Expert Analysis

• Health Plan Takeaways After 2nd Circ. No Surprises Act Ruling

  

  While the Second Circuit's recent ruling in East Coast Advanced Plastic Surgery v. Cigna gives health plans breathing room in finding that healthcare providers cannot enforce out-of-network billing dispute resolution awards in court, sponsors should not assume that declining to pay awards will go unaddressed by regulators, say attorneys at Thompson Hine.

• IDScan Data Breach Puts Spotlight On Vendor Oversight

  

  A recently reported breach that exposed millions of identification documents held by IDScan.net highlights the liability risks for businesses that contract with third-party identity processors, and emphasizes the importance of auditing vendors' data retention practices, say attorneys at Tucker Ellis.

• Series

  Mentalism Makes Me A Better Lawyer

  

  Convincing strangers I can read their minds may seem like an unusual second career for a legal practitioner, but both disciplines share several important requirements, including trust and preparation, says Warren Biro at Manatt.

• Why And How To Build A Neurodiversity-Informed Practice

  

  By better understanding neurodiversity and implementing simple accommodations for clients with autism, ADHD or learning differences, attorneys can build stronger relationships with those who may otherwise struggle to obtain and benefit from legal services, while developing good habits that will benefit everyone they represent, says Ting Cheung at Sanford Heisler.

• AG Watch: Texas Takes A Lone State Stand Against Tech Cos.

  

  A look at Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's recent actions against Meta Platforms and Amazon.com illustrates how Texas is distancing itself from multistate coordination, offering practitioners a crucial perspective on navigating individual state actions amid coordinated attorney general litigation, say attorneys at Kelley Drye.

• Contact Lens Rule's Evolution Steers FTC Guidance Program

  

  The history of the Federal Trade Commission's Contact Lens Rule illustrates the goals of the FTC's recently announced guidance program, which aims to strengthen consumer protection and safeguard competition, say attorneys at Wilson Sonsini.

• Abbott FCA Deal Shows Enforcement Adequacy Quandaries

  

  Abbott Laboratories’ recent False Claims Act resolution illustrates several tricky questions that both prosecutors and defense counsel must address when weighing whether a civil enforcement action alone adequately addresses allegedly wrongful conduct, says James Koukios at MoFo.

• New DNA Screening Standard Has No Clear Playbook

  

  Although the government has not yet released promised guidance intended to support its new standards for screening mail-order DNA, companies should not read this as a reprieve from the Oct. 13 compliance deadline because the delay shifts enforcement risk to statutes that need no new authority, including false statements, the False Claims Act and fraud, says Ashwin Ram at Buchalter.

• Texas Medicaid Fraud Decision Leaves 2 Open Questions

  

  The Texas Supreme Court's decision in Laboratory Corp. of America Holdings v. Texas and NPT Associates, holding that the Texas Medicaid Fraud Prevention Act's omissions provision requires proof of materiality, creates ambiguity about the materiality requirement and about how Texas courts will treat federal precedent going forward, say attorneys at Sidley.

• Testing AI's Promise For Large-Scale Document Review

  

  Our document-review comparison of attorneys' responsiveness and issue coding decisions versus predictions generated by artificial intelligence across 1,600 documents suggests that these tools can offer a reasonable and reliable basis for improved discovery workflows, provided lawyers understand where guardrails are needed, say attorneys at Redgrave.

• 3rd Circ. Ruling Shows ADA Limits Amid Worker Misconduct

  

  In Hileman v. West Penn Allegheny Health System, the Third Circuit recently rejected a wrongful termination claim under the Americans with Disabilities Act, illustrating that disability and leave laws don't automatically insulate employees from the consequences of prior workplace misconduct, say attorneys at Bond Schoeneck.

• Navigating A Key Inflection Point In Biosimilar Sector M&A

  

  As biosimilar mergers and acquisitions gain notice amid U.S. Food and Drug Administration reforms, a maturing patent framework and a looming patent cliff, companies diversifying into the higher-growth biologics space should align their regulatory, intellectual property and transactional strategies, say attorneys at Skadden.

• AI Meeting Recaps Pose New Discovery And Privilege Risks

  

  The New York City Bar Association’s recent ethics opinion, cautioning attorneys not to record nonclient conversations with artificial intelligence tools, reflects an emerging view that AI meeting recaps are now a distinct business record category, meaning counsel should set meeting-level controls and apply framework-level updates, says William Wright at Faegre Drinker.

• Preparing For Broader Calif. Rules On PE Healthcare Deals

  

  California's recent emergency regulations implementing expanded healthcare transaction review requirements, such as for private equity and hedge funds, represent a notable expansion of state oversight, including enhanced disclosures, wider definitions and new advance notice requirements, say attorneys at Simpson Thacher.

• DOJ Policy Creates New Defense For Physicians, Health Cos.

  

  The U.S. Department of Justice's recently revised enforcement policy governing agency guidance makes clear that Medicare guidance is not the law, potentially giving healthcare organizations a stronger basis to challenge certain enforcement theories, says Jose Vela at Clark Hill.