Policy & Compliance

  • September 09, 2025

    Omni Must Pay Atty Fees Over 'Troubling' Conduct In FCA Suit

    A Massachusetts federal judge has ordered a medical practice to pay legal fees to a lab it accused of False Claims Act violations, ruling its claims were "clearly vexatious" because the provider knowingly ordered medically unnecessary tests to support its suit.

  • September 09, 2025

    MAHA Report Calls For Increased Scrutiny Of Drug Advertising

    The Trump administration on Tuesday pledged to ramp up federal oversight of drug advertising, update dietary guidelines and slash unnecessary regulations as part of its strategy to boost the health of America's children and curb the rise in childhood chronic disease.

  • September 09, 2025

    Nursing Exec Says $10.5M Fraud Penalty Excessive

    A nurse staffing executive convicted of wage-fixing told a Nevada federal court the U.S. Department of Justice's request for a $10.5 million forfeiture order for allegedly failing to disclose the antitrust investigation when selling his business is excessive.

  • September 09, 2025

    Morgan Lewis Attys Talk Key FDA AI Policies Of 2025

    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's internal artificial intelligence tool, new medical device guidance and a warning about wearable technology. Law360 Healthcare Authority explores these and other issues highlighted by Morgan Lewis lawyers at an event focused on the intersection of AI and health policy.

  • September 09, 2025

    Lambda Legal Attorney Indicted Over Judge Shopping Probe

    An attorney with LGBTQ rights nonprofit Lambda Legal has been charged in Alabama federal court in connection with an alleged judge-shopping scandal in Alabama, with prosecutors claiming he lied to a panel of federal judges investigating the episode.

  • September 09, 2025

    DOJ, FTC Urged To Probe Drugmakers' Rebate Models

    The American Hospital Association asked the Trump administration to investigate whether major pharmaceutical companies violated antitrust laws as they push out new rebate models for a program that offers discounted drugs to healthcare providers serving low-income patients.

  • September 09, 2025

    Families Gain Ground In Wilderness Therapy Coverage Fight

    Families seeking insurance coverage for youth wilderness therapy are gaining ground. A handful of courts have recently backed claims that insurers may be violating a federal law banning them from imposing stricter limits on mental health treatments than on medical or surgical treatments.

  • September 08, 2025

    Walgreens Fired Pharmacy Heads After Union Vote, Suits Say

    Two ex-pharmacy managers have accused Walgreens of firing them for refusing to spy on their employees amid a campaign to unionize at a store in southwest Washington state, according to two new lawsuits launched in federal court in the Evergreen State.

  • September 08, 2025

    NY AG To Fight Texas Bid To Enforce Abortion Ban Ruling

    New York Attorney General Letitia James on Monday moved to intervene in a lawsuit brought by the state of Texas that seeks to enforce a money judgment against a New York doctor for providing abortion-inducing drugs to a woman via telemedicine in the Lone Star state.

  • September 08, 2025

    Nurses Seek Final OK Of $724K Deal Over HCA Training Costs

    About 2,390 nurses urged a California federal judge Monday to give the final OK to a nearly $756,000 settlement they reached with HCA Healthcare and related entities over claims that the healthcare provider required them to repay it for its training program.

  • September 08, 2025

    Lowe's Workers Drop Suit Claiming Unlawful Insurance Fees

    Ex-Lowe's employees have dropped a proposed class action alleging the home improvement retailer violated federal law by overcharging tobacco-using employees for health insurance, according to a notice filed in North Carolina federal court.

  • September 08, 2025

    FibroGen To Pay SEC $1.25M Over Drug Mistatements

    Biopharmaceutical company FibroGen Inc. has agreed to pay a $1.25 million penalty to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to resolve claims that its former chief medical officer fudged results for its primary drug, Roxadustat, which treats anemia in kidney disease patients.

  • September 05, 2025

    Judge Doubts DOE Stance On Ending Mental Health Grants

    A Seattle federal judge hinted on Friday that 16 states have valid claims against the U.S. Department of Education for arbitrarily discontinuing mental health funding for public schools, expressing frustration with the federal government's argument that it could terminate grant funding the same way it could fire a landscaper under contract.  

  • September 05, 2025

    Merck Shakes Off Some Claims From Cholesterol Drugs Suit

    A New Jersey federal judge has partly granted a request from Merck & Co. to dismiss claims brought by Humana over an alleged anticompetitive scheme to control distribution of cholesterol drugs Zetia and Vytorin, tossing several proposed theories of monopolization but allowing unjust enrichment claims and state law antitrust claims to survive.

  • September 05, 2025

    HCA Healthcare Can't Halt Discovery In 401(k) Forfeiture Suit

    A Tennessee federal judge denied HCA Healthcare's bid Friday to stop discovery while the court considers its motion to toss a worker's suit claiming it illegally used forfeited 401(k) funds to cover its own contribution costs, finding the alleged novelty of her claims can't block case information collection.

  • September 05, 2025

    Vein Tech Maker Wants Suit Over DOJ Kickback Probe Tossed

    Vein disease device maker Inari Medical Inc. and its former top brass have asked a New York federal judge to toss a proposed investor class action over claims the company's share price fell after it disclosed an investigation into its compliance with federal anti-kickback laws, arguing the suit fails to allege any specific kickbacks or false statements.

  • September 05, 2025

    FDA Explains Rejection Of MDMA Therapy For Treating PTSD

    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration rejected a historic new drug application to treat post-traumatic stress disorder with the psychedelic MDMA due to concerns with the drug's safety and effectiveness and with the design of the clinical trials behind the bid, according to an agency letter made public Thursday.

  • September 05, 2025

    Ga. Ban On Trans Prisoner Healthcare Paused, Class Certified

    A Georgia federal judge has reached what he described as a "straightforward" decision to temporarily pause the state's law banning the use of state resources for hormone replacement therapies for transgender state prisoners, and is considering granting the plaintiffs' request for permanent injunctive relief.

  • September 05, 2025

    6th Circ. Finds Boss' Pregnancy Remark Supports Bias Claim

    A split Sixth Circuit panel revived part of a lawsuit from a woman who alleges a Michigan hospital system laid her off because she was pregnant, finding that evidence that the worker's supervisor was concerned about the pregnancy's effects on department productivity supports pregnancy discrimination claims.

  • September 05, 2025

    Brown Univ. Prof Says Top Court Ruling Bolsters Habeas Bid

    A Lebanese nephrologist who teaches at Brown University under an H-1B visa argued last week that the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling this summer in Kennedy v. Braidwood Management, a case focusing on whether members of a U.S. government task force were constitutionally appointed, bolsters her argument that the U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers who deported her lacked the authority to do so.

  • September 05, 2025

    Mass. Justices Mull Privacy Issues In Era Of Online Records

    Massachusetts' highest court heard arguments Friday in a pair of cases asking the justices to balance the public's right to access court documents against the privacy interests of potential medical malpractice victims and people charged with but later cleared of crimes.

  • September 05, 2025

    Workers Say Tenet Misspent Forfeitures In Mega 401(k) Plan

    A Tenet Healthcare ex-employee alleged in a proposed class action Friday in Texas federal court that the healthcare company misspent nearly $28.6 million in forfeitures from an employee 401(k) plan by using the assets to reduce employer-side contribution obligations to other workers' accounts.

  • September 04, 2025

    Feds Seek Stay On Court Order Releasing Foreign Aid Billions

    The Trump administration urged the D.C. Circuit on Thursday to stay a federal judge's order that it release billions in frozen foreign aid pending its appeal, saying the disbursement will likely be "impossible" to recover according to the international aid organization plaintiffs' "own description of their financial condition."

  • September 04, 2025

    Split 3rd Circ. Rejects Janssen, Bristol Myers Pricing Appeal

    A split Third Circuit panel Thursday shot down another challenge to the Medicare drug pricing negotiation, this time rejecting a consolidated appeal from Bristol Myers Squibb and Janssen and upholding a lower court's finding that the program is indeed voluntary and therefore constitutional.

  • September 04, 2025

    Feds Stand By $10M Medicare Fraud Conviction At 4th Circ.

    The Fourth Circuit should uphold the six-year sentence of a physician assistant who was found guilty of Medicare fraud after prosecutors said he rubber-stamped bogus prescriptions for genetic testing worth about $10 million, the government told the court.

Expert Analysis

  • Takeaways From High Court's Tribal Health Admin Cost Ruling

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's recent determination that the government must reimburse two Native American tribes for administrative healthcare costs will help tribes maintain equal footing with the Indian Health Service when administering programs, and continues a pattern of how the current court aligns on tribal concerns, say attorneys at Lewis Roca.

  • FTC Focus: Private Equity Investments In Healthcare

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    As the Federal Trade Commission is tightening its scrutiny of private equity investment in healthcare, the agency is finding novel grounds to challenge key focus areas, including rollup acquisitions, the flip-and-strip approach and minority investments in rival providers, say attorneys at Proskauer.

  • High Court's Expert Ruling May Help Health Fraud Defendants

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Diaz v. U.S. appears to give the government a powerful new tool in calling its own agents as expert witnesses, but it could also benefit defense counsel in criminal healthcare fraud and other white collar criminal cases that arise in complex legal or regulatory environments, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.

  • Unpacking HHS' Opinion On Cell Therapy Refund Programs

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    A recent advisory opinion from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, determining that a biopharma company's refund program for its cell therapy will not be penalized, indicates an encouraging willingness to engage, but the regulator's assumptions about the program's limited term warrant a closer look, says Mary Kohler at Kohler Health.

  • DOJ Innovasis Settlement Offers Lessons On Self-Disclosure

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    The recent $12 million settlement with Innovasis and two of its executives demonstrates the U.S. Department of Justice's continued prioritization of Anti-Kickback Statute enforcement amid the growing circuit split over causation, and illustrates important nuances surrounding self-disclosure, say Denise Barnes and Scott Gallisdorfer at Bass Berry.

  • How Orange Book Antitrust Scrutiny Is Intensifying

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    Pharmaceutical patent holders should be reviewing Orange Book listing practices, as the Federal Trade Commission takes a more aggressive antitrust approach with actions such as the Teva listing probe, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration calls attention to potentially improper listings, say attorneys at McDermott.

  • After Chevron: Slowing Down AI In Medical Research

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision overturning the Chevron doctrine may inhibit agencies' regulatory efforts, potentially slowing down the approval and implementation of artificial intelligence-driven methodologies in medical research, as well as regulators' responses to public health emergencies, say Ragini Acharya and Matthew Deutsch at Husch Blackwell.

  • FDA's Multifaceted Role On Display In MDMA Therapy Scrutiny

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    Ongoing deliberations at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration regarding MDMA-assisted therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder serves as a window into the intricate balance of scientific innovation and patient safety oversight, and offers crucial insights into regulatory nuances, say Kimberly Chew at Husch Blackwell and Kevin Lanzo at Pharmaka Clinical Consulting.

  • Analyzing FDA Draft Guidance On Clinical Trial Diversity

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    In light of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's draft guidance on clinical trial diversity action plans, there are several important considerations for sponsors and clinical researchers to keep in mind to prevent delay in a drug or device application, say attorneys at Crowell & Moring.

  • In The CFPB Playbook: Making Good On Bold Promises

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's decision upholding the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's funding structure in the second quarter cleared the way for the bureau to resume a number of high-priority initiatives, and it appears poised to charge ahead in working toward its aggressive preelection agenda, say Andrew Arculin and Paula Vigo Marqués at Blank Rome.

  • Critical Questions Remain After High Court's Abortion Rulings

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's decisions in two major abortion-related cases this term largely preserve the status quo for now, but leave federal preemption, the Comstock Act and in vitro fertilization in limbo, say attorneys at Jenner & Block.

  • Navigating FDA Supply Rule Leeway For Small Dispensers

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    As the November compliance deadline for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's new pharmaceutical distribution supply chain rules draws closer, small dispensers should understand the narrow flexibilities that are available, and the questions to consider before taking advantage of them, say attorneys at Faegre Drinker.

  • 1st Gender Care Ban Provides Context For High Court Case

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    The history of Arkansas' ban on gender-affirming medical care — the first such legislation in the U.S. — provides important insight into the far-reaching ramifications that the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in U.S. v. Skrmetti next term will have on transgender healthcare, says Tyler Saenz at Baker Donelson.