Policy & Compliance

  • February 07, 2025

    Chicago Hospital Network Inks $850K Retirement Suit Deal

    A Chicago-area hospital system will pay $850,000 to settle an ex-worker's proposed class action alleging it violated federal benefits law by failing to leverage the size of its $1.8 billion employee retirement plan to lower recordkeeping fees, according to filings Friday in Illinois federal court.

  • February 07, 2025

    Wash. AG Sues To Block 'Hateful' Trump Transgender Edict

    Washington, Minnesota and Oregon, along with three unnamed doctors, seek to block President Donald Trump's order targeting transgender youth and their medical providers, arguing in a complaint filed Friday in Seattle federal court that the Trump edict is unconstitutional, discriminates against transgender people and interferes with lifesaving healthcare.

  • February 06, 2025

    Doctors Org. Wants Health Agency Website Info Restored

    An advocacy organization representing physicians asked a Washington, D.C., federal judge Thursday to require federal agencies to restore public-health related web pages and data that were taken down after the Office of Personnel Management directed the agencies to root out references to "gender ideology" on their websites.

  • February 06, 2025

    6th Circ. Uncertain If Health Plan Administrator Is A Fiduciary

    A yacht-maker urged the Sixth Circuit on Thursday to revive its lawsuit accusing Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan of overpaying employee health plan claims so it could profit off of savings recovered later, but faced tough questions about whether plan administrator BCBSM was a fiduciary under federal benefits law.

  • February 06, 2025

    ERISA Preempts Banker's $5.5M Deferred Comp, Judge Rules

    The Employee Retirement Income Security Act preempts a former Leerink Partners employee's claims that she was cheated out of about $5.5 million in deferred compensation after the bank hired her under allegedly false pretenses from Goldman Sachs, a Massachusetts federal judge ruled Thursday.

  • February 06, 2025

    UnitedHealth Drops Bid To Toss Home Health Deal Challenge

    UnitedHealth Group and home health and hospice giant Amedisys Inc. dropped their bid to toss a case challenging their $3.3 billion merger after enforcers detailed the home health and hospice markets they allege will be hurt by the deal.

  • February 05, 2025

    Trump Signs Order Restricting Transgender Women In Sports

    President Donald Trump signed an executive order banning transgender women from competing in women's sports during a Wednesday afternoon press conference at the White House, continuing his trend of targeting transgender rights.

  • February 05, 2025

    Trade Groups Urge PBM Crackdown By Trump, Congress

    A coalition of industry trade groups sent letters Wednesday urging President Donald Trump and leaders in Congress to advance legislation reining in pharmacy benefit managers — which intermediate between drugmakers, insurers and pharmacies — in the next piece of federal government funding legislation.

  • February 05, 2025

    Penn Hospital Says $200M Judgment Imperils Local Care

    The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania implored the Pennsylvania Superior Court on Wednesday to upend a purportedly historic $200 million medical malpractice judgment, arguing that the jury's award in the birth injury case was greater than the economic output of some nations and could seriously impact the hospital's operations.

  • February 05, 2025

    6th Circ. Urged To Revive Allergy Co.'s Antitrust Claims

    An allergy company tried Wednesday to persuade a noncommittal Sixth Circuit panel to revive an antitrust suit it brought against health insurance companies it says worked together to push it out of the market.

  • February 05, 2025

    Sheppard Mullin Adds Healthcare Reg Partner From Troutman

    Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP on Wednesday announced the arrival of a healthcare partner joining from Troutman Pepper Locke LLP, continuing a streak of recent additions to its healthcare practice.

  • February 04, 2025

    9th Circ. Revives FCA Suit Over Military Meds Deliveries

    The Ninth Circuit on Tuesday revived a whistleblower lawsuit accusing Express Scripts Inc. of defrauding the U.S. Department of Defense out of billions of dollars in unnecessary medications for military personnel, saying the lawsuit wasn't barred by any public disclosures of the alleged fraud.

  • February 04, 2025

    Meet The Attys Taking On Merck In The Gardasil Trial

    An attorney at a personal injury firm with ties to Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Donald Trump's pick for the nation's top healthcare position, is on the plaintiff team leading the first jury trial against Merck & Co. over claims the company wrongfully marketed its HPV vaccine Gardasil.

  • February 04, 2025

    Calif. AG Gets $25M To Fund Legal Fights Against Trump

    The California Legislature greenlighted a $25 million cash infusion Monday for the state attorney general's office in a strategic effort to bolster the state's legal defenses against President Donald Trump's policy agenda, including anticipated challenges to immigration and environmental regulations.

  • February 04, 2025

    Trump Trans Care Order Usurps Congress' Power, Suit Says

    The Trump administration overstepped when it issued an executive order cutting off gender-affirming care for people under 19, a group of transgender adolescents, young adults and their families told a Maryland federal court Tuesday, arguing the president is trying to usurp Congressional authority by forcing federally funded hospitals to discriminate.

  • February 04, 2025

    NY Exoneree Lands Rare 'Indifference' Win In Prison Doc Case

    Antonio Mallet spent nearly 20 years in a New York prison after he was convicted of a fatal shooting. After his release, he learned he had deadly prostate cancer that he claims was exacerbated by the "deliberate indifference" of prison doctors. A Second Circuit panel recently awarded him a rare appellate court victory.

  • February 04, 2025

    Docs, Lawmakers Cut Away At Prior Authorization Red Tape

    As physicians sounded the alarms, states have passed a patchwork of laws reining in prior authorization requirements. Health insurers say they're a necessary safeguard against unnecessary treatments and higher premiums. Healthcare professionals and legal experts argue more reforms are needed.

  • February 04, 2025

    4th Circ. Revives FCA Suit Alleging Faked Therapy Notes

    The Fourth Circuit on Monday sided with a whistleblower who accused her former employer of creating fake notes about addiction therapy sessions that never happened, finding that she had sufficiently detailed the allegations and connected the dots to defeat a motion to dismiss.

  • February 04, 2025

    Doctors Org. Sues Over Health Agency Website Purges

    An advocacy organization representing physicians sued the U.S. Office of Personnel Management in D.C. federal court Tuesday after it directed federal agencies to root out references to "gender ideology" on their websites — a move the physicians claim deprives doctors and researchers of needed information.

  • February 04, 2025

    Trump Trans Care Order Raises New Legal Risks For Providers

    President Donald Trump's executive order restricting gender-affirming care for minors is likely to ignite lasting legal conflicts over the limits of presidential power and whether the policy is discriminatory. In the meantime, hospitals are wrestling with what care they can offer families right now and what comes next for those already undergoing treatment.

  • February 04, 2025

    Party-Line Vote Sends Kennedy's HHS Nomination To Senate

    Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s nomination to be the nation's top healthcare official cleared a key confirmation hurdle on Tuesday, setting the stage for the anti-vaccine lawyer and activist to take the helm of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

  • February 03, 2025

    Crowell & Moring Lands Former DOJ Assistant Chief For FCPA

    A former assistant chief in the U.S. Department of Justice's Foreign Corrupt Practices Act unit has joined Crowell & Moring LLP as a partner in the firm's white collar and regulatory enforcement group, according to an announcement made Tuesday.

  • February 03, 2025

    5th Circ. Won't Revisit HHS Win On Scope Of ACA

    The Fifth Circuit has declined to conduct an en banc rehearing after an appellate panel upheld a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services rule that said the Affordable Care Act forbids against transgender bias in healthcare, but one judge argued the court got its analysis wrong.

  • February 03, 2025

    Allergan Tells 4th Circ. Medicaid Pricing Suit Rightly Tossed

    Allergan told the Fourth Circuit that a district court judge was right to dismiss a whistleblower's claims that its predecessor overcharged Medicaid by not aggregating discounts, saying the Medicaid Rebate Statute doesn't require it to do so.

  • February 03, 2025

    DC Judge Joins RI In Blocking Trump Funding Freeze

    A D.C. federal judge on Monday temporarily blocked the Trump administration from implementing a freeze on federal spending while a group of nonprofits sue over the move, ruling the pause appears to "suffer from infirmities of a constitutional magnitude."

Expert Analysis

  • White House Activity Is A Band-Aid For Regulating AI In Health

    Author Photo

    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.

  • Understanding Discovery Obligations In Era Of Generative AI

    Excerpt from Practical Guidance
    Author Photo

    Attorneys and businesses must adapt to the unique discovery challenges presented by generative artificial intelligence, such as chatbot content and prompts, while upholding the principles of fairness, transparency and compliance with legal obligations in federal civil litigation, say attorneys at King & Spalding.

  • How Mental Health Ruling Paves Road For Equal Coverage

    Author Photo

    The Tenth Circuit’s recent ruling in E.W. v. Health Net, which clarified the pleading requirements necessary to establish a Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act violation, is a win for plaintiffs as it opens the door to those who have been denied coverage for behavioral health treatment to prove a mental health parity violation, says Mark DeBofsky at DeBofsky Law.

  • ESG Around The World: Mexico

    Author Photo

    ESG has yet to become part of the DNA of the Mexican business model, but huge strides are being made in that direction, as more stakeholders demand that companies adopt, at the least, a modicum of sustainability commitments and demonstrate how they will meet them, says Carlos Escoto at Galicia Abogados.

  • The Case For Post-Bar Clerk Training Programs At Law Firms

    Author Photo

    In today's competitive legal hiring market, an intentionally designed training program for law school graduates awaiting bar admission can be an effective way of creating a pipeline of qualified candidates, says Brent Daub at Gilson Daub.

  • 10 Takeaways From New HHS Federal Compliance Guidelines

    Author Photo

    The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' recently issued general compliance program guidance is the first of its kind that would apply across all health care stakeholders, and signals the agency’s first step to improve and update existing compliance guidance, says Melissa Wong at Holland & Knight.

  • 2 HHS Warnings Highlight Anti-Kickback Risks For Physicians

    Author Photo

    Two recent advisory opinions issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Inspector General involve different scenarios and rationales, but together they illustrate the OIG's focus on and disapproval of contractual joint ventures and other revenue-maximizing physician arrangements, say Robert Threlkeld and Elliott Coward at Morris Manning.

  • Attorneys Have An Ethical Duty To Protect The Judiciary

    Author Photo

    The tenor of public disagreement and debate has become increasingly hostile against judges, and though the legislative branch is trying to ameliorate this safety gap, lawyers have a moral imperative and professional requirement to stand with judges in defusing attacks against them and their rulings, says Deborah Winokur at Cozen O'Connor.

  • Cross-Market Implications In FTC's Anesthesia Complaint

    Author Photo

    The Federal Trade Commission's recent complaint against a private equity firm's acquisition of anesthesiology practices highlights the controversial issue of cross-market harm in health care provider mergers, and could provide important insights into how a court may view such theories of harm, say Christopher Lau and Dina Older Aguilar at Cornerstone Research.

  • AI Can Help Lawyers Overcome The Programming Barrier

    Author Photo

    Legal professionals without programming expertise can use generative artificial intelligence to harness the power of automation and other technology solutions to streamline their work, without the steep learning curve traditionally associated with coding, says George Zalepa at Greenberg Traurig.

  • Preparing Law Students For A New, AI-Assisted Legal World

    Author Photo

    As artificial intelligence rapidly transforms the legal landscape, law schools must integrate technology and curricula that address AI’s innate challenges — from ethics to data security — to help students stay ahead of the curve, say Daniel Garrie at Law & Forensics, Ryan Abbott at JAMS and Karen Silverman at Cantellus Group.

  • ESG Around The World: South Korea

    Author Photo

    Numerous ESG trends have materialized in South Korea in the past three years, with impacts ranging from greenwashing prevention and carbon neutrality measures to workplace harassment and board diversity initiatives, say Chang Wook Min and Hyun Chan Jung at Jipyong.

  • General Counsel Need Data Literacy To Keep Up With AI

    Author Photo

    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.