Policy & Compliance

  • June 05, 2025

    Sens. Float Automatic Biosimilar Interchangeable Label

    A bipartisan group of U.S. senators has reintroduced legislation that would reduce what the lawmakers called barriers to accessing lower-cost versions of biologic drugs, making an adjustment to how biosimilars are deemed interchangeable with their name-brand equivalents.

  • June 05, 2025

    $1.36B Home Healthcare Deal Dropped Amid FTC Scrutiny

    Healthcare solutions company Owens & Minor said Thursday that it's abandoning its $1.36 billion plan to buy home-based care business Rotech Healthcare Holdings after the Federal Trade Commission's scrutiny proved too much to bear.

  • June 05, 2025

    4 AGs Urge FDA To Lift Abortion Pill Restrictions

    Attorneys general from California, Massachusetts, New York and New Jersey on Thursday urged the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to lift restrictions on the abortion drug mifepristone, saying they aren't necessary under statutory requirements for an FDA drug safety program.

  • June 05, 2025

    Mich. AG Asks Judge To Block Abortion Coercion Screening

    Michigan's attorney general has asked a judge to strike down a state-law requirement that abortion patients be evaluated for coercion, after the judge upheld the screening while permanently blocking other abortion regulations last month.

  • June 05, 2025

    Ex-Bush Admin Atty To Lead HHS Civil Rights Office

    The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has appointed an attorney to lead its civil rights office who brings more than 30 years of experience across the public sector and private practice, including as counsel for HHS during the George W. Bush administration.

  • June 04, 2025

    Calif. Won't Get Insulin Pricing Case Sent Back To State Court

    The New Jersey federal judge overseeing multidistrict litigation accusing Express Scripts, CVS Caremark and other pharmacy benefit managers of conspiring to fix the prices of insulin on Wednesday refused to ship a case brought by the state of California back to state court.

  • June 04, 2025

    States Take Aim At Healthcare REITs

    State lawmakers seeking to curb healthcare investment models they see as harmful to patients have sharpened their focus on real estate investment trusts, putting forth bills to restrict their ownership of healthcare real estate or increase oversight of such transactions.

  • June 04, 2025

    DC Judge Weighs Harm In Teen Program Funding Fight

    A D.C. federal judge on Wednesday seemed unconvinced by Planned Parenthood's assertion that new federal grant requirements for a public health initiative aimed at preventing teen pregnancy are harmful enough to warrant a preliminary injunction.

  • June 04, 2025

    Apple Can Shield Info In NJ TikTok Addiction Suit

    A New Jersey state court will allow Apple Inc. to inject itself into the state attorney general's high-profile lawsuit accusing TikTok of designing features that harm and cause addiction in children, allowing the manufacturer of the iPhone to argue, away from public view, that certain content in the lawsuit should be redacted.

  • June 04, 2025

    Ohio Nonprofit, Nursing Homes To Pay $3.6M To End FCA Suit

    An Ohio-based nursing home operator has agreed to pay $3.61 million to settle False Claims Act allegations brought against it by the government over purportedly substandard and in some cases nonexistent care, according to a new announcement from the U.S. Department of Justice.

  • June 03, 2025

    Trump Admin. Nixes Guidance Protecting ER Abortion Care

    The Trump administration said Tuesday that it is rescinding post-Dobbs guidance from 2022 that emphasized medical providers' abortion care obligations under federal law and that assured federal law protected providers' clinical judgment, regardless of conflicting state laws or mandates.

  • June 03, 2025

    MAHA Report's Fake Citations A Red Flag For Experts

    Fake and misinterpreted citations in a recent federal report focused on chronic disease in the U.S. are raising alarm bells that federal health officials may be trading in scientific rigor for cherry-picked evidence.

  • June 03, 2025

    6th Circ. Denies PBMs' Privilege Claim In Opioid MDL

    A Sixth Circuit panel on Tuesday denied a petition from Cigna's Express Scripts and UnitedHealth's Optum seeking to reverse discovery orders allowing certain personnel files and internal communications into the multidistrict opioid litigation, finding that the two pharmacy benefit managers failed to show extraordinary abuses justifying relief.

  • June 03, 2025

    Plan Providers Must Face DOJ Overpayment Suit, Judge Says

    A Maine federal judge refused to let five military healthcare plan providers escape a False Claims Act suit alleging that they knowingly pocketed millions of dollars that were overpaid, holding that U.S. Department of Justice claims against them pass muster for now.

  • June 03, 2025

    DC Judge Blocks Trump's Ban On Transgender Prisoner Care

    A D.C. federal judge on Tuesday blocked the enforcement of a Trump administration executive order barring funding of gender-affirming care in federal prisons and granted class certification to a group of transgender inmates challenging the directive.

  • June 03, 2025

    HHS, DOGE Accused Of Using Flawed Data In Mass Layoffs

    Former federal workers laid off by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services brought a putative class action Tuesday in D.C. federal court alleging their terminations were unlawful because they were based on "hopelessly error-ridden" personnel records, in violation of the Privacy Act.

  • June 03, 2025

    Health Policy Expert On The Changing Vaccine Landscape

    KFF's Jen Kates talks about the changing vaccine landscape, the trickle-down effects of the Trump administration's policies and what she's watching for from federal health officials in the future.

  • June 03, 2025

    2nd Circ. Says Social Worker Can't Challenge NY Abortion Law

    The Second Circuit on Tuesday rejected a social worker's constitutional challenge to a New York law decriminalizing abortion, finding that she lacked standing to sue because she couldn't identify any specific fetus facing harm.

  • June 03, 2025

    Health System, Staffing Co. Accused Of Shaving Work Time

    New York state's largest healthcare provider and a staffing firm unlawfully round down the amount of time employees spend working and deduct 30 minutes from their hours regardless of whether they took a break, according to a lawsuit filed in federal court.

  • June 03, 2025

    The Law360 400: A Look At The Top 100 Firms

    A rebound in client work sent the nation’s largest law firms into growth mode last year, driving a wave of hiring, mergers and strategic moves that reshaped the top tier of the Law360 400. Here's a preview of the 100 firms with the largest U.S. attorney headcounts.

  • June 02, 2025

    9th Circ. Sends Express Scripts Opioid Case To State Court

    The Ninth Circuit sent California's public nuisance lawsuit against Express Scripts and OptumRx over opioid dispensing back to state court Monday and denied the pharmacy benefit managers' bid to stay the remand pending appeal, saying the U.S. Supreme Court's 2009 Nken decision controls, not its later Coinbase ruling.

  • June 02, 2025

    Ore. Psilocybin Access Suit Can Continue, Judge Says

    An Oregon federal judge has ruled that the state's health regulator must face a suit brought under a federal antidiscrimination law that seeks to broaden access for homebound patients to the state's regulated psilocybin program.

  • June 02, 2025

    Nursing Exec Says DOJ Misapplied Justices' Fraud Ruling

    A Nevada nursing home executive convicted of wage-fixing and wire fraud has told a Nevada federal judge that a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling in a fraud case doesn't preclude his motion for a new trial, contrary to what the U.S. Department of Justice has argued.

  • May 30, 2025

    $5.2M Generic Drug Price-Fixing MDL Deal Gets Final OK

    Apotex Corp. will be paying $5.2 million to settle claims from a class of indirect purchasers alleging the drugmaker was working with other pharmaceutical companies to hike up the price of certain generic medications.

  • May 30, 2025

    5th Circ. To Rehear No Surprises Act Ruling En Banc

    The full Fifth Circuit agreed Friday to reconsider a dispute over provisions for calculating qualifying payments under the 2020 No Surprises Act.

Expert Analysis

  • First 10b5-1 Insider Trading Case Raises Compliance Issues

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    The ongoing case against former Ontrak CEO Terren Peizer is the U.S. Department of Justice's first insider trading prosecution based primarily on the filing of 10b5-1 plans, and has important takeaways for attorneys reviewing corporate policies on the possession of material nonpublic information, say attorneys at Cadwalader.

  • Policy Misrepresentations Carry Insurance Rescission Risks

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    The Second Circuit's recent decision in Medical Mutual v. Gnik, finding that material misrepresentation in a clinic's insurance applications warranted policy rescission, is a clear example of the far-reaching effects that misrepresentations can have and provides a reminder that policyholders should employ relatively straightforward steps to decrease risks, say attorneys at Hunton.

  • The Pros And Cons Of NIST's Proposed March-In Framework

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    Recent comments for and against the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s proposed guidance on march-in rights — which permit the government to seize federally funded patents — highlight how the framework may promote competition, but could also pose a risk to contractors and universities, say Nick Lee and Paul Ragusa at Baker Botts.

  • 2 Recent Suits Show Resiliency Of Medicare Drug Price Law

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    Though pharmaceutical companies continue to file lawsuits challenging the Inflation Reduction Act, which enables the federal government to negotiate for lower prescription drug prices, recent decisions suggest that the reduced drug prices are likely here to stay, says Jose Vela Jr. at Clark Hill.

  • Defense Attys Must Prep For Imminent AI Crime Enforcement

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    Given recent statements by U.S. Department of Justice officials, white collar practitioners should expect to encounter artificial intelligence in federal criminal enforcement in the near term, even in pending cases, say Jarrod Schaeffer and Scott Glicksman at Abell Eskew.

  • Lessons For Nursing Facilities From DOJ Fraud Settlement

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    The U.S. Department of Justice's recent settlement with the owner of skilled nursing and assisted living facilities in Florida provides a cautionary tale of potential fraud risks, and lessons on how facilities can mitigate government enforcement actions, say Callan Stein and Rebecca Younker at Troutman Pepper.

  • HHS' Updated Tracking Tech Guidance Offers Little Clarity

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    The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office for Civil Rights' updated guidance on the use of online tracking technologies appears more focused on legal issues raised in ongoing litigation with the American Hospital Association and less on practical guidance for covered entities, say attorneys at Sheppard Mullin.

  • Takeaways From The 2023 DOJ Fraud Section Report

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    Attorneys at Wiley discuss notable trends from the U.S. Department of Justice's recently reported Fraud Section activity last year and highlight areas of enforcement to watch for in the future, including healthcare fraud and Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations.

  • NIST March-In Framework Is As Problematic As 2021 Proposal

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    While the National Institute of Standards and Technology's proposed march-in framework on when the government can seize patents has been regarded as a radical departure that will support lowering prescription drug costs, the language at the heart of it is identical to a failed 2021 notice of proposed rulemaking, says attorney Kelly Morron.

  • Spartan Arbitration Tactics Against Well-Funded Opponents

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    Like the ancient Spartans who held off a numerically superior Persian army at the Battle of Thermopylae, trial attorneys and clients faced with arbitration against an opponent with a bigger war chest can take a strategic approach to create a pass to victory, say Kostas Katsiris and Benjamin Argyle at Venable.

  • The Road Ahead For Florida's Drug Importation Program

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    Though the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Florida's drug importation program in January, a series of hurdles — including requisite buy-in from Canada — and potential legal challenges must be addressed before importation can begin, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.

  • Assessing CDC's Revised Guideline On Opioid Prescriptions

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    Kenneth Weinstein, Nicholas Van Niel and Kate Uthe at Analysis Group look at newly available data to evaluate the impact that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's revised opioid monitoring guideline have had on prescription trends in recent years, highlighting both specific and overall decreases.

  • Valeant Ruling May Pave Way For Patent-Based FCA Suits

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    The Ninth Circuit’s recent ruling in Silbersher v. Valeant marks a significant development in False Claims Act jurisprudence, opens new avenues for litigation and potentially raises the stakes for patent applicants who intend to do business with the government, say Joshua Robbins and Rick Taché at Buchalter.