Policy & Compliance
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March 28, 2024
Romney Tells DEA Pot Review Must Heed Treaty Obligations
Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, on Wednesday expressed skepticism about federal health regulators' recommendation to loosen marijuana restrictions and pressed the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration to explain how it would consider the drug's status in light of U.S. treaties.
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March 27, 2024
Idaho AG Won't Defend Abortion Stance, Confusing 9th Circ.
The Idaho solicitor general insisted at a hearing before the Ninth Circuit Wednesday that the state's attorney general isn't "trying to be cute" by refusing to defend his expansive interpretation of Idaho's abortion ban in front of a baffled appellate panel.
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March 27, 2024
Ill. Court Revives Med Mal Suit Over Gauze Left In Sinus
An Illinois appeals court has revived a woman's suit against her doctor and SIU Physicians & Surgeons Inc. over gauze that she alleges was negligently left in her sinuses after a procedure, finding there's a factual dispute over when the woman found out about the gauze.
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March 27, 2024
BCBS Can't Escape Therapy Coverage Suit
A North Carolina federal judge refused to throw out a proposed class action accusing Blue Cross Blue Shield of unlawfully refusing to cover proton beam therapy to treat prostate cancer, saying the case could remain in court if a state worker health plan is added as a defendant.
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March 26, 2024
Breaking Down The Supreme Court's Abortion Pill Arguments
The same U.S. Supreme Court that undid the federal right to an abortion two years ago seems a lot less keen to limit access to the abortion medication mifepristone.
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March 26, 2024
EEOC Disability Bias Suit Over Welder's Meds Sent To Trial
A U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission disability bias suit needs a jury's review, a Texas federal judge found, saying too many fact issues prevented the court from determining whether an oilfield manufacturer unlawfully yanked a job offer from a welder over his opioid use disorder medication.
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March 26, 2024
New Feldesman Atty Talks 'Crucial' Drug Discount Program
Feldesman Leifer LLP in Washington D.C., has welcomed healthcare attorney Stephen Kuperberg — an expert on the federal 340B drug discount program — to its healthcare and government investigations teams.
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March 26, 2024
Ohio Health Staffing Co. Settles Visa Fraud Probe For $9.25M
An Ohio healthcare staffing company has agreed to pay a $9.25 million penalty to resolve criminal and civil investigations that the U.S. Department of Justice was conducting into its visa sponsorship program over what the firm's chief executive officer called "problematic conduct in our visa process."
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March 26, 2024
Opioid Public Nuisance Claims 'Unique,' Ohio High Court Told
Counsel for two Ohio counties that won a $650 million verdict against Walmart, CVS and Walgreens told the Ohio Supreme Court on Tuesday that opioids are a "unique" problem during oral arguments about whether the counties' public nuisance claims are blocked by the state's product liability law.
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March 26, 2024
Geico Alleges $5.6M Billing Scam Targeted NY Insurance Cos.
The insurance giant Geico has sued a New Jersey man and three medical imaging companies in New York federal court, accusing them of a $5.6 million scheme to submit fraudulent bills for unnecessary or otherwise useless tests on auto accident victims.
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March 26, 2024
In Abortion Case, Gorsuch Frets 'Rash' Of National Injunctions
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch renewed his criticisms of nationwide injunctions Tuesday, saying a Texas judge's universal order limiting access to popular abortion medication mifepristone turned a potentially small legal challenge into a national debate.
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March 27, 2024
Healthcare In Court: FDA To Cut 'You Are Not A Horse' Posts
Much of the healthcare bar has been focused in the last week on a challenge at the U.S. Supreme Court to the FDA's handling of abortion medication. But there was plenty of other healthcare news coming out of the courts.
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March 26, 2024
Texas Abortion Ban Still A Puzzle In Med Board Rule
A new rule proposed by a Texas medical oversight board expands recordkeeping requirements for doctors who treat women during a pregnancy health crisis, experts say, while doing little to clarify the murky legal landscape around the state's strict abortion ban.
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March 26, 2024
Ex-Veterans Home Leaders Resolve Landmark COVID-19 Case
The former leaders of a Massachusetts veterans facility charged in the first pandemic-related criminal neglect case against a nursing home operator resolved the charges Tuesday with separate statements of admission, acknowledging they could be found guilty if they stood trial.
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March 26, 2024
Nelson Mullins Expands DC Team With DOJ Fraud Atty
Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP has hired a nearly nine-year veteran of the U.S. Department of Justice who joins the firm in Washington, D.C., to continue her practice counseling clients on related government investigations.
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March 26, 2024
High Court Wary Of Bid To Limit Abortion Pill Access
The U.S. Supreme Court seemed skeptical Tuesday of efforts by anti-abortion groups to severely limit access to the abortion medication mifepristone, with several justices appearing unconvinced that the groups had the right to sue over the Food and Drug Administration's regulation of the pill.
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March 26, 2024
Hurdles Ahead For Calif. Mental Health Bond After Narrow Win
An ambitious ballot measure meant to address California's homelessness crisis may open up new business opportunities for healthcare providers, ease overcrowding in emergency rooms and inspire other states to follow suit. But it will likely bring less-welcome results as well.
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March 25, 2024
J&J Exec 'Shocked' Over Atty's Ties With Talc Plaintiffs
Johnson & Johnson's vice president of litigation said on Monday he was "utterly shocked and appalled" upon learning an attorney who served as the company's outside counsel was working with its adversary Beasley Allen Law Firm and one of its attorneys in litigation over the alleged link between the company's talcum powder products and ovarian cancer.
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March 25, 2024
Amgen Sues Colorado After Drug's 'Unaffordable' Rating
Amgen has sued the Colorado Prescription Drug Affordability Review Board in federal court after receiving a determination that one of its arthritis drugs is "unaffordable," saying the board is using unconstitutionally "unguided discretion" to impose arbitrary price controls on patent-protected drugs.
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March 25, 2024
IHS Fears Budget Cuts Over Tribal Healthcare Funding Case
Federal government attorneys told the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday that Indian Health Services might be forced to cut its budget by 40% if two Native American tribes prevail in their bids to uphold rulings that ordered they be reimbursed millions in administrative healthcare costs.
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March 25, 2024
What To Watch As Opioid Litigation Goes To Ohio High Court
The Ohio Supreme Court on Tuesday will become only the second state high court to hear oral arguments on whether the opioid epidemic is a public nuisance, the controversial legal theory underpinning numerous suits across the country including a $650 million award that two Ohio counties won against Walmart, CVS and Walgreens.
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March 25, 2024
FTC Intervenes In Teva-Amneal Row To Push Patent Delisting
The Federal Trade Commission waded into another patent fight Friday with a New Jersey federal court amicus brief targeting the same Teva Pharmaceuticals asthma inhaler patents it has already included in a roster of over 100 it believes were improperly listed in a key federal database.
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March 22, 2024
Gilead's Win Upheld In Billion-Dollar HIV Drug Patent Case
A Delaware federal judge on Friday largely upheld a jury's verdict rejecting the government's potentially billion-dollar claim that Gilead Sciences Inc. infringed patents covering HIV drugs, ruling that the jury was correct in finding Gilead didn't cause doctors and patients to infringe.
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March 22, 2024
Feds Urge Justices To Reject Idaho's Abortion Ban Revival Bid
The federal government said Idaho is pushing inconsistent positions on healthcare law as it tries to reinstate its abortion prohibition, telling the U.S. Supreme Court that the state still hasn't clearly articulated when it thinks abortions are federally required to save a person's life.
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March 22, 2024
Up Next At High Court: Abortion, Jury Trials And Estate Tax
The U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments this week over the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's decision expanding access to popular abortion pill mifepristone as well as whether juries should determine a defendants' eligibility for repeat offender enhanced sentencing under the Armed Career Criminal Act and how long federal employees have to appeal adverse employment decisions.
Expert Analysis
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Beware Privacy Risks In Training AI Models With Health Data
Because data used to train artificial intelligence models may be protected by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act or other regulations, users of these models should conduct proper diligence to avoid costly compliance failures, say Neha Matta and Barbara Bennett at Frost Brown.
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Unpacking GAO's FY 2023 Bid Protest Report
The U.S. Government Accountability Office's recent bid protest report reflects an increase in sustained protests, illustrating that disappointed offerors may see little reason to refrain from seeking corrective action — but there is more to the story, say Aron Beezley and Patrick Quigley at Bradley Arant.
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White House AI Order Balances Innovation And Regulation
President Joe Biden’s recently issued executive order on artificial intelligence lays out a sprawling list of directives aimed at establishing standards for safety, security and privacy protection, and may help strike the balance between the freedom to innovate and the need to impose regulation in this rapidly evolving space, say Kristen Logan and Martin Zoltick at Rothwell Figg.
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Reading Between The Lines Of HHS' National Lab Opinion
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Inspector General recently rejected a national laboratory's request to pay a referring lab to process specimens, but the request might have been an attempt to exploit the OIG's advisory opinion process for a competitive advantage, says Mary Kohler at Kohler Health Law.
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A Closer Look At Proposed HHS Research Misconduct Rule
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' proposed updates to its policies on research misconduct codify many well-known best practices, but also contain some potential surprises for the research community and counsel, say attorneys at Hogan Lovells.
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Handling Religious Objections To Abortion-Related Job Duties
While health care and pharmacy employee religious exemption requests concerning abortion-related procedures or drugs are not new, recent cases demonstrate why employer accommodation considerations should factor in the Title VII standard set forth by the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2023 Groff v. DeJoy ruling, as well as applicable federal, state and local laws, say attorneys at Epstein Becker.
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Why Hemp-Synthesized Intoxicants Need Uniform Regs
State laws regulating hemp-synthesized intoxicants are a patchwork with little consistency between any given state, and without the adoption of a uniform regulatory framework, producers and consumers alike will need to be very cautious, say Dylan Anderson and Seth Goldberg at Duane Morris.
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Attorneys, Law Schools Must Adapt To New Era Of Evidence
Technological advancements mean more direct evidence is being created than ever before, and attorneys as well as law schools must modify their methods to account for new challenges in how this evidence is collected and used to try cases, says Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner.
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The Self-Funded Plan's Guide To Gender-Affirming Coverage
Self-funded group health plans face complicated legal risks when determining whether to cover gender-affirming health benefits for their transgender participants, so plan sponsors should carefully weigh how federal nondiscrimination laws and state penalties for providing care for trans minors could affect their decision to offer coverage, say Tim Kennedy and Anne Tyler Hall at Hall Benefits Law.
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ESG Around The World: The UK
Following Brexit, the U.K. has adopted a different approach to regulating environmental, social and governance factors from the European Union — an approach that focuses on climate disclosures by U.K.-regulated entities, while steering clear of the more ambitious objectives pursued by the EU, say attorneys at Dechert.
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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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Tips For Litigating Against Pro Se Parties In Complex Disputes
Litigating against self-represented parties in complex cases can pose unique challenges for attorneys, but for the most part, it requires the same skills that are useful in other cases — from documenting everything to understanding one’s ethical duties, says Bryan Ketroser at Alto Litigation.
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Air Ambulance Ch. 11s Show Dispute Program Must Resume
Air Methods’ recent bankruptcy filing highlights the urgent need to reopen the No Surprises Act’s independent dispute resolution program for air ambulances, whose shutdown benefits insurance companies and hurts providers, says Adam Schramek at Norton Rose.