a trial court to determine if the patient can pursue the case.

  • June 09, 2025

    5th Amendment Can't Shield Ex-Exec, Drugmakers Argue

    Generic-drug makers urged a Pennsylvania court to compel a former executive to sit for a deposition in ongoing price-fixing litigation despite his invocation of the Fifth Amendment, arguing his testimony is crucial to their defense.

  • June 09, 2025

    Sheppard Mullin Adds Perkins Coie IP Trio In DC, Chicago

    Three Perkins Coie LLP intellectual property partners with deep experience representing clients in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and related industries have jumped to Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP.

  • June 09, 2025

    HI Gov. Eyes Veto Of Medical Pot Bill Over Privacy Concerns

    Hawaii Gov. Josh Green has signaled that he intends to veto a bill modifying the state's medical marijuana program, saying that it would impinge the privacy rights of the Aloha State's medical cannabis patients.

  • June 09, 2025

    Worker Says NYC Hospital Network, Co. Skimped On Wages

    NYC Health and Hospitals and a staffing company failed to pay the entirety of wages to employees who worked at emergency response and relief centers where asylum seekers would stay, a former operational site lead said in a suit in New York federal court.

  • June 06, 2025

    J&J Unit's $147M Catheter Antitrust Loss Tripled To $442M

    Johnson & Johnson health tech unit Biosense Webster's bill in an antitrust trial was upped from $147 million to $442 million after a California federal jury found it stifled competition by conditioning the provision of cardiac mapping services on purchases of cardiac catheters.

  • June 06, 2025

    Texas AG Says Trans Care Investigation Is Lawful

    The Texas Attorney General's Office told the state's Supreme Court that a lower court went too far by blocking an investigation into an LGBTQ+ advocacy organization that allegedly had knowledge about outside parties performing gender-affirming care on minors, saying the court undermined the AG's investigative authority.

  • June 06, 2025

    Fla. Medical Billing Co. Accused Of Filing False Genetic Tests

    The U.S. government has filed a False Claims Act suit against a Florida medical billing and compliance services company for allegedly filing claims to Medicare for more than $15 million in medically unnecessary genetic laboratory tests.

  • June 05, 2025

    Red States Double Down On Bid To Stymie Trans Health Rule

    More than a dozen Republican attorneys general challenging a Biden-era rule that protected gender-affirming care under the Affordable Care Act said the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services can't keep the rule on the books just because the new administration is unlikely to enforce it.

  • June 05, 2025

    Sens. Float Automatic Biosimilar Interchangeable Label

    A bipartisan group of U.S. senators has reintroduced legislation that would reduce what the lawmakers called barriers to accessing lower-cost versions of biologic drugs, making an adjustment to how biosimilars are deemed interchangeable with their name-brand equivalents.

  • June 05, 2025

    $1.36B Home Healthcare Deal Dropped Amid FTC Scrutiny

    Healthcare solutions company Owens & Minor said Thursday that it's abandoning its $1.36 billion plan to buy home-based care business Rotech Healthcare Holdings after the Federal Trade Commission's scrutiny proved too much to bear.

  • June 05, 2025

    4 AGs Urge FDA To Lift Abortion Pill Restrictions

    Attorneys general from California, Massachusetts, New York and New Jersey on Thursday urged the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to lift restrictions on the abortion drug mifepristone, saying they aren't necessary under statutory requirements for an FDA drug safety program.

  • June 05, 2025

    Mich. AG Asks Judge To Block Abortion Coercion Screening

    Michigan's attorney general has asked a judge to strike down a state-law requirement that abortion patients be evaluated for coercion, after the judge upheld the screening while permanently blocking other abortion regulations last month.

  • June 05, 2025

    Ex-Bush Admin Atty To Lead HHS Civil Rights Office

    The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has appointed an attorney to lead its civil rights office who brings more than 30 years of experience across the public sector and private practice, including as counsel for HHS during the George W. Bush administration.

Expert Analysis

  • 10 Issues To Watch In Aerospace And Defense Contracting

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    This year, in addition to evergreen developments driven by national security priorities, disruptive new technologies and competition with rival powers, federal contractors will see significant disruptions driven by the new administration’s efforts to reduce government spending, regulation and the size of the federal workforce, say attorneys at Thompson Hine.

  • Dispelling 10 Myths About Health Provider-Based Compliance

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    Congress appears intent on requiring hospitals to submit provider-based attestations for all off-campus outpatient hospital locations, so now is the time for hospitals to prepare for this change by understanding common misconceptions about provider-based status and proactively correct noncompliance, say attorneys at McDermott.

  • A Look At HHS' New Opinion On Patient Assistance Programs

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    A recent advisory opinion from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Inspector General follows a recent trend of blessing patient assistance program arrangements that implicate the Anti-Kickback Statute, as long as they are structured with appropriate safeguards to minimize the risk of fraud and abuse, say attorneys at Sheppard Mullin.

  • 2 Anti-Kickback Developments Hold Lessons For Biopharma

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    The U.S. Department of Justice's Anti-Kickback Statute settlement with QOL Medical and a favorable advisory opinion from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services provide a study in contrasts, but there are tips for biopharma manufacturers trying to navigate the vast compliance space between them, says Mary Kohler at Kohler Health Law.

  • Tips For Pharma-Biotech Overlap Reporting In New HSR Form

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    While there’s no secret recipe for reporting overlaps to the Federal Trade Commission in the new Hart-Scott-Rodino Act form, there are several layers of considerations for all pharma-biotech companies and counsel to reflect on internally before reporting on any deal, say attorneys at A&O Shearman.

  • A Look At Drug Price Negotiation Program's Ongoing Impact

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    More than two years after the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act and the rapid implementation of the drug price negotiation program, attorneys at Ropes & Gray discuss how the IRA has influenced licensing strategies, and how maximum fair prices under the law have economically affected certain drugs.

  • Preparing For A Possible End To The Subminimum Wage

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    The U.S. Department of Labor's proposed rule to end the subminimum wage for employees with disabilities may significantly affect the community-based rehabilitation and training programs that employ these workers, so certified programs should be especially vigilant about compliance during this period of evaluation and scrutiny, say attorneys at Jackson Lewis.

  • Drug Pricing Policy Trends To Expect In 2025 And Beyond

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    Though 2025 may bring more of the same in the realm of drug pricing policy, business as usual entails a sustained, high level of legal and policy developments across at least six major areas, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.

  • Top 10 Healthcare And Life Sciences Issues To Watch In 2025

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    Under the new Trump administration, this coming year may benefit some healthcare and life sciences stakeholders, while creating new challenges for others amid an increasingly complex regulatory environment, say attorneys at Debevoise.

  • 4 Keys To Litigating In An Active Regulatory Environment

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    For companies facing litigation influenced by government regulatory action — a recent trend that a politically charged atmosphere will exacerbate — there are a few principles that can help to align litigation strategy with broader public positioning in the regulatory and oversight context, say attorneys at Jenner & Block.

  • How Views On Healthcare Price Transparency Are Changing

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    Regulators' attitudes toward price transparency regulation have shifted over the past several years in ways that may seem contradictory, and research into detailed rate information published by hospitals and health plans has yielded mixed results, says Matthew List at Charles River Associates.

  • EEOC Wearable Tech Guidance Highlights Monitoring Scrutiny

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    The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's recent fact sheet on wearable technologies cautions against potential issues with federal anti-discrimination laws and demonstrates growing concern from regulators and legislators about intrusive technologies in the workplace, say attorneys at Littler.

  • Navigating The Potential End Of GLP-1 Drug Shortages

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    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's determination of whether GLP-1 products are in shortage may affect how compounders provide these products and spur a range of litigation including patent disputes and unfair competition suits, say attorneys at Goodwin.