Policy & Compliance
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October 07, 2025
AGs Rip DOJ Bid To Pause Planned Parenthood Funding Suit
The U.S. Department of Justice wants to use the ongoing government shutdown as a "shield" to stop a group of states from seeking an injunction against a halt to Medicaid funding for Planned Parenthood, the states told a Massachusetts federal judge in opposing a possible pause on their lawsuit.
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October 07, 2025
Colo. Drug Board First To Cap Drug Price, Likely Not The Last
Colorado's drug price regulation board put a first-of-its-kind cap on a pricey autoimmune disease drug. Law360 Healthcare Authority breaks down the Colorado announcement and other moves by state regulators.
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October 07, 2025
Justices Probe Standard Of Care In 'Conversion Therapy' Case
The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday wrestled with whether gay "conversion" therapy banned by a Colorado law is a medical treatment that falls outside the accepted standard of care, or whether it's protected First Amendment speech.
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October 07, 2025
2nd Circ. Rules Inmates Not Entitled To Specific Gender Care
A Second Circuit panel has overturned a transgender inmate's partial win in a lawsuit against prison officials in Connecticut over allegedly inadequate gender dysphoria treatment, holding that the defendants are entitled to qualified immunity and that "inmates have no clearly established right to be treated by gender-dysphoria specialists" or receive specific treatments for the condition.
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October 07, 2025
3rd Circ. Won't Rehear J&J Investor Cert. Appeal
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit declined Tuesday to reconsider backing a New Jersey federal judge's class certification order in a Johnson & Johnson investor action alleging the company artificially inflated its stock price by failing to disclose cancer risks.
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October 07, 2025
Approach The Bench: Judge Kaplan On Suit Against The Gov't
U.S. Court of Federal Claims Judge Elaine Kaplan's docket doesn't always garner attention in the same way trial court cases do, but that may change as the executive branch makes sweeping budget and policy changes that could lend more political significance to monetary claims against the government.
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October 07, 2025
EMTs Appeal Losses Ahead Of False Death Declaration Trial
First responders facing trial for declaring a woman dead, only for a funeral home to discover she was alive, are urging a Michigan state appeals court to review what they say are "contradictory legal frameworks" imposed by a judge ahead of trial.
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October 07, 2025
La. Challenges Mail-Order Access To Abortion Medication
The state of Louisiana on Monday sued federal regulators for expanding access to the abortion medication mifepristone under the Biden administration, alleging the removal of an in-person dispensing requirement allows the drug to be mailed illegally into anti-abortion states.
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October 07, 2025
Air Medic Ends EEOC Disability Bias Suit Over Nixed Job Offer
A helicopter ambulance company has agreed to pay an air mechanic $59,000 to resolve a disability bias suit in an Alabama federal court from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleging the business yanked back a job transfer offer because the worker was prescribed opioids.
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October 06, 2025
Judge Certifies Class In United Behavioral Health Billing Suit
A California federal judge has agreed to certify a class of employee health plan participants claiming United Behavioral Health and a billing contractor shorted them on coverage for out-of-network substance use disorder treatments, finding the plaintiffs submitted new billing evidence that meets the court's requirements.
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October 06, 2025
Justices Hint At Barring Del. Med Mal Law In Federal Court
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday appeared to side with a retired attorney's position that a Delaware medical malpractice statute clashes with federal rules of procedure and is therefore unenforceable in federal court, with several justices saying the law appears to be an improper procedural requirement.
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October 06, 2025
Supplement Co. Sold Soviet-Era Drug As Sleep Aid, Suit Says
An addict in recovery hit Hi-Tech Pharmaceuticals Inc. with a proposed class action on Friday in Georgia federal court alleging that he bought a sleep aid sold as a dietary supplement that actually contains a dangerous, addictive sedative first developed by the Soviet Union in the 1960s.
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October 06, 2025
Fed. Circ. Vacates J&J's $20M Loss Over Patent Ownership
The Federal Circuit freed Johnson & Johnson subsidiary DePuy Synthes from a $20 million infringement verdict on Monday, saying the orthopedic surgeon suing it didn't own the asserted knee replacement patents.
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October 06, 2025
High Court Won't Take Up Md. Retirees' Drug Benefits Suit
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to review a Fourth Circuit decision concluding that Maryland wasn't contractually bound to provide benefits to employees upon retirement, turning away a case that challenged the state's transition of retirees' prescription drug benefits from a state subsidy to Medicare.
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October 06, 2025
3rd Circ. Rejects Novo Nordisk's Medicare Pricing Challenge
The Third Circuit on Monday shot down another challenge to the Medicare drug price negotiation program, denying claims by pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk that Congress illegally delegated too much authority to the executive branch.
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October 06, 2025
Cooley Adds Life Sciences Trio From WilmerHale, Sidley
Cooley LLP announced Monday that it is boosting its life sciences bench with a bicoastal trio of partners from WilmerHale and Sidley Austin LLP.
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October 06, 2025
Justices Won't Review 5th Circ. Ending ACA Trans Policy Suit
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to review the Fifth Circuit's decision to shut down a challenge to a Biden-era interpretation of the Affordable Care Act's nondiscrimination-in-healthcare policy as also protecting against gender identity bias, which an appellate panel told a Texas court to dismiss in December.
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October 06, 2025
Mass. Justices Say Harvard Must Face Cadaver Theft Claims
Massachusetts' highest court on Monday reinstated claims against Harvard University over what one justice called a "ghoulish" and "macabre scheme" by its former medical school morgue manager to dissect, steal and sell body parts from donated medical research cadavers.
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October 06, 2025
Justices Skip Fight Over NJ Healthcare Worker Vax Mandate
The U.S. Supreme Court said Monday it won't review the challenge by four New Jersey nurses to New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy's executive orders in the first three months of 2022 mandating a COVID-19 vaccine booster for healthcare workers.
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October 03, 2025
Up First At High Court: Election Laws & Conversion Therapy
The U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in six cases during the first week of its October 2025 term, including in disputes over federal candidates' ability to challenge state election laws, Colorado's ban on conversion therapy, and the ability of a landlord to sue the U.S. Postal Service for allegedly refusing to deliver mail.
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October 03, 2025
6th Circ. Will Hear Ohio PBM Fight Arguments In December
The Sixth Circuit will hear arguments from the state of Ohio and the pharmacy benefit managers it's accusing of colluding to raise the price of prescription medications in December to decide whether the matter belongs in state or federal court.
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October 03, 2025
11th Circ. Pushes Forward Fla.'s ACA Trans Health Appeal
The Eleventh Circuit resolved a jurisdictional question that will allow Florida to continue pursuing its challenge against Biden-era policies impacting Affordable Care Act coverage for gender-affirming care.
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October 03, 2025
Nurse Staffing Exec Says Jury Misled In Wage-Fixing Case
A nurse staffing executive convicted of wage fixing and wire fraud is asking a Nevada federal court for a new trial, arguing that prosecutors misled the jury about a cooperating witness's leniency deal.
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October 03, 2025
Cigna Inks $5.7M Ghost Network Suit Settlement
Cigna has struck a $5.7 million deal to settle a proposed class action alleging the insurer violated federal benefits law by advertising out-of-network providers as in-network to participants in benefit plans it administered, counsel for plaintiffs announced Friday.
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October 02, 2025
FDA OKs New Generic Abortion Pill, Drawing Conservative Ire
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved a second generic version of the abortion medication mifepristone, prompting outrage from anti-abortion groups and conservative politicians.
Expert Analysis
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3 Takeaways From Recent Cyberattacks On Healthcare Cos.
For the healthcare industry, the upward trend in styles of cyberattacks, costs, and entities targeted highlights the critical importance of proactive planning to help withstand the operational, legal and reputational turmoil that can follow a data breach, say attorneys at Troutman Pepper.
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Most-Favored Nation Drug Pricing Could Shake Up US Pharma
Recent moves from the executive and legislative branches represent a serious attempt to revive and refine the first Trump administration's most-favored-nations model for drug pricing, though implementation could bring unintended consequences for pharmaceutical manufacturers and will likely draw significant legal opposition, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.
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How Focus On Menopause Care Is Fueling Innovation, Access
Recent legislative developments concerning the growing field of menopause care are creating opportunities for increased investment and innovation in the space as they increase access to education and coverage, say attorneys at Kirkland.
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FDA Commissioner Speech Suggests New Vision For Agency
In his first public remarks as U.S. Food and Drug Administration commissioner, Marty Makary outlined an ambitious framework for change centered around cultural restoration, scientific integrity, regulatory flexibility and selective modernization, and substantial enforcement shifts for the food and tobacco sectors, say attorneys at Arnall Golden.
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Customs Fraud Enforcement In The Age Of Tariffs
In the wake of the Trump administration’s new approach toward tariffs, two recent Justice Department developments demonstrate aggressive customs fraud enforcement, with the DOJ emphasizing competitive harm to American businesses, and signaling that investigations will likely involve both civil and criminal enforcement tools, say attorneys at Bernstein Litowitz and London & Naor.
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Legal Risks For Providers Discussing Psychedelic Therapies
The emergence of psychedelic therapies as potential treatments for mental health conditions and other ailments continues to garner significant attention, but the legal landscape surrounding discussions and referrals remains fraught with complexity, creating potential risks for healthcare providers and institutions, says Kimberly Chew at Husch Blackwell.
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How NY's FAIR Act Mirrors CFPB State Recommendations
New York's proposed FAIR Business Practices Act, which targets predatory lending and junk fees, reflects the Rohit Chopra-era Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's recommendations to states in a number of ways, including by defining "abusive" conduct and adding a new right to file class actions, says Christian Hancock at Bradley Arant.
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A Breakdown Of Trump's Order On Drug Pricing
The Trump administration may attempt to effectuate through rulemaking a recently issued executive order on lowering drug prices, which would likely have an adverse effect on stakeholders and trigger litigation, say attorneys at Debevoise.
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Takeaways From DOJ's 1st Wage-Fixing Jury Conviction
U.S. v. Lopez marked the U.S. Department of Justice's first labor market conviction at trial as a Nevada federal jury found a home healthcare staffing executive guilty of wage-fixing and wire fraud, signaling that improper agreements risk facing successful criminal prosecution, say attorneys at McGuireWoods.
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Deregulation Memo Presents Risks, Opportunities For Cos.
A recent Trump administration memo providing direction to agencies tasked with rescinding regulations under an earlier executive order — without undergoing the typical notice-and-review process — will likely create much uncertainty for businesses, though they may be able to engage with agencies to shape the regulatory agenda, say attorneys at Blank Rome.
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The IRS Shouldn't Go To War Over Harvard's Tax Exemption
If the Internal Revenue Service revokes Harvard's tax-exempt status for violating established public policy — a position unsupported by currently available information — the precedent set by surviving the inevitable court challenge could undercut the autonomy and distinctiveness of the charitable sector, says Johnny Rex Buckles at Houston Law Center.
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New Hospice Regulations Should Enforce Core Principles
As the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Inspector General prepares to research and expand on oversight of Medicare hospice care, the OIG should keep in mind certain core principles, such as an emphasis on preventing the entry of hospices that raise red flags, says Bill Dombi at Arnall Golden.
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7 Considerations For Conducting Drug Clinical Trials Abroad
With continuing cuts to U.S. Food and Drug Administration staffing motivating some pharmaceutical companies to consider developing drugs abroad, it's important to understand the additional risks and compliance requirements associated with conducting clinical studies in other countries, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.