Policy & Compliance

  • April 13, 2026

    Abbott Urges Toss Of Relator, State Suits In FCA Recall Row

    Abbott Laboratories urged a Michigan federal court to throw out litigation brought by whistleblowers and a group of states over the 2022 infant formula shortage, saying their respective complaints lacked the details necessary to support claims that it defrauded numerous healthcare programs.

  • April 10, 2026

    Chest Binders Become Latest Front In Anti-Trans Litigation

    Chest binders — medical devices that can be used by individuals experiencing gender dysphoria or who want a more gender-neutral alternative to bras — have emerged as the newest target in an unfolding regulatory and legal climate that transgender advocates describe as an overtly partisan political attack against a type of product that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has deemed the least risky.

  • April 10, 2026

    Wisconsin High Court OKs COVID Immunity For Hospitals

    A Wisconsin state appeals court erred when it held that a statute shielding healthcare providers from civil liability during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic violated a woman's constitutional right to a jury, the state's highest court ruled unanimously Friday.

  • April 10, 2026

    Colo. Transport Co. Says Termination Lacked Due Process

    A medical transportation company that provided transportation services for Medicaid users in Denver asked a Colorado state judge to reverse a termination of its services from the state, claiming the statute used to issue the termination against the company is unconstitutional.

  • April 10, 2026

    Compass Group Workers Get Cert. For Tobacco Fee Suit

    Former employees for food service company Compass Group USA have secured class certification for their Missouri federal lawsuit claiming the company's $48 bi-weekly health insurance fee for tobacco using-workers violates federal law.

  • April 10, 2026

    Philip Morris Urges 11th Circ. To Affirm FDA Rule Toss

    Philip Morris urged the Eleventh Circuit to affirm a decision that struck down a U.S. Food and Drug Administration rule calling for graphic warnings on cigarette packaging, arguing a district court rightly found the FDA had not followed proper procedure when crafting the regulations.

  • April 10, 2026

    Drugmakers Can Intervene In Texas, Fla. Abortion Drug Suit

    A federal judge Friday allowed abortion medication manufacturers GenBioPro Inc. and Danco Laboratories to intervene in litigation brought by the states of Texas and Florida seeking to undo a slew of federal regulations concerning the abortion drug mifepristone.

  • April 10, 2026

    Elevance Can't Nix Suit Over GLP-1 Coverage For Sleep Apnea

    An Indiana federal judge declined to toss a proposed class action claiming Elevance Health Inc. illegally denied coverage for a GLP-1 weight loss medication that was prescribed to treat sleep apnea, ruling that the insurance company is the right party to answer to the allegations at play.

  • April 10, 2026

    Ill. Jury Adds $17M Punitive Award To Baby Formula Verdict

    Illinois jurors on Friday slapped another $17 million in punitive damages atop the $53 million they awarded the previous afternoon to four mothers who accused Abbott Laboratories of selling preterm infant formula that contributed to a serious and often fatal gut condition their babies developed.

  • April 09, 2026

    Yale Medical School Can't Nix Fraudulent Insemination Suit

    Yale can't escape a negligence suit by onetime patients alleging its former fertility doctor secretly inseminated them with his own sperm, after a Connecticut judge said that a letter from an anonymous doctor, which is mandated by law to support their claims, met the statutory requirements.

  • April 09, 2026

    Irish Mallinckrodt Unit Stuck In Drug Price-Fixing Suit

    An Irish entity of drugmaker Mallinckrodt waited too long to seek dismissal of a price-fixing lawsuit brought by states based on a lack of personal jurisdiction or proper service, a Connecticut federal judge has ruled, finding that the company first raised that argument more than five years after the complaint was filed.

  • April 09, 2026

    Cigna 401(k) Suit Won't Wait For Intel Supreme Court Decision

    A Pennsylvania federal court turned down Cigna's bid to stay a proposed class action alleging the insurance company misspent forfeitures from its employee 401(k) plan and offered an underperforming investment fund while the U.S. Supreme Court considers a 401(k) suit against Intel, finding the request unjustified.

  • April 09, 2026

    Abbott Hit With $53M Verdict Over Baby Formula Harms

    A Cook County jury on Thursday awarded a total of $53 million in damages to four mothers claiming Abbott Laboratories' preterm baby formula contributed to their babies' development of a serious and often fatal gut condition, in the first of such claims to go to trial in Illinois.

  • April 09, 2026

    Nonprofit Insurer Wants To Seek AstraZeneca Claims Revival

    EmblemHealth asked a Massachusetts federal judge to let it seek First Circuit intervention against a decision that cut in half its proposed class action accusing AstraZeneca unit Alexion of using sham patents to protect blood disorder treatment Soliris from biosimilar rivals.

  • April 09, 2026

    Philly Injection Site Row Judge Rejects Nonprofit's 'Ploy'

    A Pennsylvania federal judge on Thursday called the addition of overdose prevention nonprofit Safehouse's president as a counterclaim plaintiff in the government's suit to stop it from launching a safe-injection site in Philadelphia a "ploy" to add another to the ranks of those claiming the government infringed the group's religious freedom.

  • April 09, 2026

    US Again Urges High Court To Back Drug Price Program

    The administration of President Donald Trump again urged the Supreme Court not to hear a challenge to the Medicare drug price negotiation program, arguing against a constitutional challenge brought by Boehringer Ingelheim that drug companies aren't forced to accept lower prices because they can choose not to participate. 

  • April 08, 2026

    Ed. Dept. Says It's Not Required To Fund $1B In Youth Grants

    The U.S. Department of Education denied accusations by 16 U.S. states that it is flouting a court order to restore nearly $1 billion in K–12 mental health grants, arguing in a Western District of Washington filing that the order required officials to re-review the grants, not actually provide full funding.

  • April 08, 2026

    AbbVie Says 340B Program Defines 'Patient' Too Broadly

    Federally funded healthcare providers in the 340B Drug Pricing Program are using an "overly broad" interpretation of the word "patient" based on government guidelines, and it's leading to them abusing 340B discounts, AbbVie claimed in a lawsuit filed against two federal health agencies Wednesday.

  • April 08, 2026

    3M Settles Ex-Worker's COVID Vax Firing Suit

    A former 3M Co. employee who claimed the company's COVID-19 vaccination mandate policy was "unnecessary" and "draconian" has settled his more than 3-year-old suit over his firing, according to a court filing.

  • April 08, 2026

    AstraZeneca Wants 25 Opt-Ins Axed From Pay Bias Suit

    More than two dozen women refused to take part in required discovery and should be removed from a collective action accusing AstraZeneca of paying female pharmaceutical sales representatives less than men, the company told an Illinois federal court.

  • April 08, 2026

    Whistleblower, Healthcare Operator End Retaliation Suit

    A nursing home administrator who participated in a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development whistleblower investigation into alleged false payment claims and a healthcare facility operator agreed to end a lawsuit over his firing, according to a stipulation filed in Colorado federal court Wednesday.

  • April 08, 2026

    Faegre Drinker Hires 2 Venable FDA Partners In DC

    Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP has hired two attorneys from Venable LLP who joined that firm in 2023 and focus their practices on helping clients understand U.S. Food and Drug Administration regulatory frameworks, the firm announced Wednesday.

  • April 08, 2026

    HIV, AIDS Patients End Disability Bias Suit With CVS

    CVS Pharmacy Inc. and a group of HIV and AIDS patients have agreed to wrap up a suit claiming the company made it harder for them to get their medication in violation of disability discrimination law, according to a California federal court filing.

  • April 07, 2026

    Calif. Dialysis Bill Violates 1st Amendment, 9th Circ. Says

    The Ninth Circuit on Tuesday struck down provisions of a California law that aims to restrict dialysis providers' ability to profit from patients receiving health insurance premium assistance from nonprofit charities, ruling in a published opinion that the provisions violated nonprofit American Kidney Fund's and dialysis providers' First Amendment rights.

  • April 07, 2026

    Pa. Hospitals Accuse Aetna Of Underpaying Medicare Claims

    Two Pennsylvania hospital operators have sued Aetna Health Inc. in federal court, alleging the insurer has been improperly denying Medicare Advantage claims for inpatient services, or underpaying, under a new policy.

Expert Analysis

  • Unique Aspects Of Texas' Approach To AI Regulation

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    The Texas Responsible AI Governance Act — which will soon be the sole comprehensive artificial intelligence law in the U.S. — pulls threads from EU and Colorado laws but introduces more targeted rules with fewer obligations on commercial entities, say attorneys at MVA Law.

  • Surveying The Healthcare Policy Landscape Post-Shutdown

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    With last week's agreement to reopen the federal government, at least through the end of January, key healthcare legislation that has been in limbo since a December 2024 spending bill fell apart may recapture the attention of Congress, say attorneys at Faegre Drinker.

  • FDA Biosimilar Guidance Should Ease Biologics Development

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    New draft guidance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, indicating that the agency may no longer routinely require comparative efficacy studies when other evidence provides sufficient assurance of biosimilarity, underscores the FDA's trust in analytical technology as a driver of biologics access, say attorneys at Hogan Lovells.

  • Prison Body Cams Raise Health Privacy Compliance Issues

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    The increasing use of prison staff body cameras to enhance transparency and safety presents correctional healthcare partners with new risk management questions where they must carefully reconcile the benefits of surveillance with the imperative to protect patient privacy, say attorneys at Gordon Rees.

  • Employer Considerations After 11th Circ. Gender Care Ruling

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    The Eleventh Circuit's en banc decision in Lange v. Houston County, Georgia, finding that a health plan did not violate Title VII by excluding coverage for gender-affirming care, shows that plans must be increasingly cognizant of federal and state liability as states pass varying mandates, say attorneys at Miller & Chevalier.

  • How Healthcare Practices Can Prepare For ICE Visits

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    Healthcare providers that may face encounters with immigration enforcement should familiarize themselves with compliance obligations beyond ensuring employment authorization, and mitigate risk by establishing clear policies and specific procedures that safeguard patient rights and manage staff interactions with agents, say attorneys at Roetzel & Andress.

  • Adapting To Calif.'s Enhanced Regulation Of PE In Healthcare

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    New California legislation enhances oversight on the role of private equity groups and hedge funds in healthcare transactions, featuring both a highly targeted nature and vague language that will require organizations to carefully evaluate existing practices, says Andrew Demetriou at Husch Blackwell.

  • Lessons From 7th Circ. Decision Affirming $183M FCA Verdict

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    The Seventh Circuit's decision to uphold a $183 million False Claims Act award against Eli Lilly engages substantively with recurring materiality and scienter questions and provides insights into appellate review of complex trial court judgments, say Ellen London at London & Naor, Li Yu at Bernstein Litowitz and Kimberly Friday at Osborn Maledon.

  • Calif. Justices Continued Anti-Arbitration Trend This Term

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    In the 2024-2025 term, the California Supreme Court justices continued to narrow arbitration's reach under state law, despite state courts' extreme caseload backlog and even as they embraced contractual autonomy in other contexts, says Josephine Petrick at The Norton Law Firm.

  • Steps For Healthcare Providers After Cigna ERISA Settlement

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    Following the Cigna class action's settlement, where Employee Retirement Income Security Act violations arose from Cigna's online provider directory advertising providers as in-network who were actually out-of-network, providers should routinely audit their contract status and directory listings, and proactively coordinate with plans and payor partners, say attorneys at ArentFox Schiff.

  • What's New In FDA's Latest Cell And Gene Therapy Guidance

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    New draft guidance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, along with other recent initiatives, come together to promote cell and gene therapy product development by streamlining development and review pathways, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.

  • Adapting To Enforcement Focus On Wound Care Fraud

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    As federal agencies target wound care industry fraud as a top enforcement priority, attorneys advising industry stakeholders should evaluate business relationships for Anti-Kickback Statute violations, emphasize appropriate product use and documentation, and use internal data analytics to monitor billing patterns, say David Tarras at Tarras Defense and Jay McCormack at Verrill Dana.

  • AG Watch: Illinois A Key Player In State-Level Enforcement

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    Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul has systematically strengthened his office to fill federal enforcement gaps, oppose Trump administration mandates and advance state policy objectives, particularly by aggressively pursuing labor-related issues, say attorneys at Troutman.