Digital Health & Technology
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March 07, 2025
Orlando Health Can't Duck Suit Over Sharing Of Patients' Data
A Florida federal judge has refused to release Orlando Health Inc. from a proposed class action accusing it of unlawfully sharing patients' private information with Meta Platforms and Google through ad tracking software, allowing several wiretap and contract claims to proceed while axing a single invasion of privacy allegation.
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March 07, 2025
Apple Prevails In Watch Tech Patent Fight At Fed. Circ.
The Federal Circuit handed Apple a significant victory Friday in a dispute that might have led to a ban on imports of its smartwatches, affirming that a competing company's heart monitor patents are invalid and vacating a conflicting U.S. International Trade Commission decision that found the watches infringed those patents.
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March 06, 2025
Apria Healthcare To Pay $6.4M To End Data Breach Litigation
Apria Healthcare LLC has agreed to pay $6.375 million to resolve a proposed class action over a pair of data breaches that affected more than 1.8 million individuals' personal data, according to documents filed in Indiana federal court, on the heels of the medical equipment provider reaching a separate deal with the state's attorney general over the incident.
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March 05, 2025
Wash. Hospital Patient's Pixel Privacy Suit Survives Dismissal
A Washington federal judge said Tuesday that a patient has shown how an Evergreen State hospital allegedly shared her personal health information by installing Facebook browser tracking tools on its website, preserving one of her claims while giving her a final shot at revising several others.
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March 05, 2025
Skin Care Tech Co. Files Ch. 11 With $400M Prepackaged Plan
Skin care and beauty technology company Cutera Inc. filed for Chapter 11 protection in a Texas bankruptcy court Wednesday with over $429 million in debt and a prepackaged debt-swap plan to cut that number by nearly $400 million.
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March 04, 2025
Apple Seeks Ban Against Masimo's Original Smartwatch
Apple has urged a Delaware federal judge to issue an injunction against a healthcare technology company found last year to have infringed two of the tech giant's design patents with its W1 smartwatch and charger, calling the defense's refusal to agree to the injunction "telling."
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March 04, 2025
Insurer Says Claims Of Illegally Tracked Info Erase Coverage
An insurer for a fertility treatment provider told an Illinois federal court that an exclusion on the disclosure of personal information precludes commercial general liability coverage for a lawsuit accusing the provider of unlawfully installing tracking technologies to collect website users' private information.
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March 03, 2025
Justices Decline Data Breach Suit Against SC Medical Center
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to review a Fourth Circuit decision that a health center cannot use federal immunity as a shield against a data breach lawsuit even though it received public funds, despite the company's warning that the ruling has created a circuit split.
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February 28, 2025
Pa. Health System Can't Compel Arbitration In Meta Pixel Suit
A terms of service link on a Pennsylvania health system's website was not sufficient to bind a patient to arbitration in his suit over the alleged disclosure of his personal information to Meta Platforms, a federal judge has ruled.
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February 28, 2025
Robotic Surgery Co. Appealing Tossed Intuitive Antitrust Case
Surgical Instrument Service Co. Inc. is appealing to the Ninth Circuit after a California federal court tossed its $140 million antitrust case accusing Intuitive Surgical Inc. of blocking third parties from refurbishing components for its popular da Vinci surgery robot at the end of trial.
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February 27, 2025
Harvard Pilgrim To Pay $16M To Settle Data Breach Claims
Healthcare company Harvard Pilgrim and its parent company Point32Health Inc. have agreed to pay $16 million to settle a class action over a 2023 data breach that affected nearly 3 million individuals and providers, according to a filing late Wednesday.
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February 25, 2025
Walgreens Inks $595M Deal To End COVID-19 Testing Suit
Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. has agreed to pay $595 million to a lab testing and diagnostics company to put to rest a dispute over COVID-19 tests, according to a Monday filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
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February 25, 2025
A Year After Change Hack, Healthcare Still A Data 'Honeypot'
A year after a massive data breach disrupted healthcare nationwide, hospitals and other providers are engaged in an "arms race" against hackers as they navigate tough budget choices and remain vulnerable to cyberattacks.
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February 25, 2025
Masimo Aims To DQ Hueston Hennigan As Ex-CEO's Counsel
Masimo Corp. is urging the Delaware Chancery Court to disqualify Hueston Hennigan LLP from representing its founder and former CEO in a lawsuit over his quest for a $450 million payout from the medical technology company, arguing the firm has a conflict of interest.
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February 20, 2025
Warby Parker Hit With $1.5M Fine After HHS Breach Probe
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced Thursday that it has imposed a $1.5 million fine on Warby Parker Inc. following a cyberattack on the eyewear manufacturer's website that exposed the protected health information of nearly 200,000 customers.
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February 20, 2025
Fed. Circ. Backs TTAB's Denial Of Health Co.'s Proposed TM
The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board correctly denied a healthcare management company's bid to register "Formularyhub" because it's a descriptive term, the Federal Circuit said Thursday.
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February 19, 2025
Meta Should've Preserved Health Tracking Data, Judge Says
A California federal judge considering sanctions against Meta for deleting data in privacy litigation over a Facebook tool's collection of patient health information said Wednesday that he's not convinced Meta had "malintent," but said, "I do think this information should have been preserved."
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February 19, 2025
Tech Co.'s Software Doesn't Meet CMS Needs, Judge Says
A Court of Federal Claims judge denied IntelliBridge LLC's attempt to block the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services from seeking bidders for its hybrid cloud product engineering and operations contract, finding on Tuesday the agency isn't trying to replicate its batCAVE software.
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February 19, 2025
Walgreens Says $1B COVID Testing Award Must Be Nixed
Walgreens is urging a Delaware federal judge to rethink his decision enforcing a $987 million arbitral award to a lab testing and diagnostics company in a dispute over COVID-19 tests, arguing Tuesday that he ignored that the arbitrator "invented" language in the contract to arrive at his conclusion.
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February 18, 2025
Human Rights Atty Sees 'Serious Risks' Of Neural Data Abuse
International human rights attorney Jared Genser spoke with Law360 Healthcare Authority about the "serious risks of misuse and abuse of neurotechnologies" that have led California and Colorado to expand their state consumer privacy laws in the last year to include neural data, with similar bills pending in Montana, Massachusetts and Illinois.
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February 18, 2025
Attys Talk AI Risks, Compliance At Health Law Conference
Amid the generative artificial intelligence boom, the healthcare industry is navigating the challenge of incorporating new technology — such as automated clinical documentation and fraud detection algorithms — into their systems while anticipating enforcement action, litigation and regulatory requirements.
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February 13, 2025
UnitedHealth Can't Escape All Claims In AI Denial Suit
A Minnesota federal judge Thursday allowed Medicare Advantage patients and the estates of deceased enrollees to pursue breach of contract claims against UnitedHealth over its alleged use of AI to override physician recommendations, finding they are not preempted by the Medicare Act, but tossed others by holding they are preempted.
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February 11, 2025
Wash. Health Privacy Law Debuts In Amazon Tracking Suit
A Washington resident has launched the first claims under the state's groundbreaking health privacy law, as part of a proposed class action accusing Amazon of unlawfully harvesting location data from tens of millions of mobile phone users through third-party apps that are running the company's software development kit.
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February 11, 2025
Ore. Rep. Nelson Talks New AI Bill And 'Sacred' Nurse Title
As healthcare organizations grapple with the arrival of artificial intelligence in the workplace, Oregon state Rep. Travis Nelson, a registered nurse, recently introduced a bill that would prohibit a nonhuman entity from being called "nurse" or other similar titles. In a recent Q&A, he spoke to Law360 Healthcare Authority about House Bill 2748 and the use of AI in the industry.
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February 11, 2025
Fla. Judge OKs $7M Deal In Health Data Breach Class Action
A Florida federal judge Tuesday granted final approval of a $7 million class action settlement as part of multidistrict litigation over the theft of personal information from millions of U.S. citizens in a health data breach linked to a Russian ransomware group.
Expert Analysis
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Writing Thriller Novels Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Authoring several thriller novels has enriched my work by providing a fresh perspective on my privacy practice, expanding my knowledge, and keeping me alert to the next wave of issues in an increasingly complex space — a reminder to all lawyers that extracurricular activities can help sharpen professional instincts, says Reece Hirsch at Morgan Lewis.
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White House Activity Is A Band-Aid For Regulating AI In Health
In the medium term, recent White House actions will have a greater impact on AI in the health care industry than Congress' sluggish efforts to regulate it, but ultimately legislation of AI's development and use in the health space will fall to Congress, say Wendell Bartnick and Vanessa Perumal at Reed Smith.
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How Legal Teams Can Prep For Life Sciences' Tech Revolution
The life sciences and health care industries are uniquely positioned to take advantage of new efficiencies created by cloud computing and generative artificial intelligence, but the sensitivity of their data also demands careful navigation of an expanding legislative and regulatory landscape, say Kristi Gedid, Zack Laplante and Lisa LaMotta at Ernst & Young.
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General Counsel Need Data Literacy To Keep Up With AI
With the rise of accessible and powerful generative artificial intelligence solutions, it is imperative for general counsel to understand the use and application of data for myriad important activities, from evaluating the e-discovery process to monitoring compliance analytics and more, says Colin Levy at Malbek.
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Life Sciences Regulators Must Write Cloud-Specific Guidance
As cloud services continue to revolutionize the life sciences industry's ability to conduct regulated activities, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and other regulators should update their data management policies to clearly support and encourage use of cloud technology, say Nate Brown and Marlee Gallant at Akin.
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3 Tips For Defending Against Data Breach Litigation
As cyberattacks become more prevalent, companies responding to data breaches must consider several strategies to better position themselves in the event of litigation even during their preliminary investigations and breach notifications, say attorneys at Davis Wright.
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What Pharma Cos. Must Know About FDA Off-Label Guidance
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently issued draft guidance on how pharmaceutical companies should share research on off-label use of medical devices, outlining how firms could avoid enforcement action — especially when disseminating self-created content about their own products, say Jacqueline Berman and Maarika Kimbrell at Morgan Lewis.
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It's Time To Prescribe Frameworks For AI-Driven Health Care
As health care providers begin to adopt artificial intelligence in clinical settings, new legal and regulatory challenges are emerging, with the critical issue being balancing AI's benefits and innovations in health care while ensuring patient safety and provider accountability, say attorneys at Kirkland.
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FDA Proposals Clarify Rules For Devices With Predicates
As medical devices continue to grow in complexity, U.S. Food and Drug Administration policies surrounding premarket submissions for devices with existing predicates have fallen behind, but new draft guidances from the agency help fill in some gaps, say attorneys at Hogan Lovells.
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How Int'l Regulatory Collabs Can Expedite Pharma Approvals
Recent announcements highlight the growing importance of international regulatory collaboration for drug approval, which can greatly streamline the process for companies seeking to market their drugs in other countries, say Geneviève Michaux and Christina Markus at King & Spalding.
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Why Standing Analysis Is Key In Data Breach Mediation
Amid a growing wave of data breach class action litigation, recent legal developments show shifting criteria for Article III standing based on an increased risk of future identity theft, meaning parties must integrate assessments of standing into mediation discussions to substantiate their settlement demands in data breach class actions, says Abe Melamed at Signature Resolution.
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2 New Ways FDA Is Changing Lab-Developed Test Regulation
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's recently announced rulemaking and voluntary pilot program signal the agency's dedication to ramping up oversight of lab-developed tests, which have been largely unregulated by the FDA until now, say attorneys at Sidley.
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FDA's Lab-Developed Test Rule Faces High Hurdles
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's recently announced plans to explicitly regulate lab-developed tests will likely face resistance from industry stakeholders and congressional actions, and lead to significant litigation, say attorneys at Hogan Lovells.